scale

finally......

Heres mine. Just took it out for about a mile ride after getting to together.....and staring at it for years.

I put a new deore/mavic wheelset (disc) on it along with some 26x1.25 passelas. Drop bars and suntour barcons, 9 speed. XT front and rear mech, Sugino AT triple crankset, Cane Creek (tektro) levers. I went disc because of the great deal i got on the new wheelset and figured i could use them for another project if this one didnt work out. It rides great. This one doesnt have the fork tube braze-ons which is a bummer. I want to do a front rack and that limits me. I have had 2 touring bikes in the past and both had no front fork eyelets. Some day i will find one that does.



Next step is to shore everything up, swap out pedals and small bits to get it dialed in for proper fit. I have a rack for the rear and a set of ortliebs im going to try on it. My fear is that my feet are going on hit....but i havent tried it yet. So far i love it. It has quite the reach even with the taller short stem. It feels a bit stretched out in the drops but i am hoping i can dial that in a bit too by moving the saddle a bit forward and maybe switching to a 0 seback post. On the hoods feels fine. I am excited to finally have it together.
I cant wait to get the rack mounted and try that. I might also switch out to wider tires for a bit of offroading in the future. Its all city streets around here. 4 bottle cage mounts in case i get thirsty.

due ruote 

Cool Cimarron. On the reach issue, those bars have a pretty massive drop. You might look into something like Midge or Woodchippers if those don't work out. I have had to go with a zer setback post on a couple conversions. I like the Origin8 one and it's quite affordable.

scale

I do have a set of woodchippers here somewhere. They are extremely wide and feel like your driving an 18 wheeler. Not sure how they would be with barcons. maybe ill try and swap them over just to see. I think the bars on it now are only 40cm wide.

Reddbiker

Here are some not so great pics I took of my 87 and 89. Sorry for the links, for some reason I just can not get pics to show up and I've posted pictures before so it's making me a little insane as to why they won't show up now.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/146702...7683497660220/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/146702...7683497660220/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/146702...7683497660220/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/146702...7683497660220/

thumpism 

Pic assist attempt. Hope this works.

Try bracketing each link with the HTML tags; the [img] goes before the link and the [/img] goes after. The first one below has the tags and the rest don't. Hmmmm, may not have worked. Okay, you're on your own. Nice Cim, by the way.

scale

Thank you for posting the pictures of this for me.

Here is how i ended up. New BB but threw a ~3mm spacer under the drive side to move the drive side out a bit from the stays and allow for the inner most chain ring clearance.. This did move the non drive side in a bit and it is close but it "should" be ok.

Truth be told......i could remove the smallest chainring and run a double and be fine. IF i load up for touring, that small ring might come in handy but boy is it geared low. I can see absolutely no other use ever for that thing.

tcpasley

I'm looking for a very small frame to build a bike for my daughter, who is just under 5' tall. I may have a line on a "16.5 inch" Cimarron frame, which I think is probably what Schwinn called a 17 inch. AFAIK this was the smallest Cimarron frame, but if there were smaller ones I'd like to know.

Does anyone have a standover measurement for a 17" frame? As I said , my daughter is short, and even some 47 cm road bikes seem a little big for her.

wrk101

Frame is too big. Typically a 17 inch MTB is for someone 5-6 to maybe 5-8. MTB rider sizing is usually quite a bit smaller than road bike sizing. Long top tubes makes stand over less than meaningful. I always run into problems with TT length long before stand over becomes an issue.

There are plenty of smaller MTBs out there, just not Cimarron. My wife has a 1994 Trek 950, which came in a 14.5 inch size that year. The other one I have for her is a 1992 Paramount Series 70, which came in a 15 inch size.

tcpasley

Thanks, Bill - that's what I was afraid of. I've run into the same problem converting a big ol' 22" Mongoose ATB, '86 model IIRC, to drop bars. Stretches me out like Greg LeMond.

Here's the CL link in case you're near Raleigh and your Cimarron jones needs a fix: https://raleigh.craigslist.org/bik/6182782822.html

scale

and i think it is done.......

Just mounted the front rack. It is heavy but i dont care. A touring bike isnt supposed to be light. I wonder how it will handle with bags on it?

Reddbiker

Looks great! I have an 89 in pieces right now while I figure out what to do with it. It's a little big for me to be my mountain bike (not much clearance over the top tube for my bits) but it's a great size for the road. I'm stuck between drop bars or albatross. And I too wonder how it'll handle with some bags and weight especially with some of the weight up front. I might need to make a sperate post but curious if anyone has done Compass RTPs with fenders on these or if the tires don't leave enough room?

mainstreetexile 

Is anyone using a cable housing liner or other solution to reduce friction for the cables under the bottom bracket?

Over many miles, I've had the cables wear through the paint and I've had some issues that I think are related to increased cable friction there.

Also, for the later cimarrons with indexed shifting, or for anyone that has converted theirs: have you noticed any issues due to frame flex or bb friction, or have you done anything to resolve that?

Keeshimself

Just stumbled across a mint condition powder blue '85 back in my home town with a price tag of $1250 on it. Wow!

Keeshimself

Looks good man. Are you going to put fenders on it?

I'm currently trying to put together parts for a drop bar conversion but can't seem to find bar end shifters that work with the stock drivetrain for a decent price..any advice?

bconneraz

There are some crazy asking prices out there right now.

Munford

I've been reading this thread for years and have been watching for a Cimarron ever since. I recently acquired a 21" frame without a date stamp on the headbadge carrying the 85-87 decals. The stamp on the bottom of the BB shell is SF653321. Does anyone have any idea when this was made?
The biggest problem I have now is there weren't any forks with the frame so my first priority is to find a replacement. I figured the best way to start would be to ask here if anyone has measured the forks on their 21" bicycle? It would be an enormous help if I had some idea about the lengths and the rake of the front fork for my search. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Metacortex

The frame serial indicates the frame was stamped in June 1986, making it most likely a late '86 model. Check the headbadge closely for the build date stamping, the stamping is very small and may be light. It is also possible that the badge had been changed at some point in the past. Here is a pic of the badge on my '87 Cimarron, the 0297 indicates a Thursday Jan. 29, 1987 assembly date, while the frame serial (I6xxxxx) indicates a Sept. 1986 frame stamp.

Munford

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't sure on the decoding since we usually have the headbadge stamp. Since the sun was out I took another close look at the badge and there is no stamping for sure. When I pull it I will take it to the magnifying light and see if anything possibly shows up. Thanks again.

badger_biker 

Here's my '85 with new Fat Franks. I switched to the trekking bars late last fall and like them a lot.

9volt 

Excellent tire choice for that green

badger_biker 

Thanks - I wasn't sure when I ordered them but I'm happy with the look.

cooperryder

I have had 2 red Cimarron's both 1987, I think.

The first one was pretty rough but this 2nd one was pretty nice.
Both have moved to new owners.

20160511_154747_resized_1.jpg

T Stew

Awesome Cims Badger & Cooper!

I've been keeping my eye out for a couple of years now for Cimarron to build as a all terrain touring (but mostly road), finally found one just in frame form (ok since I was going to likely build it up with different components anyway). For road bikes I fit 21-23" schwinns, my Voyageur fits nicely at 21" with its short top tube. I figured I'd need to go down a couple inches for an ATB, and have been looking for a 19" but saw this 20" and thought maybe it'd work with a very short stem, etc. But when I received it and measured, it was a bit off from what the seller said. It's a 21" frame, and that long top tube puts it longer than even my 23" road bikes. Hmmm.

For my build I was going to try VO Crazy bars, so I'd need a threadless adapter or a MTB quill with removable faceplate that is super short if I am going to attempt this. Anyone know of a super short stem that looks more vintage than this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Uno-MTB...53.m1438.l2649
I think that is going to look super bulky on a quill adapter plus shimming back to 25.4 Maybe I'll have to give up on the thought of using Crazy bars and get something I can feed through a Nitto Technomic. Or maybe get a Thomson offset seat post and turn it around so its offset forward... that has worked well for me on road bikes but not sure how it will affect the handling of a tourer atb build designed to carry loads (likely have f/r panniers). I know it'll look goofy though.

thumpism 

Don't look at it, just ride it. Changes like those which get your bike to fit don't need to please anyone but you.

mainstreetexile 

The Crazy Bars have a lot of sweep back, so you won't need as short of a stem as for drop bars. The long Cimarron top tubes were made with upright bars like those in mind.

If you're looking for a quill with a removeable faceplate, nashbar makes a 1" quill/25.4mm clamp stem in three lengths for cheap. You could buy all three lengths and swap them out easily to see what fits best.