cuda2k

The newest addition to my collection - the bike that will become my commuter and possible light touring bike. Purchased this bike locally from a gentleman who commonly sells vintage bikes on craigslist and ebay that he finds at estate sales here in Dallas.

If the headbadge stamping is to believed it is a 1986 Schwinn Passage with Columbus Tenax tubes. Rack and fender mounts on both front and rear dropouts and seat stays. Three water bottle mounts and nice long chain stays. Headbadge is a Schwinn Chicago version stamped 0236. The serial number I located under the BB shell: SJ598388

The componet group is interesting to say the least and most certainly mixed:

Shimano Light Action long cage rear derailleur
SunTour XC Sport triple front derailleur
Sakae CX triple crank w/ 50/46/? chain rings
Sachs downtube shifters
DiaCompe brakes
Wheels have Belgium made Weinmann 27" rims with French made Schwinn Approved hubs.
Saddle is a San Marco
SR takes care of the stem, bars and pedals

--------------------------------

Changes and additions planned:

Fenders and rear rack will be added
Planning on moving to V-Brakes and 700c wheels w/ 8sp cassette
Sora Brifters and Sora front Derailleur
Dual 20W front lights and a rear blinky wired into a rechargable battery
SR Road Champion Sakae Randnner handlebar

-IF I can't run the v-brakes w/ the 700c's-

Then I'll mount a 6 or 7speed freewheel on the current wheelset and use barend shifters or perhaps Kelly Takeoffs. I have a pair of Shimano 105 7speed SIS shifters.

If anyone has an old front reflector bracket for threaded headsets I am interested in one in good/decent shape. Especially if it has a hole to run cable through for Canti/Center pull brakes in the case I have to forego the V-brakes.

And of course - pics!













- and you can see my Gazelle hiding in the corner. Currently without a space on the rack till I get my next shipment from Performance.

cyclotoine

sweet, I love cantilevers on these old bikes. I have 3! however I have not seen the roller hanger before. does anyone know where you can get these? If your V-brake conversion goes well I would take the brake set off your hands!

cuda2k

well, V-brakes aren't looking good from the short test fit I just did. Check loosescrews.com for the roller hangers. I think they had them last time I went there I think I saw some. Definately fitting the bike with new casing and cables. They look lightly used, but also most likely original. And thus 20 years old. Anyone have any information on the shifters?

cyclotoine

Hopefully you can find some nice 27inch touring tires. I believe the brake pads are original too as they are what came on my girlfriends all original Norco Magnum GT which has the same brakes except for the roller hangers.

well biked

Wow, nice lookin' bike, cuda!........Couldn't help but notice the "SJ6" serial number you mentioned. You mentioned in the earlier thread the bike was made in Japan......is this true according to the labels? According to a very shaky serial number pattern we've sorta begun to establish on '80's Schwinns, it had seemed the serials starting with "S" on '80's Schwinns might indicate frame manufacture at the Schwinn plant in Mississippi (and SJ6 might indicate the frame was built in July, '86). Anything on the frame that says "USA" made, or something similar, by chance?......Regardless, great bike, congratulations!

edit: okay, July '86 is out for the frame, since it seems to have been assembled in January. "J" should have been September instead of July anyway. Oh well. I have no idea.........wait! the third digit's a 5, that would make sense: frame manufactured Sept. '85.........maybe.

cuda2k

Well, I believed that it was Japanese made as most models I knew of using Tenax tubes were. However it DOES have the 'Schwinn Chicago' badge and not a Schwinn Approved version. So it could very well be American made. Which would please me just fine. I'd then have a European (Dutch), American and Japanese frame in the collection.

As far as my new plans: forget Sora brifters. I'm now either going to pick up a pair of 7speed barend shifters (I had a pair but just traded them off, isn't that the way it goes. But they went to someone who could use them and I am enjoying the downtube shifters I got in return. OR a pair of Kelly Takeoffs w/ my pair of Shimano downtube shifters I have now. That will put the shift levers next to the brake levers. And I'll either use a pair of Shimano SLR brake levers or perhaps go back to my favs the R200A's on my other two bikes.

Anyone have an information on the demand for these Sachs Hurret shifters on the bike now? They are friction w/ a ratchet feel in one direction. They feel good and may hang on to them, but may have to sell them off to cover other costs.

Tires, with the 27" rim - my main option will be 1 1/4" wide IRC DuraWinner II's. I have the 1 1/8" width on the Barracuda and they have treated me well thus far.

well biked

FWIW, which probably isn't much at this point , if there's no labeling at all indicating country of manufacture, combined with the "S" serial, I'd say it's more likely Mississippi-built than anything else. There have been cases of Columbus Tenax Schwinns from the '80's that have been labeled American made, discussed here. The Japanese-made Schwinns I've seen have all been clearly labeled "Made in Japan for Schwinn" or something similar, on the upper part of the seat tube. The "Chicago" headbadge pretty much means nothing, as we've determined they put those on lots of models long after the Chicago plant had shut down, some from the U.S. (Mississippi), some not......btw, I think you've made a good choice on the shifters, in deciding not to go with the brifters...........I really like my barcons on my le tour luxe.

cuda2k

Think I'll try to snag a pair of barcons. Then when I do campy on the Gazelle I'll have one brifter equipped, one barcon equipped, and one friction downtube equipped. Some KoolStops on the canti's and new levers should be plenty of stopping power.

cyclotoine

sorry if this is off topic. I am building a 2nd touring bike currently and the shifting has been my main concern. It has shimano 600 specific braze ones which I hope I can fit DT adjusters on somehow... I have thought brifters, Kellys, barcons.... and I have wondered, why hasn't anyone developed a barcon adapter thingy that you can attach your DT shifters too? I swear I saw something like this... it looked like a barcon that just incorporated downtube shifters and it looked manufactured that way. I guess you would have to worry about knee clearance though.

crazyb

Beautiful Schwinn!!

top506

Rivendell makes a barcon pod that takes most DT shifters.
Top

Mariner Fan

Hey Cuda, I've enjoyed your past projects and am looking forward to this one. Looks like you have a winner there with the Schwinn.

cuda2k

Top - thanks for the tip bud! Riv's barcon pod is about $10 cheaper than the Kelly Takeoffs.

She's certainly in need of some cleaning and polishing on the parts that are staying on the bike. I think the most creative bit on this bike is going to be the lights and light mount. Debating between going to a reflector bracket attached to the headset but that could be an issue with the canti cable stop being in that same general location. -OR- Attached to the front fork where you would mount a pair of caliper brakes. I just have to ensure that I don't interfere with the brakes. Should be a fun project!

Now, do I keep this crank or swap for a more modern TruVative triple gearing with a 52 top ring and a smaller middle ring? This thing's 50/46/(small haven't counted it yet) setup is odd.

pastorbobnlnh 

Jon,

Keep the crankset, but change the inner chainring. Loose Screws sells 110 bcd chainrings for about $15 which will fit your Sakae. I put a Sakae on my Traveler, 50-42-32. It works fine for me in the mountains. A similar set up for you should work fine in flatter Dallas.

silversmith

Very nice bike.

I suspect some parts, perhaps the wheelset or freewheel, are not original. I'd have thought that a 5 speed freewheel would have been outdated by 1986?

And is that freewheel an Atom? That seems odd paired with the Lightaction RD (I've got a Lightaction on my wife's 85 Traveler. Its paired with a smooth-shifting Shimano freewheel. The Huret shifters also seem out of place, as the Lightaction derailers I've seen were paired with a very nice shimano DT index shifter.

Pompiere

I have a Schwinn Sierra from the same year with cantilever brakes. It originally had a reflector bracket mounted where the brake bolt would go. It also had a warning in the owner's manual to never remove that bracket, since it was also there to prevent the straddle cable from dropping down and catching in the tire tread if the front brake cable broke. So putting a bracket there would probably be returning the bike to its original setup.

top506

No problem, bro.
You're dealing with the same issues I did with my Triplecross build. I went with v-brakes mainly because the barset I bought had Dia-Compe 287V levers on it and I had a bucket of v-brake dump take-offs in the barn.
Speaking of Take-Offs, I like 'em, and I've used barcons for years (all three of my other running bikes have barcons).
Depending on how the rear is spaced, you might consider going 7-speed freewheel. The Shimano 11-28 will give you plenty of high gears with a 50. I have a 48-38-28 on the Miyata right now, but a 500CX 50-40-30 is en route. If it were me, I'd follow the Pastor's advise and keep your crank and replace the two inners with whatever suits your area and style.
Top

cuda2k

I agree w/ PastorBob and Top on the chainrings. I'm going to swap out the inner two with replacements from loosescrews. Need to make an order from them anyways for cables and housing.

The rear derailleur is most likely a replacement, I believe I saw a reference to the Sachs shifters in another post online about this model bike so they may be original. As far as the 5speed rear end - if what I know of the Mississippi Schwinn plant that we believe this bike came from, they often got the bottom of the barrel of parts and very well could have been forced to produce a 15speed touring bike with an older freewheel. Additionally I know the wheel hubs are Schwinn branded and the front wheel has a pair of metal levers that snap into small tabs on the inside of the fork to prevent the wheel from dropping out if the QR opens. Another clue that the wheelset is original.

I pulled the rear wheel off the Barracuda Mk.I last night which is a 27" running a 7speed freewheel and it slipped in on the Schwinn no problem. So the plan is 7speed indexed shifting either on the Takeoffs or Barends with a 7speed Shimano freewheel (14-28). A 50/14 will be plenty low for what this bike is to be used for.

Pompiere - thanks for the information on the reflector mount. I'm going to be mounting up fenders front and rear so the possiblity of the cable catching tread will be eliminated in that way. I'm planning on using an Optronics brand automobile driving light setup with dual 20W MR16 bulbs up front for my main forward lighting. I just have to make sure that the light mount doesn't hit any cabling for the shifters when the wheel is turned from side to side. I'm sure once I get the shifters and such mounted the options will be a lot easier to choose from.

well biked

Cuda, I've often wondered about the 15 speed thing myself (as in, why wouldn't it be an 18 speed since 6speed freewheels were the norm for several years by then), but it's not because the Schwinn plant in Mississippi was forced to use 5 speed freewheels because they couldn't get anything else. The Japanese-built Voyageurs of about this same time period were 15 speeds as well. The other models from Mississippi at this time were 12 speeds (6 speed freewheels)............Man, it sounds like you're going to have enough light to do a 24-hour mountain bike race on that thing! Can't wait to see it finished!

Phantoj

I have the exact same bike... a college roommate used it for riding to class and gave it to me (or sold it cheap, I don't remember) when he left.

I have the same paint scheme, but it's not in as good a shape.

Mine came with the same shifters, but a really lame Huret rear derailleur. I'm guessing yours had the same rear mech, but a previous owner (wisely) binned it.

I also had a (Suntour) five-speed freewheel, but the spacing is 126. My freewheel had very WIDE spacing between the gears. Same Sakae crank, but 46/36/26 with a Biopace middle ring.

I gave it a whirl as a fixed-gear conversion, but never really fell for fixie fever.

Recently, I upped the freewheel to a six speed, put on an RSX rear derailleur and 6-speed SIS downtube shifters. Also put on some 27" cyclocross tires... haven't really ridden it in that setup yet, though.

I have been thinking about totally repainting the frame and building it up with STI RSX 7-speed stuff off of my wife's bike. But I don't know if I like it enough to do that.

Interestingly (?), I also have a Centurion Sport Dlx. So all you need is a CAAD4 Cannondale and a Gunnar Roadie, and you can be as cool as me!

Little Darwin

I think I have a front reflector bracket from an older Schwinn. I will see if it includes a cable hanger. If so, I will take a pic, and if you like it, it will be on the way to Texas (once I get your address).

BTW - I will finally be using those rims I got from you on a Motobecane mixte frame I got from another BFN member in trade for some wheels I pulled off a thrift store Peugeot... Adding handle bars from my Suburban and shifters from a thrift store MTB to make it a comfort bike for a friend to ride when she is in town...

It won't look near as good as any of your bikes, but I love doing the Frankenstein thing.

cuda2k

Phantoj - Good to confirm what was original and what quite obviously isn't on the bike. Besides a few scratches around the dropouts the bike looks virtually unused. Perhaps the original rear derailleur was swapped from the get go at the shop or very soon after the original meeting some untimely demise. In any case the nice Shimano unit leaves me at some what of (yet another) dilemma on what to do. I have a brand new Shimano Acera which I picked up one ebay for the commuter project when I thought I was going to be using a Centurion Ironman frame. The silver Light Action long cage looks more fitting on the frame however. Oh well... another part (one or the other) for the parts box to use as trade bait.

dgregory - good to hear those old wheels are finally getting back on the road again! Hope the serve the new bike and its owner well. I would be intereted to see the bracket in question. There is probably a half dozen different designs of cable hanger / refector bracket combos produced during the 70's and 80's for centerpull and cantilever brakes. Finding the right one to work best with my intended plan will be intereting considering I have to rely on what can be found in spare parts boxes and such. I have found nothing online new that will work for me so far. And I'd rather not fabricate something from scratch if I can help it.

Today I've been purchasing the first wave of parts to clean up and add on to the bike:

Rear rack and Trunk Rack: Nashbar.com
IRC DuroWinner II Tires and tubes (27x1 1/4"): Nashbar.com
KoolStop Eagle II Canti Pads (Black compound): PerformanceBike.com
7speed Freewheel (14-28): Bikepartsusa.com
Cables: TheCahill has some spares, buying new yoke cables: Bikepartsusa.com
Brake Levers: BF member supplied Shimano 105 SLR levers - Calipers are going on the Gazelle to replace the Shimano 600's on the bike. Will complete the 105 group on that bike.

Still debating on the shifting situation and have a few days till some auctions come due on ebay. Leaning towards Kelly Takeoffs but wanting to get some more user input on the product.

Also going to hold off a month or so on the Fenders and Lights. I won't be needing them for a bit and I've used up all my mad-money for this month and probably next too. More photos will be up soon as progress of inital cleaning and upgrades begin.

Phantoj

I forgot to mention that my Passage has a front reflector. I think the reflector mount has a hole in it that the cable passes through; it's not a cable stop. Maybe I'll post a picture or two to this thread...

top506

I've been running them on the Miyata for about a month. I've found that with the levers right under my thumbs most of the time I shift a lot more than I do with the barcons (I've heard people new to STI/Ergo say the same thing). I don't have any trouble reaching them with the hands on the tops, hoods, or drops. Cable routing may take some time to get just right; I'm not sure I have it yet.
FWIW, that Light Action rear DR will swing enough for a 7-speed no problem. It's what I'm running, with a 13-30 7 speed freewheel. And I don't even have the long cage.
Top

Little Darwin

I just checked, and there are no cable hangers on my available reflector brackets.

I will keep my eyes open when I see thrft store and/or junk bikes.