john hawrylak

I measured the angles on my 21" 88 Voyageur with a Wixley 300 digitial angle finder.
STA = 74° HTA = 71° 21" frame

The cataolog gives differnet values but I think it states a 23" frame

Gravity Aided

From what I have read elsewhere, that's a 1987 Passage , Schwinn used the Imperial Rose from the Voyaguers to finish out production . I believe the Passage was offered in 1987, just not in the catalogue .
I've posted this in other threads but here's one .



With the hipsters ,by the bookstore and cofeehouse downtown . Restoration, 700cs , and a proper front rack are all New Years Resolutions for 2013

Gravity Aided

Also , I love the Passage, and the only Voyageur I've had was too small . I think you have 2 great bikes there. I don't think you could go wrong fixing up either of these bikes .

FrenchFit 

+ aero. Putting aside the Voyageur is tipping 30lbs when dressed, those 36/40h stock box wheelsets are like eggbeaters going down the road, add in everything else - including bigger tires - it's tough to maintain a cruising speed over 16mph, at least for me. Add in long hills and -you get the picture. Compare to a full carbon roubaix, 16/24h wheelset with GP4000s, the Voyageur feels like going down the road in a wheelchair. Nothing but love for the SV, but if average speed / elapsed time is a consideration the SV stays in the garage.

As for Miyatas, I own or have owned 8 of them, one is a daily commuter. They are nice bikes, but not that different than other Japanese bikes of the era, as Cycle_Maven says, some of which appear to use Miyata manu frames or similar build geometry.

rekmeyata

Miyata introduced the splined triple butted tubing in 85 was unlike any other Japanese frame of the era, they had very little flex and were probably the best steel frame made back then by any country; later Miyata sold those splined tubesets to Univega for use on their SuperStrada. So Sheldon Brown is probably correct when he said the 1000 was the best touring frame made at that time.

The reason Panasonic made some of the Miyata tubesets was because they owned shares in Miyata; and Univega frames all came from Miyata. This is why too that Miyata bikes came with Panaracer tires. Also the history of butted steel tubing is a bit murky, but most historians have given the nod to Miyata for inventing the process.

rossiny

Hope a Schwinn expert🕵️‍♂️ picks up this thread I have a gray Passage. It definitely looks original , wonder when it got this color? It also has the Schwinn badge in front that says Schwinn /Chicago ??
where was it made and why is it grey most cataloged as blue?
I had a beige voyageur, but had serious toe overlap.
the previous owner had some very good componsnts and wheels on it. I found a mint Passage and switched over all the componants . I am liking it. The frame takes very wide touring tires no problem and for some reason the newer 700c wheels line up with the original dia-comp brakes perfectly on the Passage frame, not so on the Voyageur frame. It makes a great all-rounder .👍 I just need to buy a good touring rack for the back and touring pedals, touring seat. The front i got lucky and found a rack that was original for the higher mount front rack. 👍
ps , the Passage has no overlap issue, the Voyaguer which had champion tubing has serious toe overlap. The Passage for me was way better fit even though same frame size ...

4funbikes

Another happy Passage owner here.
I don't think it's been mentioned here yet, but allegedly the Passages were built in the Greenville factory.
Is that a selling point? No. But it does add some intrigue (to me at least, as it sits next to my Greenville Cimarron)

rossiny

SO you think the Grey Passages were made here in USA? Amazing. ! I have ridden it a few times and I really like it. I will be picking out touring pedals and seat, , pedals rear rack...

ryansu

I had an 86 in the Catalog blue and really liked it -economics forced a sale or I'd likely still have it. My theory is that Schwinn had paint from other models they needed to use up and/or ran out of blue or both which is why you see some Passages in other colors. Either way the Tenex Frame is a nice rider. Enjoy rossiny


86 Passage

john hawrylak

Strange to hear your Voyaguer had serious TCO. My 88 Voyaguer 21" frame has 10mm clearance to the front fender with 170mm cranks and Shimano PD1050 clipless pedals. Measured STA is 74°, HTA is 71°, and measured TTL is 54cm. Schwinn supplied the 1988 21" model with 170mm cranks (Shimano FC-B124 Biopace). The slacker HTA certainty helps avoid TCO.

John Hawrylak
Woodstown NJ

The Golden Boy 

These two quotes are words of great wisdom.

As this is a really old post, it may be worth noting I ended up buying Edgewater Dude’s Voyageur frame and rode it for a few years and completely agree with his observations about the seat tube angle. Both my old Voyageur and my Voyageur SP have that steep STA, which makes saddle choice a bit difficult and it makes your cockpit feel a bit cramped when compared to other tourers; in fact, the whole bike seems “smaller.” It doesn’t take long to get used to again- but it is interesting how Schwinn designed them.

cooperryder

Glad this thread was revived.

I think its been around 2 to 2.5 years I've owned a dark blue 86 Passage and it has become one of my favorites.

I'm running upright bars and thumb shifters.
It was no problem switching over to 700c wheels using the original cantilevers.

The tires in picture are 700x40 true to size.
There's not a lot of clearance in the rear but adequate for my riding.
I tried 700x42 for a while but that was causing some rubbing of the stays.
I consider having the stays indented a bit more but I like the ride fine with the 40mm wide tires.

I've owned 3 Voyageurs, a Centurion Pro Tour, Miyata 1000 and 610, as well as a Specialized Expedition.

I liked them all but I don't think the Passage gives up a lot to those renown tourers.

I find it to have a smooth, comfortable and stable ride for my purposes.

One issue that's been pointed out in other threads is it has a more narrow spacing of the canti mounting posts which prevents using some more modern cantilever brakes.

I tried several and finally gave up and went back to the originals with new pads and they stop well enough for me.

On one thread a fellow liked his Passage enough to have new canti posts and other mods done.
I like that the Passage is a bit of a 'sleeper' and less known vintage tourer .

Another difference in the catalog specs is the Passage is listed as having a bit longer wheelbase than the Voyageur....not much, 41.25 vs 41.50" for whatever that's worth.

As to fork weight difference I would be surprised if it's 1/4th pound if that.

I think I have it written down somewhere as I usually write down the bare frame / fork weights when I strip a bike down to rebuild.

4funbikes

I'd think all passages were made in Greenville. I've seen some anomaly paint jobs from other known Greenville bikes as well.
A quick search led me to an excerpt from the 1986 catalog stating 7 out of 14 lightweight models were produced in Greenville in 1986. Traveler, LeTour, Passage, Prelude, Madison, Tempo, and Super Sport.

Of course there could have been some discrepancies. Schwinn was scrambling at this point, and I wouldn't be surprised if some batches of any of those models were made overseas.

rossiny

i found it strange about about the toe overlap also. ? It was not the Columbus, but the champion tube​​​​​d. Was a shame because I noticed both the fork and rear ttriangle, had chrome under the paint and looked very well made. I know it would not be an issue except for tight turns, but fir a commuter/ tourer I personally don't like toe overlap.
The Columbus tutubePassage has clearance for wider tires and fenders.

john hawrylak

Golden Boy

I agree about the steep STA on the Voyaguer (74° on the 21" frame). They had use it to keep TTL in check (54cm on the 21") and adequate to prevent TCO. I use a 7cm Nittto Technomic (Bars even with saddle) and RH Radonnuer bars (115mm C-E) to get a very good position. Only problem is knees in front of spindle by 2 to 3 cm with saddle full back,

The 28.6mm seatpost does nt help, since they are scare as hens teeth and longer setback post are simply N/A. Result of Schwinn suing a Straight Gauge 1-1/8" 0.9mm seat tube vs a butted 0.9-0.7 permitting a standard 27.2mm post.

John Hawrylak
Woodstown NJ, the garden spot of the Garden State