stardognine

I just scarfed this about a half an hour ago. It isn’t “minty”, lol, but in very nice condition, with a few scrapes on the paint, which is called Ivory with Chocolate. At least it sounds good, hmmm? 😁😉

The only thing that’s even remotely disappointing, is the braze-ons for the rear rack aren’t threaded, so I’ll need to source a couple nuts. 🤔🙄 Everything else is just vintage-y cool. 😎

I’m not familiar with that crank part number, obviously early-ish Shimano, but everything else is Suntour & Dia-Compe. I’ve never used those roller cam brakes before, and was pleasantly surprised at how well they stop ya. 👍

OK, enough chit chat, we need pics. Enjoy. 😎

stardognine

BTW, the main reason I even looked at this bike seriously, is those low-rider mounting holes, on the fork. That’s a major game-changer, for touring, as some of you know. 👍

thumpism 

Those lowrider bosses are nice but not essential. My Cimarron has 'em, and my Paramount has 'em, and I had 'em added to a Trek that I redid, but my last tour was on a bike that did not have them and the U-bolts held the lowriders just fine. I'd be more concerned about the limitations imposed by those brakes.

Nice find, though. Those are pretty bikes.

stardognine

I agree, those low-rider bosses aren’t “essential”, but they’re the best way to put panniers up front, and down low, so everything rides along nicely. 🙂

I haven’t looked up date codes on those cranks yet, but read a little online about the cranks. These pre-date the Deore group, and were the “budget-conscious” alternative to XT. They were only made for 2 or 3 years, so it’s no wonder I never heard of them before. Or if I did, I forgot. 🤔😉

I swapped the aluminum riser bars, that didn’t rise much, for my old chromeys, with quite a bit of rise. That was just what I needed, for a nice comfortable fit. The seat post is a different size from my old Ritchey, so I couldn’t swap it, but it’s not bad for now, just want a slightly longer one, down the road. 🙂

Those Continental Town & Country tires are 26” x 1.9”, so pretty cushy, and yes, I got the 26” x 1.5” Araya rims, that someone mentioned, in another High Sierra thread. 😉

BTW, here’s what I meant about the rear rack “braze-on” thingy. I’m on a mission now, to find the right nuts & bolts, those ones are just kinda hanging for now. 🙄

TenGrainBread 

Always a little stronger and nicer on the paint to have the racks bolt on than clamp on.
What do you mean by "limitations imposed by those brakes"? The Roller Cams actually are a whole lot more rigid than cantilevers, in my experience, and modulate quite well. My last tour was on an '86 High Sierra and the brakes did a lot better with the loaded bike than previous tours on canti bikes.

stardognine

That was my impression too, that these roller cams are probably better than v-brakes. Maybe his were out of adjustment? 🤔

The Golden Boy 

They don't actually predate Deore- which goes back to like 81; and had those HUGE pedal holes and I think it looks like Hobbit inspired graphics... Until M730 comes around, the hierarchy is a little fluid. Generally, XT, Deore then Z series... I'm not sure what goes under that- but I also think Z series stuff could fit directly under XT prior to MT-60. It's nice stuff- the levers were on some really nice bikes, the Z206 is a total "all business" front derailleur that handles a triple but also specced on doubles.

I'd rather have a Sugino AT or a Shimano FC-6206... then I guess an M730...

I think my 87 High Sierra was specced with MT-60 Deore and Suntour XC Sport. My MT-60 cranks got hit by a car in 91.

The Golden Boy 

BTW- one of the coolest things about this bike is the 'lugged unicrown' fork- From what I read, they didn't entirely trust TIG welding to handle the forces that a unicrown fork join would generate- so someone came up with a little lug. It's kind of cool in its own vestigial way.

stardognine

Yeah, that has to be one of the coolest things about this bike. 😁 It reminded me of some of the Bianchi Grizzly forks, from the ‘80s.

The Golden Boy 

1987 Schwinn High Sierra by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr


High Sierra Fillet Brazed by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr

stardognine

Hey, I forgot to post a better pic, of this crazy-looking cable guide/rack-mounting bracket. Obviously more vintage-ier than most. 😁😉 Those are genuine stainless steel nuts & bolts & washers. 😎

madpogue 

Interesting, my '86 does not have that four-legged stamped piece brazed on. There's a hanger for the brake cable stop held by the seat post binder bolt, nestled between the seat lug ears. And then the usual thick cheerio braze-ons for a rack.

Also interesting that it has a nutted front wheel with those little lock tabs and the small holes in the fork dropouts. My '86 is quick-release, with the common Schwinn "lawyer tab" alternative system.

stardognine

Interesting. Maybe one of us has a custom-made or customized frame? Or maybe they just improvised a lot, back then. 🤔

BTW, the rear wheel is nutted too, and sits way more forward than I’d normally feel comfortable with. But I’ve refrained from messing with that for now, no telling what kind of trouble I might get myself into. 😁😉

Oh, one of my crank arms (NDS if I remember right) has a hairline crack, so I’ll definitely be swapping that out. 😲

SkierSue

I have the exact same Ivory/Chocolate High Sierra, that I purchased new in 1986. Except mine has the SR Slingshot stem. I had to replace the rear derailleur after I broke mine, and a broken brake lever, but that and the seat are the only non-original parts. Oh, wait, I put Town and Country tires on this spring to make it my touring bike. I wish I could restore the original paint job, because it shows the many years I have used it. The roller cam brakes are pretty good for rim brakes, but it's hard to put up with them after riding my 2019 FS trail bike with disc brakes! Anyway, this was my first mt bike love and will also near and dear to my heart.




Put on a cheapie rear derailleur just to ride it.

stardognine

Aha, they obviously did improvise, on the components, at least. 🙂 With that Mountech front derailleur, you probably also had a Mountech rear, which were known to have problems. My derailleurs are both Suntour XC. And you have a Sakae crankset, instead of the Shimano I got.

But we both got those cool Suntour Power Thumbies! 😁 They actually look kinda cheap, but they work great, once you get a feel for them. Especially for trimming. It took me most of the first day of riding, to figure out what that noise was (derailleurs rubbing the chain) and re-learn trimming. 😁😉

EDIT: BTW, I’ll give you $10 cash for that slingshot stem? 😉 Just kidding, obviously, but those are cool. 😎

sheddle

I've got something like that on my Schwinn MTB ('88 KOM 10), and I was wondering about that! I think it might have been a Tange fork thing, because I've seen it on a few other bikes of that period.

@johnoliva1

Deleted

stardognine

Could you please delete this post? No reason to put your ad here.

@johnoliva1

This has no relevance to this thread in YOUR opinion? If this is really offending everyone and making people salty, I can take it down, but as a member I'd like everyone else to know that if I'm looking at a thread about a certain bike model that's not super common and someone wants to tell me they are selling one, Id be more inclined to thank them for the convenience of not having to look for it elsewhere rather than point the crooked finger. I'm not hard up for the hundo, if more than one of you complains, I'll just take it down. - John

TenGrainBread 

It's not really a matter of opinion - the forum rules are clear that sales are to take place in the "Classic and Vintage Sales" subforum.

@johnoliva1

I get it, just lame that it bothered anybody, but i understand its a slippery slope...

stardognine

I hit Pullins bike shop, here in Chico, and got an LX non-drive side crank arm, and also some decent-looking low-rider racks. 👍 I wasn’t too crazy about buying the Axiom brand, as I’ve had mixed results on the quality of their panniers. They’re either very good, or very bad.
But the Blackburns there looked even worse, with way too many bits & pieces, for my liking. And I actually think these Axioms are a bit better, than the older Blackburn low-riders. We’ll see. 🤔

I just put them on quickly for now, so I don’t have to carry them, lol, I’ll try to straighten them better, later. 😉

I did a first quicky cleaning of the frame, and I’m pretty happy with how much crud came off. A lot of what I though were scrapes & scratches, was just crud & paint from something else. 🙂

stardognine

Thanks for deleting it. 👍 As another member said, there are rules we need to follow here, and I didn’t want this thread shut down.

FYI, if you just say “I happen to have this other bike listed in the For Sale sub-forum”, that seems to be OK. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen ads mentioned in threads before. And yes, it “could” be pretty useful to someone else, so I’m not against that idea. 😉

stardognine

You must be my good luck charm, lol. 😎 Today, I found another High Sierra, with the same paint as ours’, in a bike recycling place. It’s headset was dissected, and the paint was pretty scratched, but I bought it for $25 because it had that Slingshot stem, the Sakae FX cranks with round chainrings, in 48-38-28, and another full set of Cunningham marked roller cams, plus the Suntour XC levers. Oh, almost forgot, Suntour Mountech derailleurs, but not the super heavy rear, must be an early version. 🤔😁 No wheels or seatpost this time, but I’m cool with that. 😁😉 Pics forthcoming, once I find a place to charge my batteries around here. 🙄🤔

stardognine

Hey wait, I did grab a pic. And I gave up $5 for a Blackburn rack. 😁