Rooney 

Other people have posted 38s without fenders (and this guy has a 45 upfront). I'd only been thinking about going to 35mm. The hammered is only rated to 37mm by VO, and I prefer the look of them to the Zeppelin. Definitely food for thought.

southpawboston

Sweet! I haven't seen anyone make a square flat spot for the crown before. I've always made a round one using a DIY press with a stack of fender washers and threaded rod.

aeshultz

Interesting - that looks exactly the same fork that is on my '83? SP - full chrome, with the same mid-blade mount and same crown. Good to know that it might be original.

scarlson 

Seems there were a lot of running changes in the Voyageur SP, eh? Maybe that's the explanation. Also seems to be two different seatpost diameters in '85. Catalog says 26.6 but I have seen mention of several that take 27.2 posts, including the one I did for my friend.

ravenix 

So the 23” frame with silver Chris King 2nut headset..... quill, seat tube and saddle up next!

ravenix 

Wow, super cool! That must be the 25” frame.... looks really big. Nice job on those fenders, but yeah no way is that the original fork. I'll be lucky to get 32mm tires with 40mm fenders (which is my current goal). You did a really great job on that build though

Rooney 

I ran into the seatpost problem myself. When I replaced it I originally tried 26.6 based on the comparison chart, but it constantly slid down. Schreck83 mentioned having a 27.2 seatpost (84 VSP), then I found a thread where a couple of other 84/85 VSP owners corroborated that number. I'm guessing the catalog is a typo.

Also, that VSP with the Spinner fork sounds familiar. Did your friend get it off eBay a couple of months back? I think the mid-fork mounts went all the way through, right?

scarlson 

Yep, that's right. He wanted an affordable touring frame from the '80s, so I found it for him. It was a good deal, turned out to be a nice straight frame and fork in spite of the weirdness. I spread the rear triangle to 135mm, did the fenders and racks, built him some wheels, and he cleaned up the surface rust on the chrome and did the brakes and shifting. You can see by the photos he's already been out in the Boston winter muck. He's been happy with it.

beicster 

Oops! I need to set the record straight. That is not the same fork as is on my 85 Voyageur. I went out and took a closer look this morning and the crown is different. Sorry for the confusion.

Rooney 

That's awesome, glad to know it's being appreciated and ridden! I was tempted to buy it a couple times myself, then thought it'd be ridiculous to have two of the same bike, especially when I'm not finished sorting the current one. It looks great, hope your friend enjoys it for years to come!

southpawboston

Here's an '88 Schwinn Voyageur SP I had... it left the fleet years ago. I never knew much about the chronology of Voyageur changes. Not sure but did the "SP" variant refer to the Columbus SP touring-thickness tube-set? The Voyageurs were impressive off the shelf tourers, with top-flight parts. The cartridge bearing Sansin hubs were smooth as buttah... Back then I had drank the Grant Peterson kool-aid and compulsively twined and shellacked lots of stuff... in this case the water bottle!! (My wife still has the water bottle, and it's still got its twine!).

polymorphself 

I’ve looked at this picture a handful of times in the past year or so between here and Flickr. One of the best Voyageur builds on the internet for sure.

polymorphself 

What’s your tire/fender size?

Rooney 

Hammered VO 700c fenders and 27 x 1 1/4” Panaracer Paselas

polymorphself 

45mm fender?

polymorphself 

Some more recent shots since my first photo in this thread.

Rooney 

Yup! Doesn't look like the Hammered come in any other widths.

polymorphself 

My setup is the exact same yours just looks way cleaner than mine haha. Not sure how you got the rear fender sitting so high up!

I’ll be swapping for 700c in the coming weeks and looking to go 35mm.

Rooney 

Haha, I think it may look cleaner because the dirt blends with the sidewalls, hiding some discrepancies, but thank you!

I took your advice and kept bending the front fender little by little to get as consistent of a line as I could. The rear was pretty easy for me, especially after wrestling with the front fender for a few hours. I only used the leather washer between the fender and the chainstay bridge (the screw is just about in the middle of the fender's slot), and the L-bracket is as high as it can go at the seat stay bridge. After that, I set the struts, and with a few minor adjustments, ended up with what you see.

I was following your wheel thread; you've got me in the early stages of thinking about rims and hubs!

shoota 

I'll be curious to hear how you do with the brake pads. I could use some pointers on getting them to line up (at least close to) perfectly.

homelessjoe

Has anyone stripped the paint off a chromed frame?I have a 73 World Voyager with a chromed frame under orange paint.......for years I have wanted a all chrome road bike and have not had any luck in finding one ....either to much money or to far away on not my size or to scraped up.....so I keep eying my World bike......If I took off all that paint would I have a perfect shinny frame or are there rough spots and spots that wouldnt clean up........and I have two Torpado frames that are chromed under the paint......how about them

acm

Tough issue. There's a nother thread somewhere in c&v on exactly this topic and unfortunately there's no easy answer. I went down the rabbit hole trying to do this to my Pro Tour and decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

If you can get your hands on some **old** aircraft paint stripper that will do the job just fine. It is extremely toxic and has been illegal in the US for a number of years. The new product on the shelves by the same name is not the same thing.

You could give it the ol' scrape with wooden tools, but this will take a very long time.

Plastic media blasting (as opposed to sand blasting) may be gentle enough but I'm not sure. Call your local blasting shop and ask a pro!

The elegant but expensive option is to sandblast the whole thing and have it re-chromed for a perfect, long-lasting finish.

The 73 WV in my cellar has a lot of exposed chrome that's still in decent shape, I like the way the sun reflects off those spots when my housemate rides it. Cheapest solution is to love it for what it is, hahaha

homelessjoe

Those are nice bikes as is ...but...I dont think I will have any problem stripping the old paint at all ....done a bunch.....what I wanted to know ......is the chrome is polished like the stays and forks or are some areas rough and dull

acm

Ah sorry, misunderstood the question!

Yes, it seems like the chrome exposed under the paintwork is about as bright as that on the stays.

dicktill

I have one! Someone else removed the paint, and I haven't worked on it (it's on the ubiquitous bucket list). For the most part, the chrome is pretty shiny, but there are a few spots here and there that need polishing, and I'm not positive that that will fix them; i.e., they may be damaged areas. Anyway, I think it is a viable project, although probably not as viable as a frame that was intended to be all chrome; i.e., the bottom bracket area (among others) may not have been prepared properly. I can probably get some pictures for you if you wish.

Good luck, Dick