TallRider

So I've posted threads about both of these bikes in the Mechanics' forum, but people who I see in C&V don't always come around to the mech forum so I'm posting about these bikes here, as well.
I recently finished building up both a 1980 Schwinn Traveler and a commuter build using a nearly identical frame, from a 1978 Schwinn Le Tour III.

Both frames 68.5cm (27") frames with 63cm top tube, made of straight-gauge high-tensile steel (1020) tubing, with lugged construction. Stamped horizontal dropouts with no derailer hanger, requiring a "claw" to attach rear derailer to the drive-side rear dropout. Both frames are also a similar hue of blue, sort of like Carolina Blue but a bit darker and more saturated. They're designed for 27-inch rims, and won't take anything smaller with the Dia-Compe centerpull brakes that came stock with both bikes. And both frames weigh just under 10 pounds for frame+fork+headset.

Also, both bikes have ridiculously high standover height, such that I can stand over with zero clearance while barefoot, or with about one inch clearance when wearing shoes. This makes the bikes a less likely target for stealing, as no one who's shorter than 6'4" can even stand over the top tube.

I've outfitted the Le Tour for commuting utility, with 1x7 gearing, and a rear wheel with 7-speed cassette that I built specifically for this bike. A 13-34 cassette is paired with a 40t (steel) chainring (set at 41.5mm chainline) - the crank came on the Schwinn Traveler when I bought it, and has a chainguard built into the spider so I don't need to worry about pant-legs and drive-side shoelaces, or about the chain falling off. I used a 7-speed rapidfire shifter and a rear derailer with integrated "claw" hanger, taken off an old mountain bike with horizontal dropouts and now derailer hanger. The flat bar is topped off with bar-ends (which I use when riding along at a constant speed without need to shift or brake), a little horn (rated for ages 3-5!), a speedometer, and a blinking light.

The Traveler is built up as a nice-ish road bike, with 45cm Nitto drop bars, new Tektro brake levers, used SunTour bar-end shifters, pre-indexing Shimano 600 rear derailer, a 105 crank with 52/42/ biopace rings, a 6-speed freewheel and super-durable 27" touring wheels. It rides great and looks much prettier than the Le Tour, and not just because the paint job is in better shape.

There's more detailed information in threads in the Mechanics' forum, about the builds and parts list:
Schwinn 1978 Le Tour III commuting build
Schwinn 1980 Traveler road build

Here are links to galleries with lots of photos of the bikes, along with a few pictures to spark your interest:
Schwinn 1978 Le Tour III commuting build, which has links to pictures of the sweet rear wheel and pictures of the bike in its earlier commuting incarnation with drop bars and 1x5 gearing.
Schwinn 1980 Traveler road build

reverborama

Yeah, you'll get a lot more sympathy and cudos over here. There are a lot of Schwinn fans, especially of lugged Japanese ones. Wow, though, 27 inches is a BIG frame. I've got a 25 inch Varsity and even at 6-3 I'm not sure I if I could stand over anything much higher without coming off my heels. I didn't see any info on how much they weigh (unless I missed it). What are they tipping the scales at?

pastorbobnlnh 

Tim, it's always good to hear from you and to see your giant (as in size, not manufacturer) Schwinns. Some people just can't appreciate the durability of 1020 steel. While a little heavy, for us big guys, what does it matter? May a warm gentle breeze always blow gently upon your back.

pastorbobnlnh 

My 25" Traveler and Paramount always lets me know they are under me!

TallRider

I just added info about the weight to the OP. Both frames weigh just under 10 pounds for frame+fork+headset. Nice 'n' big.

1020 steel is fine, but cro-moly alloys are significantly stronger metal, which allow the frames to be lighter and more responsive. I used to have a cro-mo Schwinn frame, a 25-inch 1983 Le Tour Luxe otherwise similar to the two 27-inch frames (straight-gauge tubing, stamped dropouts, no derailer hanger, 21.15mm quill stem required). It was over two pounds lighter for the frameset and rides more responsively. But was too small for me, so I built it up for a friend in my department:

redxj

Nice work. A 27" frame is huge. I say that being 6'6" tall, and owning a couple 26" Schwinn frames (1020 Traveler, and two 4130 Le Tours). I am going to build up one of the Le Tours into an all weather fixed gear commuter w/fenders after a repaint on the frame/fork. I just haven't decided what color to go yet. If I remember my measurements the 26" come out to 66cm seat tube and a 61cm top tube.

TallRider

This sounds really nice. I have half a mind of doing something like that myself, albeit with singlespeed as I think it makes more sense for commuting (esp. as I live in a hilly area, much moreso than SE Michigan).

silversmith

They both look good Tim. I can't pick between them.

The paint has a nice bright glow. Did you tweak it somehow?

splytz1

Nice builds.
Is that an IRD freewheel on the commuter? What are your impressions?

TallRider

No tweaks on the paint, beyond touching up chipped spots with clear nail-polish.

The commuting bike has a cassette, not a freewheel. I have no experience with the IRD freewheels, although I expect they'd function like typical ramped cassettes.

The rear wheel is a pretty cool job. I needed a 27" (630mm) rim because the brake pads are already at the bottom of the brake arms, and can't go 4mm further down to handle a 700c (622mm) rim. I also wanted a 7-speed cassette, since I'm a big guy (I weigh only 180# which is light for my height) and nearly always bend the axles on freewheel hubs, unless they're 5-speed.
I used a Shimano Nexave silent clutch freehub (b/c I got it for cheap, and it had good mtb-worthy seals on it, I don't really care if it's silent) and spaced it down from 135mm to 128mm, which requires me to flex the 124mm-spaced dropouts a bit when installing the wheel.
The rim is an NOS Araya single-wall, 36-hole rim, relatively light at 480g. Wasn't the easiest to build up - it's relatively soft - but should be durable enough.
I used DT 14/15/14 double-butted spokes and laced up the wheel half-radial: 3-cross on the drive-side and radial on the non-drive-side. The hub isn't rated for radial spoking, which officially voids Shimano's warranty (like I was ever going to use it on a hub that I bought for $15), but since the non-drive-side spokes are significantly lower tension in a highly-dished road wheel, the flange isn't actually endangered. Plus, non-drive-side spokes don't need to carry much torque in a dished wheel, and the fact that radial spokes don't carry torque will mean less fluctuation in the already-low-tension non-drive-side spokes, so less likelihood of spoke heads breaking from fatigue. Or so argues Sheldon Brown. It mainly just looks really cool, especially with the spoke washers and spoke heads all on the outside of the non-drive-side flange.