1985 Green Schwinn Traveler
1985 Schwinn Traveler
This was one of the first "custom" bikes I built. I found it on Craigslist for $60. It had sat outside by a barn most of it's later life. It had the typical Suntour / Sugino running gear of the time period- all of which was junk. The bearings in the crank were seized, and the freewheel was not ever going coming off the hub. I have noticed this is a common problem on the older Suntour freewheels, they just get welded together by time and rarely ever come apart. The derailleur was a mid level Suntour that had seen better days ( I think I rebuilt it and gave it away- but don't honestly remember - I built this bike in 2019) These older Schwinn Travelers are some of the best cheap frames you can find. They were hand brazed in Taiwan from 4340 steel tubes. This makes them very easy to modify and quite durable. Considering how cheap they can be found, I think they are a great value if you come across one .
Unfortunately I did not realize at the time how involved in bike building I would eventually get so I did not take many "in process" photos during the build. I only have 3 that I could find during assembly. So most of the pics I have are of it pretty much done.
I started by stripping the bike completely down to bare frame. All the parts I was not using were either sold or junked if they were not salvageable. It was then sent out to powdercoat while I built up the rest of the drivetrain. I wanted this bike to be something unique that would stand out so I decied to go with a 2-speed kickshift hub with a coaster brake for the rear. This gave it a clean look with no brake lines or shift cables running to the rear and gave it a "hill gear" when needed. I love these 2 speed hubs, I am surprised they are not more popular. For the front, I went with a mid grade Shimano Hub I found at a bike show and I paired them both with Alex Adventure II doublewall rims and black spokes. This made for a very strong and good looking combo, I was very happy with how it turned out. For Tires I went with some Gravel King tan wall knobbies to round out the look
For the crank I went with an IXF two peice that came with external bearings. These are a cheaper crankset that you can find online for under $75. For a simple build like this they are great value and I have used them on a few builds since, including the red Schwinn I used as my main bike for 3 years. For the grips and seat I went with tan to give it a touch of a vintage look. At this point I had the decals picked out so I kind of wanted them to match. The grip tape is brooks but the seat is an unbranded one that was bought at a bike show.
In order to make 700C wheels work with rim brakes that were made for 27" wheels I had to make an adapter to lower the calipers to work with a 700c wheel. I made this on a small mill I have in my garage, I really wish I had taken more pics at the time as I am sure I will have to make another one at some point. When I do I will be sure to document it better! I only needed to make one for the front brake as the back was running the coaster brake
I found some great reproduction vintage decals online that I think looked great with the green powdercoat. I found a chrome fork for it online and it was money well spent ($15!) Here are the only pics of it I have done or near completion. The last pic is the only one I have of it with the brake fitted so you can see the adapter and the caliper. I think it turned out quite nice.
