scratchpaddy

I got the urge to build an old-ish bike with large-ish tires to better handle the gravel paths around here. I was looking for a tall chromolly frame made for 27" or 700c wheels, to convert down to 700c or 650b (respectively) with bigger tires. I wasn't sure if I wanted something really nice, or a hack bike to throw around and lock up at the mall without worries.

There's a guy near me who runs a demolition crew. Anything left in or around the buildings they demolish is theirs to dispose of. If he thinks it has value, he takes it home and puts it on craigslist. He has more than 150 ads up now, enough junk to fill an isle or two at Goodwill. Last weekend, he posted this:



A 1988 Schwinn Traveler, 25" frame, sans 27" wheels that I didn't want anyway. It's in bad shape, apparently stored outside for many years, sun-scorched and rusty. But, the frame is structurally undamaged, and the components are mostly OK.

So, hack bike it is! I'll get to work on it and post more pictures when I get home today.

rocks in head 

That really doesn't look too bad.. I have three worse-looking bikes waiting to be re-finished. I'm sure if you take everything down, remove rust, give the paint a rubbing and wax, it'll be a bike on a whole 'nother level than "hack". It'll be hard to put 650b on a frame designed for 27" wheels. You might consider a 700c wheelset with some nice plush 35-38c tires.

scratchpaddy

Believe me, it's worse than it seems in that blurry Craigslist picture. But you're right, I don't think it'll look too bad after some TLC. I won't go any further than that, though. I'll make it respectable and functional, but not fancy.

My plan is 700c wheels. I found someone who took the exact same bike and put 700x40c tires on it (here). According to my measurements last night, it'll be tight, but it will fit 700x38c GravelKings (my current choice). Gumwall, of course.

Murray Missile 

You're starting with a better bike than I did but here's my World Sport "gravel" build. 29er MTB wheels with 47mm Continentals. Had to massage the inside of the chain stays, not pretty but it works, I wouldn't have done it to a nicer frame. I thought it was going to be my go to gravel bike until I finished the drop bar conversion on my old GT, it rides a LOT better than this. Not sure what I'm going to do with it now, probably put the good stuff on other bikes then put it back close to stock and sell it cheap or donate it to some other tall person.

jeffreythree

Did the Traveler change that much between '88 and '90? My rusty '90 Traveler is about to get relegated to beater status, but it only fits 28mm tired before rubbing the chain stays.

exmechanic89

I'm wondering if the seat post and stem in the OP's bike will be stuck? Hopefully not..

scratchpaddy

Very nice! I love that deep red color. Too bad you don't like how it rides. The Traveler is only a small step up from the World Sport, although mine is a little newer, too.

I'll still be riding it mostly on the road, so I can't see myself putting drop bars on a mountain bike instead.

I was surprised, too. 1988 was the last year the Traveler came with larger 27" wheels and 1 1/4" tires. They finally went to 700c in '89. Your 1990 also has 7 speeds and chromolly forks, instead of 6 speeds and hi-ten forks like on my '88.

So, this is it. (Right-click any picture and select "Open link in new tab" to see full-size. You should just be able to click, but the forum does something that messes up the code.)



Litigation mitigation, and indexed downtube shifters!



The sun has left the bar tape and brake hoods a little... melted. I won't be keeping them. The cable housings sticking up from non-aero brake levers irritate me, and this bike was already behind the times when it was made. In 1988, aero brake levers were in.



The center top tube cable guide is busted.



Most people here are either from California or the Midwest, so I'm not surprised to see where the bike is from.



I'm not sure why my big chainring isn't black like the other '88's I can find online. I don't think it was replaced.



I'd be surprised if any of this has moved in the past decade.

scratchpaddy

Nope, just checked. Easy out. Lucky me! That seat is a marvel, isn't it.

Kdogbikes

scratchpaddy

Ooh, I think I like that lavender (mauve?) even more than my teal. I do like my teal, though. And yes, Shimano made some beautiful groupsets in the '80's and '90's.

This is the clearance with a 27 x 1 1/4 tire. It's pretty tight for a 27" bike. There's about 7mm left above the tire. The fork is about 45mm wide, and the chainstays are about 47mm apart.



Here's the little bit of bar tape that was protected by the electrical tape in the middle, vs. the rest of it left out in the sun.



Apparently my quill stem used to be black, before the sun got to it.



The seatpost was very easy to remove, since not even an inch of it was inserted into the frame. I really hope no one was riding it around like that. I like that seatpost (a SR Laprade). To bad someone chewed the heck out of it, all up and down the post. Maybe I can clean it up.



I'd read that this bike had index shifting, but I didn't believe it until I saw for myself. I used to have a '91 Paramount PDG (the not-valuable Panasonic version) with indexed 7-speed downtube shifters I really loved. This bike has the same thing (minus one gear), with the lever letting you choose between indexed and friction shifting.

Murray Missile 

I loved the way it rode but then I did the GT and it was even better on gravel, dirt AND pavement.

scratchpaddy

Murray Missle, your GT looks comfy and capable!

I have to wait until next week for parts to get here, but there's plenty to do in the meantime. This morning, I took apart, polished, and lubed the brake calipers. I was planning on replacing them with dual-pivots, but I'll give the originals a chance first.

Finished rear vs. untouched front. There's something deeply satisfying about taking something old and crusty and making it shiny and new again.

nesteel 

Oh cool. A bike from home.

Velo Mule

I also have an '88 Traveler. Same color scheme, however, I am keeping it as close as I can to original. It rides great. I enjoy riding it.

By the way, I was surprised to learn that my Traveler was an '88 because, you are correct, by '88 the Aero brake levers were used on every other bike by then.

One of my decisions was whether I should change to the Aero brake levers. I decided, for now, to leave the old ones on there. I removed the "Safety Levers" though.

I think it will make a nice, classic, gravel bike. I will be keeping an eye on this build. Lot's of pictures please.

scratchpaddy

That, I can do.

I like keeping things original, but only out of practicality. Brake cables cluttering my view, rattling against the bars and stem, is a problem worth spending $20 to fix, vintage aesthetics be damned.

I was hoping to get the bike done this weekend. The frame is completely gutted, and I spent all my time after work yesterday polishing aluminum. But my tires have been in customs limbo all week, and just now I realized the bottom bracket spindle is trashed. I thought the slop in it was just bad adjustment, but the races are way out of round. Luckily, BB's are stupid cheap. I ordered a Shimano UN55 maching the dimensions of the original (68x122, close enough to the original 68x121.5).

Here I was, thinking bike ball bearings are all 1/4" or 3/16", which I have plenty of. But this headset has 5/32" bearings, which I just learned is actually more common for headsets. So, more BB's of a different sort are on order.

scratchpaddy

40mm tires fit just fine.



Horizontal clearance is still pretty good. The way the chainstays are shaped, I wouldn't really gain any clearance by going to 650b. The fork is slightly tighter than this.



Top clearance and brake reach are OK.

dddd

The Traveler got modernized in 1999 iir, with less tire clearance and not coincidentally with the change to 700c wheels and with the frame angles (in my 23" frame example) changing from 72.5x72.5 to 74STx73HT (becoming the same as all of Schwinn's other top racing models).

It became a better, more-sporting road bike, but maybe not really a "traveler" any more. As a gravel build, the pre-'89 model would seem to be the better choice.

Here's my '89:

Pompiere

I have an '88 LeTour, which has the same geometry as the Traveler. I don't have any gravel around here, but on fresh chip seal, it really soaks up the vibration. It has become one of my favorite rides in the fleet.



1988 Schwinn LeTour

scratchpaddy

Those are some good looking bikes, Pompiere and dddd. They look to be in much better shape than mine.

I got the bearings to rebuild the headset almost right away, but the bottom bracket took weeks to arrive. It finally came on Friday, and I was able to put everything together yesterday.



The original handlebar tape was gross, but I did like the color, so I stuck with it. I already had a green seat in the closet, which I used on my Paramount PDG before. I already put more than 5,000 miles on it. It's not bad, for a $10 seat. For the brake levers, I used Tektro RL340's, which are now available with gum hoods.



I took it out on the trails at Papago Park this morning, which were more intense than I expected. Still, the 40mm tires were amazingly steady over the uneven, rocky slopes, and never left me stranded in the loose, sandy washes. I was able to scramble up some hills that had people walking their actual mountain bikes.

The pedals are plastic DMR V6's. I bought them for $15 from the same UK shop I got the tires from to put my order over the minimum to avoid a $20 shipping fee. I like them more than I expected to, though. Their grip is excellent, and they held up fine after bashing several rocks today.



The cheap green wedge bag I ordered turned out to be much smaller than expected. I should have been able to fit my camera with a good lens in it if the dimensions had been as advertised. As it is, the only thing I was able to cram in was a collapsible Soviet lens from the early 1950's. Despite being almost 70 years old, they made so many that they're still cheap and plentiful to this day, so I didn't cringe about it bouncing around in the bag all morning. Old stuff is tough, anyway.



I'm looking forward to many more miles on this bike It's a ton of fun.

jjames1452 

Nice. My first road bike was about an '82 Traveler.

I built a mid 80's Lotus Eclair touring bike into a 2 speed kickback gravel bike and love it.

Have fun!!

joesch

I have one that came out pretty nice and its nice on the dirt and gravel. A very solid and stable ride. Check it out:

https://www.woodtennis.com/bikes/schwinn_resurrectio/

scratchpaddy

Quick update on this bike. I eventually put a rack on it to make carrying stuff to work and back easier. After about 1,200 miles on the Gravelkings, I got sick of getting flat after flat, and switched to a Marathon Plus set I had in the closet. The Marathons ride like rocks in comparison, but as they say, it beats walkin'.



After 2,200 miles on the bike, I was watching too closely for traffic at a crossing and missed that the path did a quick jog to the left at the end. I hit a gigantic curb instead of the crossing exit, bending the fork and the frame. I was able to finish the ride after adjusting the front brake pads, but it handled weird with the compromised geometry.

I looked for another similar bike in my size to swap the components over from the trashed frame. The one I found happened to be another Schwinn, an 1986 Prelude (not pink, sadly). I transferred everything over, all the basic-but-solid components. The new frame is in much better shape. It never spent a decade or two sitting outside an abandoned building.



The Prelude was higher up in the Schwinn model range, with frames made from Columbus Tenax tubing. Though clearance is a little tighter in the chainstays, the Gravelkings still fit, just barely. There's not much tread left on them after only 1,500 miles. I definitely won't be buying another set. They're nice to ride on, but way too fragile.

370 miles on the re-do bike so far. The graveling continues!

sheddle

That "wet rims" decal is so 80s Schwinn that I want to get stickers made of it. I'm not sure if all mass market US sold bikes had those but for some reason I associate those with Schwinn Tempos and Preludes.

madpogue 

^^^^ Far as I can recall, I've only seen that "wet rims" sticker on Schwinns of that era. Definitely a legal dept. thing, esp since they had so many steel-rimmed steamrollers with marginal brakes leading up to that time.

scratchpaddy

You can buy an "Original Authentic Exact Reproduction" (whatever that means ) here: Caution Wet Rims Peel & Apply Decal. I used to have a '91 Paramount PDG with the same warning. The '74 Le Tour I had with chromed-steel rims, which really could have used the warning, did not. The 80's bikes all have screws on the inside of the bottom of the forks for attaching lawyer tabs, too. Very American.