Teon

Finally took my 1987 Schwinn traveler 12 speed out for a somewhat serious ride tonight.....around 7 miles.....

Some noob questions......

I get a little bit of a low frequency vibration when I am peddling from a low speed in a high gear.....my tires are a tad low....around 80psi when they should be closer to 90.....not sure if this is due to tires or something else.....

Some brief, but very noticeable chain slap when going along at a decent speed and then stopping pedaling and coasting.....enough to leave a lot of chain grease on the horizontal frame member just below the chain....does the rear derailer tension need to be adjusted, or is it possible that with the age of the bike, the chain needs to be replaced, or maybe the rear derailer.......or is this just normal for an older bike? (I seem to remember a lot of chain slap with my older 10 speed when I was a youngster.....)

A bit of noticeable flex in the handlebars at times......am already thinking of changing the stem to get the handlebars somewhat higher....and figured I would change the handlebars at the same time.....any suggestions for better drop handlebars?

A lot of this might just be due to my size.....am a clydesdale (mid 250s and 6'-0")

Last question.....would I be wise, with the age of the bike to clean and re-grease all the bearings?

Thanks for any help!

Retro Grouch 

How serious are you?

That's a quarter century old bike. The grease in all of the bearings has surely hardened. to make that bike all that it can be is going to require a complete overhaul. Taking everything apart, cleaning it and regreasing is fairly labor intensive. A shop is going to charge you $150.00 to $200.00 plus parts (and there will surely be some parts that need replacing).

Plan B is doing the work yourself. Parktool.com has step-by-step instructions to guide you. You are going to need a few special tools but take Park's advice on tools needed with a grain of salt - they make their money by selling tools. The downside is that you can't ride the bike until you finish the overhaul and that's likely to take a couple of weeks or more.

Plan C is to ride it the way that it is. If you find after a while that you enjoy riding that bike you're REALLY going to enjoy riding a brand new one. Treat yourself.

I recommend Plan C.

jimc101

Yep, How serious, 7 miles isn't far.

Tires, 80 PSI low for a road bike, 100-110 is more common now, how old are the tires?

For Retro Grouch's ideas. Plan C sounds best, you will have issues getting easily avaliable spares for a bike which has obsolete parts, things like the spacing of the rear wheel and the headset size are not used now, even getting a low end Trek, Specialzed or similar with STI's (brifters) will feel a lot nicer to ride than an old bike with down tube shifters.

fietsbob

In the typical bike shop we/they offer opinions and repair estimates, Free.
Consider a quick check by someone that can actually see
what you have .. will help.

and you will be on hand to have a look at what the bike biz has to offer
in new equipment.

there is value in the bike you have , to those favoring classics ,
note the C&V heading on that topic

further down the list, on this site..

Teon

Thanks for the replies. I want to do the work myself, so am thinking I will just ride it for now, and if anything starts to really make noise or give me problems, then I'll tear into it. In the meantime, I'll just make smaller adjustments, and lube the chain, that sort of thing.....

And yea, I know 7 miles on it ain't much, but have been riding my mtb off and on for a while, and finally got this road bike to see if I like it.....so far, so good. Certainly much better than riding the mtb on the road......

And apologies if I should have posted this in C&V instead.

Ira B

On a bike that old that has a dubious maintenance record it could be several things.
The first and easiest thing to try is lubing the chain. If it fixes the issue, volia! If you notice a substantial improvement tyhen you probably need a new chain.
Probably a good idea to overhaul the whole bike if you intend to continue your serious riding.

BCRider

The older style stems used on bikes of that age do flex a little. Nothing will change that. Depending on the tires 10 psi less than the max on the sidewall isn't "low". "Low" on a 90 psi rated tire would be somewhere around 60 or less. Between 60 to 90 is "tuning".

A number of things on an old bike could be causing whatever vibrations you're feeling. It's one of those things that is impossible to diagnose over the web. Have a shop test ride it and describe when and how you're riding when it happens and what it feels like and where the vibration seems to be coming from.

And yes, as already suggested the entire bike from stem to stern could easily use a full "open heart transplant" level of stripping down, cleaning, checking and re-assembly with fresh lubricants. Likely it would benefit a lot from new housings and cables as well.

I'm not sure what sort of quality level a Traveler was in it's day. Unless it's got some fairly nice vintage style components and some nice steel in the frame then likely it isn't worth much at all.

A good start is to see if it has chromed steel rims or are they aluminium. If they are chromed steel then that says the bike is a basic bottom level bike. At that point it's going to cost a lot more for a shop to fully service it than what the bike is worth. If the rims and hubs are aluminium then it's likely that this is a more upscale mid line or better model and could be worth some bucks or time spent on it.

If you're not sure where you're going with your riding take it out and ride it a few more times. Then decide if you want to fix the old one up or buy a new bike.

fietsbob

Plan on buying a few bike tools to proceed with the DIY repairs.
https://www.parktool.com/

pick a job, get the tools and spare parts .
one system at a time

If you have access to a Co-Operative there may be a bike repair
time share , tool rental, membership arraignment..

Such as Eugene Bike works on 1st st.

Teon

Thanks for the advice.....from the research I have done on the bike, it is a mid level bike for that year....certainly not upper end, but also not lower end. Good aluminum wheels, 4130 chromoly frame, decent components for that time, etc....

I realize I need to ride it a lot more, which I plan to do.....and actually, a complete overhaul sounds like it might be quite enjoyable. (Especially since I have a mtb for a spare bike that is very rideable) The bike is in very good cosmetic condition, and there is no rust on the bike at all.....and it really doesn't look like it was ever ridden much(the original tires didn't have much wear on them.....just ancient, old, and cracked).

Anyways, I'll give it some more riding time, and see if anything else crops up, as well as fine tuning it, etc. I'll tinker with 'one system at a time', as advised, as that sounds like a very wise approach, especially since I'll be buying tools as I go. I'll do some general lubing, probably replace the brakes with some better tektro r556s....adjust the handlebars some more......etc. I have enough tools to do general work on it.

Then maybe a tear down and regrease a little further down the road......

I appreciate the tips, advice, and links.....thanks!

And yea, Fiets, wish there was a coop of some sort up my way......but I have to buy most of my own tools and such.....which I had wanted to do anyways.

wrk101

Keep riding it without attending to the bearings, and you could be replacing the bottom bracket and the hubs, rather than replacing 75 cents worth of bearings. Cone wrenches are cheap, bottom bracket and crank tools are more costly.

Also sounds like your freewheel needs a thorough flushing (cleaning) and relubrication. Easy to do. Most bikes of that era that I find need this service as well.