TXsailor

With all the gravel bike craze going on (we called it riding on dirt roads back in the day) I have been thinking of a dedicated gravel bike. I like the vintage stuff for road bikes and have a semi vintage MB, a GT LS2. that I ride out in the country on gravel when the fancy strikes me. I was wondering how the somewhat rough High Sierra I have would do on gravel. I have one I bought a while back for the princely sum of $32 and it has been sitting in my shed waiting for me to do something with it. What do you think? I have no plans to do any serious dirty Kansa kind of stuff. I would probably just ride our local country roads and maybe a gravel ride or two.

Roger Ramjet

I think the Schwinn High Sierra dates back to 1993/1994, right after the first bankruptcy. My memory of it is that it is a decent mid-quality mountain bike. I myself had a 1992 High Plains, that was a little lower in the line than the High Sierra, and did many many gravel and road rides on it with no worries at all. My opinion is that if you check it over and replace parts (chain, cogs) as necessary, it would be a fine bike to do what you are interested in.

bikemig 

Vintage MTBs make fine gravel bikes. I'm working on a '92 Trek 950 that I plan on using for gravel riding with thumbshifters and 3 x 7 gearing. I am swapping out the bars for trekking bars.

grizzly59

Gearing good? Tune it up, maybe look into small knob tires, ride it like you stole it.

mstateglfr 

Call it that now then too.
Thanks for letting us know you are an OG.

TXsailor

Gearing is a triple with a 28/32 low gear and a 48/14 high. Tires are new but they are cheap Bell Innova which I guess will work for now. They are 26/1.75 but it looks like I could run a 2.3. The brakes are roller cam Suntours. It needs a tune up but I have rode it around a little. It sure feels tall since I am used to riding a road bike.

mstateglfr 

Roller cam means it's around 1987 and probably fillet brazed, correct?
Based on the roller cam comment, it should be a super relaxed frame with 70deg hta and sta measurements.

As you said earlier, you've been riding gravel since back in the day, so you know if this will work for your needs.

Sounds like it would be something fun to ride on.

TXsailor

Yes I think its fillet brazed I have a picture on my phone I'll post it.
I rode gravel as a kid but it was on a kid bike, single speed coaster brakes worn out tires on wobbly wheels. I really haven't rode it much as a adult who could actually pick what bike to ride. I think the High Sierra will work pretty good and it seems that some of you have tried it with success. I need to go through it before getting very far from home and the brakes need attention. Does anyone have the PDF file that shows how to adjust them and maybe the dimensions of the third hand tool? There is one on E-bay but it looks like a piece of bent rod. It would be easy to make one if I knew how wide it is.

TXsailor

High Sierra

thehammerdog

I use my drop bar 7 speed mongoose rockadile with 26x1.75 tires