Bikedued

Oddly enough, this one has a welded head tube joint?,,,BD

neo_pop_71

Really? Man, that's strange! Why would they braze some frames and not others? I bought mine from my buddy's dad back around 1990 or so, I had it set up as a 26" BMX style single speed. I figured it was an ideal frame given the brazed head tube, long rear stays, and semi-horizontal drop outs... plus it was small for me, so it rode like a S.E. "O.M." Flyer (which I could never afford at the time as a starving college student). There must be something to it, it's hung around all these years where so many other bikes have gone away.

Bikedued

I had one in that same color of course it was the size of the beige/brown I have now. I also have the exact same work stand, and it looks to be in the same condition, hehe.,,,,BD

Chris Chicago

i'm close to finishing an 84 high sierra. spent an hour last night tweaking the fork straight with a 2x4 and my sofa. super high tech work.

frantik

man i dunno if it's just me but that looks like a mega TT

LesterOfPuppets

Nothin' like a mega TT with a mega setback post!

RFC

Looks great. I have used a similar high tech method to realign a rear triangle.

Chris Chicago

the tt is pretty close to the st in length, oddly. I had an 87 sierra with 55st 62tt so i was surprised that this one was more even.

the qr seat post was a bit of puzzle at first. i thought i could use it to take the seat off, but it only allows you to slide it back and forth quickly.

might take some time to get everything dialed in fit wise. not sure I like the stem jacked up that much, etc.

mainstreetexile 

Has anyone weighed their drop-bar conversions? Just curious what the weight range is for all of the bikes that we're seeing here.

wrk101

Haven't weighed my Cimmaron, but like most steel MTBs from that era, weight is up there for sure. I should weigh the Univega Alpina Pro first, I think it is quite a bit lighter. And tire choice enters into it as well.

wrk101

I don't know how hard it will be to find, but you need to consider a frame perhaps 2 inches bigger +/-.

Chris Chicago

you may be right. though I'm only 6'2 and ride a 60cm road bike. this "23" was the biggest schwinn made that year. large mtb frames are a bit harder to find. we shall see.

frantik

using my bathroom scale, my univega alpina pro weighs in around 28 lbs, though I've got some pretty heavy tires on there. With lighter tires I think i could bring it down to 25-26lbs

OTS 

Have a question about shifter set up.
Are you guys running friction Suntour barcons?
My experience is they can only handle 5 or 6 in the rear or
are you guys running indexed shimano barcons with 7/8 speed in the rear.
Is anyone running brifters?
Thanks

ThermionicScott 

Mine weighs 31 lbs without tools, lights, or water bottle. And that's with the benefit of being a fixed-gear conversion!

frantik

yeah both my Diamondbacks are pretty heavy :\ the 86 Apex is my grocery getter/hauler, so the weight doesn't matter as much.

hairnet

They can handle 8 speed just fine. I even played with them on 9 and 10 but the cog spacing is too narrow and the ratchet is too coarse, so it can get tricky

neo_pop_71

Originally I was going to run Soma Sparrow bars with XT 7 speed indexed thumb shifters because I had them in the bin. However, after seeing a Surly Crosscheck on Flickr with Sparrow bars and STI brifters, I figured why not do the same. That's the similar set up to my cyclocross bike. The guy on Flickr made shims from 3/32nds material, so that was easy enough to copy since he'd done all the trial and error. I'll be running some cheap Sora STI brifters to see if I like the set up, if I do dig it, then I'll to rebuild with Campy ergo 10 speed. The Sora 8 speed levers are similar to the Campy levers, both have a ratcheting brake lever and a thumb shifter in the interior of the lever. I just upgraded my wife's Simonetti road bike with Campy ergo 10 speed, she loves it and I'm jealous.

Here is a link to the custom Surly Crosscheck with the STI "brifters"

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21201950@N07/3069177592/


Here is my initial set up, I started playing with stem height, bar angle, and shifters angle... I think I nailed it!

neo_pop_71

Exactly! I've been able to get all 8 gears with various friction shifters. Especially nice have been the Suntour Power shifters, nice ratcheting action, tall, all metal, a strap clamp, and a long arm. You'll have to pop to new shifters if you want to run more than 8 speed. I don't see the point if you're running a triple up front, maybe if I were running a modern double set up (but I'm too cheap to buy that), I've yet to need more than 24 speeds.

rodar y rodar

Great pics, Wrk! But what the heck convinced you to make Zion a winter trip !?! At 19F, you probably got off easy

No kidding? It sure doesn`t look like 30+ to me.

My Schwinn Impact runs around there, depending on tires, but I hope to slim down for the Rockhopper out in my shed. Hoping for (dreaming?) something around 25 dressed out.

azgreg

I keep coming back to this thread to look at this bike, I love it. What tire/size are you running?

frantik

those are Kenda K838 26x1.95".. i have them on two of my bikes. they're an excellent "budget" fat tire slick.. have only had one flat in over a year and a half and that was while turning hard through a bunch of broken glass. only downside is they are heavy and not very supple.

Sprayman

Wish I could say the same about my midsection.

wrk101

First problem with brifters is cost. Second problem is that you will need to change out FD to a road version. Myself, part of the exercise was to do a conversion, with a garage sale bike, at minimal cost.

I always use the Suntour friction barcons. Pricing has firmed up quite a bit on them, I am fortunate to have gotten a nice supply before the run up. If you don't mind the additional work, I have gotten a couple of sets off flip bikes, a 1977 Nishiki International for example. The International is not really a touring bike, and the market around here for a bike like that, will not appreciate (or even like) barcons. So I swapped them out with DT levers, which are plentiful.

Sometimes, the best source for a specific part is a complete bike.

LesterOfPuppets

Totally! That's how I got my RSX 7sp brifters. Complete bike for $60. Took a few flushing sessions to get the brifters working but they've been doing well for a couple of years now.