1984 Schwinn High Sierra, DONE!

My 1984 Schwinn High Sierra has been done for a while now, but a busy travel schedule has prevented me from finding time to photograph it, much less ride it—at least for a ride of more than a lap or two around the block. But I can say that tiny bit of riding has proved this neighborhood cruiser to be limo-smooth with a very comfy upright and laid back riding position. Here’s a closer look…

The Dimension alloy handlebars are nicely polished with smooth bends and a well-formed clamping area. The stem is a Kalloy AL-222 and further raises the bars to a comfortably high position. Grips are "cork" (foam with bits of cork in them). It's a firm foam with a nice texture, not squishy stuff.

 

The SunTour micro-ratchet shifters cleaned up nicely with about five minutes of mag wheel polish (I like Mothers, but any aluminum polish will do). The levers are mounted directly over the bar, which makes them a little less comfortable to operate than the designs that followed a couple of years later which mounted the lever ahead of the bar, but I like ‘em anyway. And, they're original equipment. Ditto for the oversized Dia Compe levers. Back in the halcyon days of early mass-produced "all terrain bikes," big levers (and bull-moose bars) were a defining feature. They're heavy as heck compared to modern levers, but provide mounds of leverage to squeeze the cantis against the rims. 

I've got one Brooks B17 that goes from bike to bike, I really should get another. Brooks saddles are trendy now, but I'm riding one because I know they are indeed very comfortable. If you don't mind the weight (and you shouldn't) and the price tag (which you can easily justify against A. the cost of a plastic racing saddle and B. the lack of discomfort you'll have compared to said plastic saddle), a B17 or any of the other Brooks models are excellent. The seatpost is a Kalloy Uno, perfectly effective and a great value for such a nicely finished post.

Michelin Country Rock tires, original equipment Dia-Compe "frog legs," red Kool Stop pads. The tires are ostensibly for rocks (duh) like Moab, but they're great street rollers with all the tread you need for dirt paths. The brakes polished up nicely (Mothers again), you can't beat natural aluminum. No paint means it can't scratch, fade or chip. Aluminum can go dull with oxidation, but then you just polish it.

These are the original Sugino cranks and chainrings, and the original bottom bracket is installed in there as well. Original front derailer too. A bath in Simple Green made short work of the old grease on these parts. These cranks, like many others of this vintage, use a spindle that has more offset on the drive side than on the left side. If you install a modern bottom bracket with equal offset on each side, you wind up with greater crankarm clearance on one side of the bike than the other. So, I just repacked the old BB and in it went. The pedals are Victor beartraps, another favorite of mine.

New stuff here, a Deore LX derailer, low-end Shimano HG22 freewheel, and a plated KMC chain. This setup is absolutely silent and shifts as fantastically as any ramped freewheel does these days. The original SunTour Mountech rear derailer was bent and needed a rebuild, and I didn't want the hassle of disassembling its combination pivot/guide pulley. Were I sentimental I would have made the effort to revive it, as the Mountech was the first derailer offered expressly for mountain bikes.

Original headset, all steel, spins smoothly and looks nice. I picked up a sexier aluminum cable hanger to replace the steel one shown here (it was rusty), but it left too few threads for the headset nut. A little naval jelly and more Mothers polish revived the shine of the original.

Inexpensive blinky light and a nice view of how the powdercoating gives the TIG welds a nearly fillet-brazed look.

There you have it, my 1984 Schwinn High Sierra. This was a fun project, and I'm looking forward to lots of cruising with it.

FREE BIKE!

While making a trip to Goodwill to unload a colossal tube TV (heads up: turns out they don't take them), another dropper-offer inquired if they take bikes. Indeed they do. I peered into the back of his car and saw he had a Schwinn Mesa GS, and I offered to take it off his hands. "It's got some problems," he warned. "It's also got lots of parts I can use," I mused to myself. Turns out, all this bike needs is a tune-up, AND it's my size! Finally, I can be one of those guys on Cyclofiend with a sweet Goodwill bike--all I ever find are junked kids bikes. The pic above is from the web, my bike is considerably less pristine--but in overall great shape, as it appears to have been lightly ridden and merely neglected. So score one for me, I'm thrilled. My wife, however, is less thrilled, as our two-car garage is now a one-car/eight-bike garage.

1987 Schwinn Voyageur

I mentioned in a previous post that my Craigslist connection had a Schwinn Voyageur that I lusted for, and lucky for me said connection found another Voyageur that fit him better and the bicycle I had seen needed to be unloaded fast. That bicycle is pictured above, a 1987 model, all original minus the $10 Forte Strada tire I installed when I discovered the original tire would not remain seated in the bead and was unrideable--and I wanted to get one ride in before I tore the bike down for a thorough clean, polish, repack and rebuild. And for once, I took before pictures! The plan is to leave most of the bike original, adding only new tires, tubes, rim strips, brake pads, pedals, cables, chain, freewheel, and bar tape. And possibly a Nitto Technomic stem to get the bars up another inch. I know, that sounds like a lot, but none of those parts will change the character of the bike, they'll just help it run like new without the dirty work of trying to revive old wear items. More pics...

That's as high as the stem goes, which is high enough, but I'd like to sit up a little taller. Bars level with saddle.

Incredibly, the 23 year old hoods are in perfect shape. The tape's in good shape too, but I want some cushy foam tape on there.

Mag wheel polish will make these cantis shine. Try that with today's painted components. Those Weinman rims will sparkle too.

Deore crank complete with Biopace rings. Like the pedals? They'll be on Ebay.

The derailleur will need to be fully dissasembled, it's pretty well gummed up. Still shifts nicely though with the 6-speed SIS downtube levers.

I'm going to repack the hub, but I'm not going to try and get in there to polish it. If I had a prehensile tail that I could sneak between the spokes, I would. I don't. 

Imagine a Brooks B17 here. Not because they're so popular now, but because they really are comfy. Oooh, and a Kalloy radiused top post. The original post is junk. Need a new cable hanger too.

Downtube shifters! SIS with friction mode, but I'll stick with clicks. I have no problem with friction shifting, but when I have the option of a functional indexing system, I prefer it. In the rear, anyway. Un-trimmable front derailleurs drive me nuts.

1987 Schwinn catalog page

Specialized Rockhopper Single-Speed

I'm excited to see my now-orange Schwinn High Sierra in person (see previous post), which will be the second bike I've had powdercoated by Ideal Coatings (and with two Le Tours on deck, it won't be the last).
This mid-90s Specialized Rockhopper was purchased for $60 as a rolling bike minus drivetrain. The frame, fork, headset, wheels and seatpost are all original. It's a shame you can't see the quality of the powdercoating because the exposure made the frame so "hot" that it looks like the bike is made up of glowing shop-light flourescent tubes, but I assure you, it's killer. I like powdercoating because it's tough and affordable, and fast--once the parts come out of the oven, they're done (unlike paint which may stay "soft" for some time, and is never a durable as powder).

Ideal also did the cranks on this one, which are Shimano 600 units that had plenty of wear on them. Coated in semi-gloss black, they look great--especially with that BMX-style chainring (go to Dan's Comp if you want one). Other parts include Victor beartrap pedals (bargain-priced stand-ins for vintage Suntour XC-IIs), a Performance single-speed setup, cheap Kenda tires, Performance Forte stem, Dimension cruiser bars, Performance locking grips, and a cheap Performance gel saddle. This bike is strictly a neighborhood cruiser, and these parts are Lexus-quality for that kind of use.

Schwinn High Sierra now powdercoated orange!

Just got this photo from Ideal Coatings, the High Sierra is lookin' good! Perfect timing too, since I just received a box o' parts from BikeParts.com. Photos of the buildup to come...

Today's Score!

I just picked up this 1987 Schwinn Le Tour frame and fork during my lunch break (that's the actual Craigslist photo), and I'm really looking forward to getting it together. I considered just buffing it out and riding the frame as-is, but the top-tube cable guides are rusted, and I know it's going to drive me bonkers to look at them corroding as I ride. There are also plenty of scratches and gouges in the paint to make powdercoating worthwhile, so there you go--another trip to Ideal Coatings.

In addition to the frame and fork, the young man selling it also produced (from his enviable stash) an extremely well preserved set of hard-anodized 27" wheels laced to lovely low-flange aluminum hubs. Not original to the bike, but I care exactly zero about that sort of thing. I was prepared to install the wheels from the 1985 Schwinn Le Tour mixte I'm working on, but now I can have both bikes rolling. You'll see them both come together here.

Although I only had $59 in my wallet, this was enough to get me the frame and wheels. Granted, this old and not-at-all classic Schwinn might fetch $10 at a yard sale as a complete bike when sold by one non-biker to another, but the seller was (is) a bike guy, and so am I, and I love the deal I got. But oh, if I only had more money on me. He had a Voyageur SP that I briefly considered knocking him unconscious for. A Bridgestone RB-1 in the kitchen. A Falcon decked out in a full Shimano Sante group (ever seen Sante stuff? The white-painted components embody the term "80s group" even more definitively than Flock of Seagulls). It turns out he was not merely an avid collector (procurer is probably a better word) of old bikes, but he actually pays the rent by buying and selling them. Hopefully I'll be a buyer again soon--or better yet, I hope to beat him to the next Craigslist find!

Hey, I'm on Cyclofiend!

If you're not already hip to Cyclofiend, you need to check it out (and not just because my 1984 Schwinn High Sierra is there). Lots of great bikes to inspire your next build, and keep you scanning Craigslist for that next project bike. That's where I found my High Sierra, which will be the first project featured here in the garage. Why molest such a well-preserved time capsule? Well, if you look at the pic of the seatpost, you can see there's a hunk of welding rod stuck in the joint. Beneath it, there's a gap in the weld. It's just plain bad work, not up to par with the rest of the welds on the bike (or the usual standards for Giant, who built these frames for Schwinn). It bugged me more than I could stand, but I didn't want to wreck the original paint to repair the joint. So, I resolved to sell the bike. I think I asked $300, thinking there were people out there who, like me, would think this all-original bike has value as a vintage machine. As it turns out, people just viewed it as an old bike. So game on: I'm gonna fix it! I removed the paint via torch and had a friend re-weld the seatstays, and the next stop is the powder coater. I'm going to go with a nice orange, and re-build the bike with different bars and a shorter forged stem to reduce the long reach the bike had in stock form with its bullmoose bars and 24" top tube. Plus a few other choice parts swaps--you'll see.