I just picked the fork up. It cost me $60 and some grief over the mechanic's new set of blisters. He used an adjustable reamer and did it all by hand to a depth of 4" out of a possible 9.5". I measured it and, as I suspected, it now has the same OD, ID, wall thickness, etc as my Fuji touring with the similar Ishiwata steerer tube. The only difference now is that the Schwinn's lower 5.5" remains thicker (stronger?) than anything else in my fleet.
I have more parts to buy, modify and re-engineer before this thing hits the road, but I'll be sure to give a ride update and let everyone know if it breaks.
Maybe I'll try to squeeze my 700c fixed wheelset into the frame and see if the fork can handle some skids. That would be a good test.
Last edited by jjvw; 03-26-08 at 06:40 PM.