Teon

Finally, I found a decent, old school road bike. From all the pics and questions that I looked at and asked, it seems to be in exceptional condition. Super clean 1987, 4130 chromoly frame, USA made, Schwinn Traveler 12 speed. Exactly what I was looking for, as I didn't want to dump a lot of money into a newer bike until I found out if I truly wanted to be a road biker, again.(Been a long time since I owned, and USED something like this)

Got a great deal, especially for here in Oregon(used and collectible bikes here go for a premium, that's for sure) on an Ebay bike. At least this bike will have wonderful resale value here if I don't like it's ride.

I am terribly excited, as I can now retire the horrid mountain bike to mountain bike duties,(ie the great camping and fishing bike that it is) rather than having to fill a notch that it's horribly unsuited for.

This Schwinn bike is supposedly in a rideable condition, altho I will probably need to eventually replace the tires.

Any comments/ideas on if I need to replace the tires/rims to handle my weight?

Am currently 260 lbs, and the bike has 27 x 1 1/8 tires on it. Looks like 32 spoke aluminum alloy wheels. Should I consider going to 700c and wider tires, or just replacing the existing tires with 27 x 1 1/4 kevlar sidewall style road rubber? Can I mount 700c tires on 27" wheels, or do I need to change the wheels, as well?

Thanks for any comments and/or ideas.

GeoBigJon

Congrats on finding the new ride. I would say wait to get the bike in and see what if anything has to be replaced now. I would consider just riding it as is and seeing what feels like it needs replacing and you can get a feel for what you want to replace.

Profgumby

I've done just that myself. I have a 1974 Schwinn Continental that was in great shape and got the bike for like 60 bucks off Craigslist. I put new gumwalls on it, swapped out the saddle and rode it for a season and a half now. Last year it was my main road bike and this year it will be a backup/ride it for the fun of it/rainy day bike. I will need to replace the brake pads and want to re run the cables and replace the housings, but so far so good. I may also inspect and repack the bearings for the heck of it. And the rubber is being switched to a more aggressive tread to handle the wet weather and the occasional foray onto a dirt road. I also got a early 80's Sprint for my son, same thing new tires and off we went.

If you are in a big urban biking area, look at stuff from smaller nearby communities. As an example, in North East Wisconsin, Continental was 60 or 65 dollars. Same bike in Madison Wi would fetch about 150...

Great value in the 70's and early 80's Schwinn's! And they are built so tough! I bet my '74 outlasts me!! (I'm 46)

Enjoy your new ride Teon!

CJ C

I found out with my old road bike i am fixing up, is that if you switch to 700c's wheels(rims) you will need to change the brake calipers which is an extra not need cost.

with the 27 inch wheels your tire options shrink, but still good enough where you wont be missing out.

IDK with your weight about the wheels, but if you do what i did and take to the LBS for a good inspection and truing they should be fine unless you like to bunny hop curbs

CraigB

As CJ C said, you won't find as many available 27" tires, and no, to the best of my knowledge you can't put 700c tires on 27" wheels - I think there's about a half-inch difference in diameter between the two sizes, which even makes changing to 700c wheels potentially problematic, depending on the reach of the brake calipers.

flippin_bikes

I think that if you get the stock wheels checked out to make sure they are true win proper spoke tension, you'll be fine with some 27 by 1-1/4 tires. I like the Forte Strada Kevlar from performance bike. They are usually on sale for 12.99. Continental and Vittoria also make a decent 27" tire if you are feeling a bit spendier.

You can't run 700c tires on your 27" rims. 700c rims are smaller in diameter by about 8mm. If you are looking to run 700c wheels in your bike, the brake calipers will need ling enough brake pad slots to move the pads down another 4mm (this is th difference of radius between 27" and 700c rims). Since, you bought this bike to see how you like road bikes, it is probably best not to spend too much money on the bike if you don't have to. If you like it, you can probably recoup most your money to spend towards a new(er) bike or keep the Schwinn as a backup.

Teon

Thanks so much for all the replies. I'll see what the bike is like when it gets here, and probably just replace the tires, if needed, and have the wheels checked and trued by my lbs. Prudent advice on not dumping much money into it until I see how it feels and such. (pardon my giddy, noobie excitement....lol)

I live in a small town/farm country area with a few small and medium sized towns here and there. There are some really decent bike paths in the area where I plan to spend most of my time with this bike, initially. Very safe riding, with not too much other bike/runner traffic, and pleasant scenery and smooth pavement. The county just repaired/repaved the main north/south bike path, and the east/west bike path that runs over to the river is brand new....probably about 10-15 miles worth of good bike paths around here....and then a lot of decent, fairly quiet country roads, as well. The bike paths will be very conducive to checking the bike out and seeing what's good and what's not so good about the bike. I'm really looking forward to it.

Seattle Forrest

It's our custom here, that when people get new bikes, they must appease the crowd with pictures of their new rides.

Erwin8r

Yeah, pictures or it doesn't exist! LOL!

Teon

I've been reading here long enough now to know that pics are required....lol. It's just a figment of my imagination until I post pics, after all.

It should be here early next week, and after I put it back together and initially test ride and adjust it, I'll be sure to take some shots and post it here.

Of course, maybe I should take shots of it BEFORE I ride it just in case I crash......lol.

Any recommendations on a good bicycle repair/adjustment book/ebook? Hopefully my existing tools will be enough to put the bike back together.(Typical ratchet set with metric and US, as well as a good assortment of hex and star wrenches and such, and lots of screw drivers, both flat and phillips)

I probably need to clear out a small section of the garage so I don't need to pull the car out every time I want to work on the bike....lol. Might be a good opportunity to give my mountain bike some more attention, as well.

Also, how do I post pics here? Do I need a separate photo site, like Flikr or something like that to post pics here? (I have both a flikr and smugmug site)

jethro56 

Pasting an img tag from a 3rd party site is is the easiest way to post pictures.

CJ C

i have found youtube to be pretty good, i learned how to adjust a derailleur from it, got mine silky smooth. well as smooth as you can get stem shifters to shift

seulement

Still waiting for those pics.... ;^)

nfmisso

Teon;

Looks like a got a great new ride

A couple of suggestions: I am a bit heavier than you and commute (12 miles each way) on an '85 Schwinn World Tourist, which I purchased new, and extensively reworked last year.
https://s211.photobucket.com/albums/bb8/dianemisso/Red%20Bike%20110609/

The brakes on the bike you are getting are SCARY !! Get some nutted (important) Tektro R556 or R559 - they stop as well as linear pull (V-brakes) brakes. They also have enough adjustment range that you can fit ISO 622 (700c) wheels if you choose in the future.

I stayed with ISO 630 (27") wheels on mine. On the front, I have a Bell Kevlar tire from Wal-mart. I ran over something nasty, and the local Wal-marts did not have any in stock, so I went with a Specialized All Condition Armadillo on the rear. It is much heavier than the Bell, about 3X the cost, but practically indestructable.

Get the rear wheel tensioned, trued, stress relieved and re-trued. The tensioning and stress relieving are very very important. There are only a three reasons a wheel ever needs to be re trued:
1. it was not properly stress relieved when built.
2. the hub is cracked - not safe, should not be ridden.
3. the rim is cracked or severely dented - not safe.

If you are going to have a LBS true the wheel anyway; I would replace the spokes with Wheelsmith SS14 spokes, true it up the best you can, then have them do the tension, true, stress relieve and re-true. This will result in a practically indestructable wheel.

wiredfoxterror

n+1 on youtube - I have a laptop in my garage so I can watch while I work on the bike.

Teon

Fedex tracking tells me it should be here Wednesday.

Teon

Thanks for the advice! I'll especially check out the brakes after reading what you posted. Figured after I put it back together once it gets here, that I would take it for a few very short rides to see what needs to be done.

Btw, you got a nice looking older schwinn.

Edit: If the brakes are really that bad once I get the bike, wouldn't new brake levers also help? It currently has white bar tape, and I was thinking about changing that to dark blue or black anyways......and figured while I was doing that, I would also change the brake levers and add some interrupt brake levers as well. I figured that would be a fairly easy first thing that I could do myself.

Teon

Here's my new ride.....


DSC_6077 by KMTech, on Flickr


DSC_6076 by KMTech, on Flickr
Those aren't scratches you see, but are grease smudges from my dirty hands putting the bike back together......shameful, I know......


DSC_6075 by KMTech, on Flickr


DSC_6074 by KMTech, on Flickr


DSC_6073 by KMTech, on Flickr


DSC_6072 by KMTech, on Flickr


DSC_6071 by KMTech, on Flickr

Definitely needs new tires before I ride it any longer than just down our neighborhood street and back. Back tire actually looks pretty good, but the front tire is beginning to split. Bike feels pretty good....really good size for me. Shifts good and brakes well, although I need to adjust the brakes and wheel alignment some more.....but that will be after I get the tires on.
From what I can tell, wheels seem to be pretty true.....and no dings or dents to the frame. Some scratches here and there, but not very many.

I already removed the toe clips on the pedals......I might replace the bar tape....but it's in ok condition, so will keep it white for now. Not sure if I like the side view mirror, or not.

I was going to take it to the lbs and get the tires done, but thought 'no, get the tires and do them yourself....learn how to work on this bike'. Plus I need to be able to easily fix a puncture on the road, if need be, so might as well start getting used to how to do it....been awhile.....lol.

Any recommendations for good online bike tire stores? Figured I would go with a 27" x 1-1/4" tire, instead of the stock 1-1/8".

Anyways, I'm pretty pleased....looking forward to getting some new tires on her and taking her on a longer shake down ride.

Edit: Smudges on frame and wheels are from my greasy hands putting it back together

Erwin8r

Wow! That is one clean $60 bike!! Good job! biketires.com is a decent place...

Edit: Oops--I see that yours wasn't the $60 Schwinn... But still, it is nice!

Teon

I wish it had been 60 bucks!!!! (No way finding something that cheap, in non-beater, rust bucket condition in my area....I looked at several bikes that were older, in rattier shape, and about 200-300 asking price.....ridiculous, I know) This bike ended up being around 200 bucks, with shipping...so around 140 for the bike.....but I am still really pleased with it......it is very, very clean for it's age, imo. And if I end up not liking it, I can easily sell it in my area for probably around 200. However, after riding it a couple times, even with the bad tires, I think it'll probably end up as a keeper, and something for me to tinker with in the next few years.

Yea, I was looking at biketiresdirect.com, as they're somewhat local(Portland)......I'll be sure to check out several places, though, before buying.....

JT Burkard

Nice bike, very clean. Good luck with it.

Teon

Thanks, JT.....I like it.

CJ C

oh my that is a dang nice bike for only 200 duckies!!!!!!! congrats on the great find.

Teon

Thanks, CJ. This bike came from your area. (Not saying it was made there....meant that it shipped from your area)

DTSCDS

That is a very nice looking ride!
On Flikr there should be a way to get the URL for the actual photo you want to post. Then you come on here and click on the "Insert Image" button. Click on the "URL" option and insert the URL from Flikr. That way your photo will show up in the post and not be a link that needs to be clicked.