Not Exactly a Project Car, but..

[z28luvr01]

It's a project nonetheless.

It's a late 70s/early 80s Schwinn Traveler that I saved from being trashed as a single speed/fixed gear bike. At the time, the Traveler was Schwinn's middle-of-the-road bike. I'll try as best I can to bring it back to what it looked like when it was first built. The frame and the finish looks to be in great shape - worth the $30 in my opinion since older Schwinns in any condition are increasing in value. I have an old Royce Union road bike that's got a bent rear frame that I can't straighten for the life of me (even though I was the one who bent it, somewhat intentionally). The rear tire doesn't align properly and the bike pulls to the right slightly. Basically I'll be transferring the wheels and most of the components from the Royce Union to the Schwinn. I'll also be taking the crankset off and replacing it with one that has two chainrings.

[Satty]

Looks great, should make for a nice bike. I'd love to pick up a road bike to ride around the neighborhood when we cant get to the trails. Wonder if my parent still have that old Schwinn up in the attic.....

[Intrepidation]

If you guys want some old bikes we have a whole bunch we're planning to leave behind...

[z28luvr01]

The Schwinn arrives, in quite possibly the worst packing job I've ever seen:

Missing from this pic are about 500 square feet of Saran Wrap and half a roll's worth of clear tape that held the box together. Forutnately, it's a vintage steel bike, so it would have probably survived had he just stuck the label to the frame and eschewed the packaging altogether.

The worst spot of paint on the whole thing:

First step in the project will be to get this POS BMX crank off.

Hopefully he didn't mash the threads in the bottom bracket shell trying to make this work. Some of these are press-fit, and Schwinns (as well as most bikes) have screw-in bottom brackets. This may require a trip to the local bike shop, since I'm not sure I have the right tools.

.

[z28luvr01]

UPDATE: The crank and bottom bracket are both out

I did a little research, and all this style of crank/BB needs for removal is an 8MM Allen wrench and some "convincing" with a hammer and old screwdriver/punch. As you can see, the inside of the BB shell has no threads to mash, so I lucked out and saved a few bucks by avoiding the bike shop. Now, it's time to hunt down a new bottom bracket/crank that will fit this frame.

I also found out some more info about the frame itself. It was made in (ugh) Japan by Panasonic for Schwinn. According to the date code on the badge on the head tube, it was made on May 19th, 1976.

[Camino LS6]

Good luck with the project, Z.

I wish mine had a similar budget.

[Satty]

You're lucky, in my experience bike shops dont like to hear, "I tried to beat the hell out of it, and failed. Can you fix it?"

[z28luvr01]

Oh I was very lucky indeed. I didn't even have to use that much force to get the BB out, and you can't tell that I whacked it. The crank/BB are going up on Craigslist so I can recoup some of the cost.

[z28luvr01]

And the crank is sold for $25 after an hour on CL, exactly what I need for the conversion kit to mount a modern bottom bracket.

[NOS2006]

So you buy a new house and have to give up the car and buy a bicycle, eh?

[z28luvr01]

It's been some time since i've updated this thread. I'd been waiting for one bolt for over a month (I'm patient to a fault sometimes), and between that and getting the house set up, the Schwinn just sat in its box in the garage, until this weekend when I had a couple of pockets of free time.

First off, the bottom bracket is in. The aforementioned bolt was for the converter that allows me to use a modern bottom bracket.

On goes the crank. The axle in the bottom bracket has bolt holes on the ends (you can probably see them in the above pics), and when you tighten the bolts, the crank gets pressed onto the axle.

The unsuspecting Royce Union bicycle that will soon be donating all of its organs to bring the Schwinn to life. I've softened my stance on discarding this frame. With a little luck and patience, I may be able to save the frame and convert it to a fixed gear (something I've always wanted).

Here's the Schwinn with the wheels mounted.

Unfortunately, I have to re-dish the back rim. here's why:

The center of the tire should line up vertically with that hole in the little crossmember (the brake caliper mounts there). Re-dishing the wheel will involve loosening all 36 spoke nuts, shifting the wheel over, and then tightening them all back up again. Of course, I need to do it carefully to keep the wheel true and round. This should keep me busy for a while.