Murray Missile 

I guess I just built myself a gravel grinder.... of sorts. I'm an old and slow rider and I was slow even when I was much younger. I live in a small farming community in the Midwest and my only riding options that don't involve hauling my bikes several miles are A] riding laps around our small town which gets old real quickly; B] riding on VERY busy two lane highways with large trucks and PO'd factory workers that hate cyclists (I'm a factory worker AND a cyclist) or C] ride the miles and miles of gravel roads all around me. We rode those same roads as kids on old balloon tire, single speed tank bikes and had a blast. Having ventured on said gravel roads on road bikes and mountain bikes recently I found neither to be very satisfying. I was kind of surprised as I thought the MTB would have been a natural but I just wasn't comfortable, too light on the front end. I remembered all those "bike hikes" as a kid and started thinking about building an old bike like that just for riding the local country roads but the old cantilever frames are just too small for me. I decided maybe an old road frame with bigger tires might work since the road bike had actually felt more stable than the MTB. Naturally I started with the tires, doesn't everyone LOL? I picked up a set of Continental touring tires in 700c X 47mm which I mounted on an inexpensive set of Weinmann 29 inch MTB wheels I salvaged off a Schwinn Varsity from an estate sale. I then grabbed a beat up '82 Schwinn World Sport I used to have on my stationary trainer and test fit the wheels and tires. After cold setting both ends then "massaging" the inside of the chain stays with a hammer and large diameter punch I was able to install the wheels and tires. I replaced the crankset with a 48-38-28 SR triple with 165mm arms, installed a 13-28T 7 speed freewheel and swapped out the derailleurs for a set of 9 speed Shimano Tourney I had picked up on sale a couple years ago. The rear is a claw mount which I needed for this frame. I kept the original stem shifters, I spend most of my time riding the tops on drop bars and this kept my hands close to the bar and the brakes (I kept the turkey levers), this bike wasn't worth putting brifters on. The steel drop bars got replaced with a set of Randonneur bars I had in the parts bin. Initially I kept the center pull brakes but they weren't exactly awe inspiring so I swapped them for a set of Shimano side pulls with oversize brake pads which are a major improvement. They'll haul you to a stop very quckly on clean pavement but have enough "feel" to keep you from locking them up in the loose stuff. It's not fancy, it's not pretty and I'm not fast but dang does it handle nice on gravel AND pavement. I'm loving it, I should have done this years ago! I'm adding a rear rack and lights this week, maybe an old pair of CODA SPD pedals, then it's pretty much done.

dgodave

Awesome!

I'm a little worried about the hammer-massage tho.

Murray Missile 

That's one of the pros of HiTen. It may not be light but it is very forgiving. I only needed a 16th or so on each and what little I did is NOTHING compared to what an overtightened kickstand does. People ride bikes with far worse damage to the stays from their kickstand and never know it.

JonathanGennick 

Great choice on the tires. I also run 47 mm where live. The width is wonderful on the dirt roads and gravel.

Murray Missile 

Thanks, I'm really happy with them.

ATPAH

Kudos on the reclamation project. That looks like a trusty steed.

wheelsmcgee

Nice looking ride. Reminds me of the old Hi-ten Schwinn Varsity I picked up at a garage sale a few years ago...it has the same style brake levers, though I couldn't stand the stem shifters and mounted some inexpensive Sunrace thumbies.

rumrunn6

wow

chas58

I love it!

I've done similar things with an old klein, old bianchi and old bridgestone. I like having a beater in my stable.

Murray Missile 

I almost used an old Bianchi Classica but the World Sport had already donated it's wheels to the Varsity I used in this year's C&V Clunker Challenge, it's a gas pipe frame and it already had a ding or two so "massaging" the stays for fat tires wasn't an act of heresy LOL.

scotch

Try that with carbon and crrrrrrrack!!

beicster 

Nice work! I love reclaiming old bikes and making them useful again.

motorthings

exactly! which is why an angle grinder is the correct tool to use for this on a crabon frame.

Schadenfreuder

That's a nice looking build - good on ya!

7up

I like your reclaimed rebuild very much.Dang too bad I just seen this.I could've saved my money and copied off you with a oldie but goodie bike.Thanks for sharing.

Murray Missile 

Thanks, I find myself taking this one out more often than my newer and nicer stuff. Nothing better than a rescued mutt. 😂