Bicycle Mechanics - Schwinn Voyager, is it worth upgrading rims/shifting?

I was thinking about upgrading my Schwinn Voyager - touring bike. It has heavy rims, and the old friction shifters. If I wanted to upgrade to lighter rims (not top of the line) and maybe the shifting - to index shifting, how much would it run? This bike is for my rainy commutes, I do have my Bianchi Talladega for good weather and riding weekends. I would like to use the Voyager more - around town and fun rides.

Got a photo of it you could post? Might help determine where you're starting from with it. Since it comes from the friction-shifting era, it is going to have 27" rims, and that is going to put a crimp on your rim selection. I've used 700C rims on my old Voyager, but no guarantees it will work on all years of them.

Nikos, keep your eyes open for some mid 1980's or early 1990's bikes that you can junk pick for free and **** the parts. They usually have 27" aluminum rims - lighter than the steel rims on your Voyager.

If you are lucky, you can find some down-tube shifters to switch-out with the Voyager's stem-mount shifters. I'm trying to remember... did the Voyager have upright handlebars or drop bars? If they are uprights, you could switch to some trigger style shifters from an old discarded mountain bike.

If it has drop bars, you could possibly find a pair of old bar-end shifters, but I think they are a maintanance headache and don't recommend them.

With old bikes like Voyagers, it doesn't really make a lot of sense to upgrade with expensive new parts, unless you have some special attachment to the Voyager or it just fits you and rides like no other. You can have a ball hunting for good used parts from free or almost free bikes.

Originally posted by mechBgon
I've used 700C rims on my old Voyager, but no guarantees it will work on all years of them.

You may be correct, mechBgon, but based on my experience, it seems to me that all or at least most of the '70's/80's/early '90's Schwinn 10-speeds had the same length chain stays for both girl's and boy's bikes no matter what size the bike was. Even the later Taiwanese made Schwinns (i.e. Sprint) had the same chain stay lengths as the earlier USA made 10-speeds (i.e. Varsity, Continental).

I suppose it made a lot of sense for manufacturing.

Anyway, if this holds true as I have noticed, then it should be possible (though not necessarily practical) to put 700 mm wheels on Nikos's Voyager as well.

Nikos,
Does your Voyageur (Mine is a Voyageur, not Voyager, but there may have been both) have steel rims? My early 80s Voyageur has excellent 40 spoke aluminum rims that were original equipment. I wouldn't dream of changing them.
Regards,
Raymond

You should be able to buy 27" NEW Alloy rims for less than $50.00 and Index shifters for about $15.00.

Originally posted by mike


You may be correct, mechBgon, but based on my experience, it seems to me that all or at least most of the '70's/80's/early '90's Schwinn 10-speeds had the same length chain stays for both girl's and boy's bikes no matter what size the bike was. Even the later Taiwanese made Schwinns (i.e. Sprint) had the same chain stay lengths as the earlier USA made 10-speeds (i.e. Varsity, Continental).

I suppose it made a lot of sense for manufacturing.

Anyway, if this holds true as I have noticed, then it should be possible (though not necessarily practical) to put 700 mm wheels on Nikos's Voyager as well.

The '88 Voyageur I had was equipped with Wolber Model 58's (40-spoke rear, as RainmanP remembers too). Classic aluminum touring rims :) The Voyageurs in that era were full-blown touring bikes with 18" chainstays, 43"+ wheelbases, and were built with Columbus SP tubing. Definitely a cut above the Le Tours and such. I sure miss mine... my best friend from college has it these days.

Sounds like a nice wheel. What's to upgrade?

Bar end shifters are no maintenance headache! Even if you got index shifers,you rear cogset would have to be index ccapable and you would need an index capable rear derailer.there is more to it than just shifters. switching from 27" to 700c wheels raises issues of brake reach too.

What I have done with similar bikes (e.g., Peugeot UO-8, Shwinn Varsity):
1) Replace stem shifters with either ratchet barcons or downtube-mounted friction units.
2) Replace 27" steel rims with 700C aluminum, provided that the brake calipers have sufficient reach.
3) Replace cottered steel cranks with cotterless aluminum.
4) Replace 5-speed freewheel with 6- or 7-speed.
5) Modify pedals as needed to accept toe clips.

With a good set of wheels, any basic 10-speed except a Huffy/Murray boat anchor can turn into a theft-resistant, surprisingly enjoyable, practical transportation bike.

Just went to the garage, the rims on my Voyager are Wobler model 58 Super Champions. So are these rims decent then. The bike itself is a tank, but I do understand that its for touring. Considering I paid 20 bucks for it at St Vincent - Im not going to complain to much. How about the components, the cranks are Tourney XT and the headset says Tangy and Shimano for the shifters and other things.

Hey,

I just started commuting in the city of Boston and happened upon this site, which has given me much valuable information in my search for a good commuting bike. However, I take exception to inconsiderate, rude, and hurtful language. In the post to which I am replying, the term "****" is used to mean, "take." See below:

""Nikos, keep your eyes open for some mid 1980's or early 1990's bikes that you can junk pick for free and **** the parts. They usually have 27" aluminum rims - lighter than the steel rims on your Voyager.""

While I am sure the OP, Mike, is unaware of the true meaning of the word "****," it is indeed a offensive term for a person of the Jewish religion. There are several other historical meanings, including "to kick; or to stare," neither of which seem to fit the usage of the term in the sentence in question.

Perhaps the OP meant, "take" and missed a couple of letters. For whatever reason, the term is offensive and the OP, if he is still around, should take care to edit his post so as not to inadvertently offend anyone.

This thread is five years old and no one else has complained, nor would as many people have seen it if you hadn't dug it out of the archives. Let sleeping dogs lie...

You should ask a mod to change your username as it is a bad idea to have your email addy openly exposed on message boards. Unless want to be spammed to death that is...

I have an 88 Voyageur and left the wheelset on. It's a better set than what you could buy in 700c unless you are interested in spending a lot of money. There is still a good selection of 27 in tires, I went to Continental Ultra Gatorskins. I also went to trekking bars and put 8 speed SIS thumb shifters on it (am using a Shimano Mega Range 6 speed cassette), the indexing works great and spent $5.00 on the shifters used at a swap meet. It has cantilever brakes and I swapped out the road brake levers with Shimano MTB canti brake levers.
Have fun with it, it's a great bike..mine is used for daily commute carring panniers and long distance riding.

Hey, I just got a schwinn voyager and was thinking about getting better wheels, 700c wheels. Did you have the stock cantis on there or were they caliper? mine is an 84 Do you think it will work with mine?