djkashuba 

A bit Large for me. I am thinking Albatross bars and more of a city build than dirt. Winter project.

-D


Schwinn Cimarron by djk762, on Flickr

bconneraz

That's a great looking bike; it's an LE, right? I love rim/frame color combo. I can't wait to follow your progress. And I wouldn't worry too much about it being too big; the way you want to set it up lends itself to a larger than usual frame.

djkashuba 

Yes LE. These really are good looking parts. I think an upright build will be the ticket. A modern Raleigh DL-1 ish ride. I have not figured the drive train yet. 21 speeds is a bit much, but I have it available and I know how mountain bike frames can morph very quickly.

-D

4funbikes

Time to breathe new life in to this thread.
I was hoping to get each in to a more acceptable state before posting them, whatever.
The green one is my main squeeze, the red is my squeeze's squeeze.
She's been riding hers for a few years now. It just received some new flash for Christmas.Still waiting on a suitable front basket/rack.
Budget over beauty for the most part on these.

'85. Was mostly original when I received it. I did a few up and down grades.


88' I received as a frame only some years back.

thumpism 

Grabbing this slot in anticipation of posting. More to come. Stay tuned.

Actually, I will give you some background as an appetizer. My fat tired bike did not begin as the Cimarron. When mountain bikes first hit and the Specialized Stumpjumper was $750, all us guys in the shop said to ourselves, "Well, hell, I bet I can make something like that and get it to work for a lot less money." So began the quest. We had a bent frame from an Austro-Daimler Inter 10, full Reynolds 531, that had had the seat tube crimped in a workstand. Boss ordered a replacement frame and that one got hung up. I was the first one to try the rear wheel from a Ross Diamond Cruiser 5 in it and discovered that a 2.125 tire would fit, so I bought it to build. Put that bike together with a delightful mishmash of parts scrounged for as little as possible. Fast forward to Seattle 1984. We sold a Mountain Klein to a customer and that boss wanted to strip a Cimarron for parts for the Klein so I told him, "Pick a 23" and I'll buy the frame." Done, and I swapped over my parts. You'll not have seen many Cimarrons like mine. As I said, stay tuned.

*edit for pix and details*

Here's the Cimarron frame with my earlier stuff swapped over to it. Neat bike but the high bottom bracket and laid-back angles give it an odd ride. Slow and stately, like a Raleigh DL-1. I had a Brooks B17 on it but that got moved for some reason and is now hiding in the garage.


Bombproof wheels. I got the Campy high flange hubs for $20, found in an ad in an advertising newspaper pre-internet.
Someone drilled the spoke holes oversize and the guy could not use them but they were perfect for my intended use. Fat spokes, drilled the Araya 7X rims to match and here they are.




Warranty bullmoose-style Cro-Mo handlebar from a Ross. These are canted slightly downward on the left side but it is
barely noticeable. Works fine for free. Tommaselli levers and SunTour friction shifters were all the rage in that era. I've been wanting to try it with drops and barcons so will likely do that. In the previous, A-D version, I learned to ride rollers on the short-lived drop bar version of it.


I'm proud of what I call my K-Mart triple crank, a Sugino Maxy double with a 22T SunTour freewheel cog bolted to the
inside. Works fine.


Mafac tandem cantilever brakes.


Warranty Pletscher rack (broke near the front) was converted to seatstay mount by cutting and drilling. Soubitez
bottom bracket generator relocated to brake bridge mount.


Puch Rugby Sport (Google the name for a look at a groovy little Austrian 3-speed) fender-mount taillight on the back of the rack. I have a spare lens somewhere.


That's my ride. Hope you enjoyed looking at it.

i-timy

I just got my Sunrise Red 1988 Cimarron out of storage. It was the first schwinn off the line for 1988 with a badge number 0408. Monday Jan 04 1988 was the first workday that year. unlike other 88s it has chrome rm20 rims.

Metacortex

Note that badge number 0408 indicates that the bike was built on the
*40th* day of 1988, which was Tuesday February 9th, 1988.

bconneraz

It would appear that an 88 LE will be joing my stable; more to follow once the clean-up is complete; really excited about this one.

Metacortex

Me too, can't wait to see the pics/details!

bconneraz

I'll make sure to post up the birthdate and serial number info; I know you've collected a lot of excellent info on these bikes. I purchased the bike from a gentleman in Oregon; he had it listed on ebay a couple weeks ago, but the price was on the high side, and it didn't get any bites. It was also listed on Craigslist. I thought I was done buying Cimarrons for a while, but in my effort to assemble a complete set of the production run, I couldn't pass on this one; I don't have an LE. I reached out to him, told him my story, worked out a fair deal, and it ships to me Monday. The seller is a former bike shop owner; he purchased this Cimarron new in 1989, rode it home, and never touched it again. It should be a great representation of a totally original LE.

mainstreetexile 

Nice! Is the LE the same frame geometry as the earlier 85-86 Cimarrons?

Does anybody have catalog scans for all years of the Cimarron?

bconneraz

I have all the catalogs; while I don't have a scanner, I have a pretty good camera. Ill see what I can post up. Same geo as the 87-89. It's a crazy mix of parts though. It's no secret that there were supply issues at the plant; either shortages of parts, or surplus parts..... it's as if this bike was built with an 87 frame, and parts that are on 86-88 models. Stem, cranks, bars and wheels like an 86, xt brakes, levers, mountain pro seat, and xc pro seat post like an 87, and Deore derailleurs like an 88. I'm also delighted that the pedals are the Suntour XC Pro II's; one of my all time favorites; those only appeared on the 85 and 86 models. 87 went to XT, 88 was cheapo Sakae, and in 89 they were Deore. To my knowledge, there is no catalog that shows the LE. anyone ever see any advertising for it?

Clang

^ Photos of the missing Schwinn mtb catalog pages would be great to have as reference material.

And what a pristine LE. These are some sharp-looking bikes!

bconneraz

1988 Cimarron LE. All original, down to the cable ends; just the way it rolled home from the dealer. It was parked, and never ridden again. While yellow would not have been my first choice on accessories, I wanted to leave the bike alone. It came with yellow toe clips too, but one broke in shipping, so I'm waiting for an NOS set to arrive.
I was always curious about the LE; it's an 87 frame, with a mix of 86, 87, and 88 parts. I suppose the parts spec speaks to what I've read about the Greenville plant; they weren't very efficient, and often ran out of parts, or had surplus parts laying around. In any event, it's a stunning example, and rides beautifully.

Metacortex

It is so cool to finally see an original '88 LE! I have all the Schwinn ATB catalogs during the Cimarron run and the LE was never featured in any catalog or other literature I've seen. It may very likely have been mentioned in the Schwinn Eagle dealer newsletter but unfortunately I don't have any issues from that time.

I do believe Schwinn built these to use up an excess inventory of leftover '87 frames as well as parts from other years. Because of that I wonder if the components were even consistent for all of them. Can you post the frame serial and badge no. for documentation purposes? Are both rims RM-25? What are the 2-letter date codes on the crank arms? You should also see date codes on the bottom bracket, F/R derailleurs, cantilevers, cassette and chain. There is a lot you can learn from an amazing original bike like this.

Henry III

I just picked up a relatively original 88 LE. Only thing not stock was a nasty massive gel lycra cover sprung saddle.

I think Schwinn originated the frankenbuild with this bike. The drivetrain consisted of a Deore RD, Deerhead FD, Suntour freewheel, Deore biopace crankset, Suntour XC-II pedals and Deore thumbies.

The bars and stem are both Nitto but I had to remove bars as I was getting nose bleeds being elevated so high. The stem was a double bolt clamp and black anodized though the bars were silver.

Wheels were Suntour XC hubs with Araya hard anodized RM25. The only things questionable is the seatpost as it was a Kalloy with a black band label near the rail clamp. The last Cimarron I had before this was around the same age and had a nice Suntour XC post.

I normally ride a 15" frame and this is a 17" and not I've ever seen a 15" Cimarron. Though with the riser stem and the sweep back bars I put on it I can comfortably ride it now.

So what was so special about the LE model? Just that it was a one year only model?

neo_pop_71

Here is a 1987 Cimarron I picked up recently, I did a little stable swap horse trading to bring it home. Definitely no beauty queen like bconneraz minty examples, this one has been enjoyed and has all the scratches, nicks, chips, and chain suck to prove it but the full Shimano XT group is present (even the large platform XT pedals- score!!!). The stock Schwinn Terra tires have been replaced with period correct Tioga tires from the late '80's. The Nitto stem and bar were swapped with a chrome Tioga quill stem and a flat MTN bar.

This Cimarron is not my size and I don't need another in my stable because nothing can take the place of my custom '88 LE resto-mod but for the sake of preserving an almost original bike I had to make the trade. Who knows what will happen down the line... maybe a bike for my daughter when she gets a little taller, but it's safe for now.

Here are a few photos...

mnmkpedals 

Apologies for the crud photo, but just wanted to post before ducking out for something. I have been envious of these since reading about them on the thread and missed out on one a while back because it was too far from my house to get to with ease, so when this appeared locally about 1 mile from my house and in my size, I jumped and even splurged a little. At least I figure I saved on gas from not driving far.

So I'm the happy new owner of this largely original 85. Not sure how I'm going to employ it after cleaning, but excited to see how I like it. One thing that kills me is the size of the fenders. Blown away they fit on there with the 26x2 tires.

mainstreetexile 

I'm just picturing your and bconneraz's Cimarron stockpiles..





Yep, love the ample space for fenders between the stays and all the rack mounts braze-ons. Welcome to the club!

mnmkpedals 

So after a brief bit of cleaning and couple neighborhood loops, first question that comes to mind for Cimarron owners are the tires. What are you all using on there and for what purpose? Big question I know, but while these 26x2 are comfy, I am wondering if too wide? I love the pics of all the tan sidewall ones you have-- just for looks-- and they look narrower, so I'm curious about any advice, experience you all have had with tire sizes and success?

thumpism 

Specialized Fat Boy slicks in 1.95. They do fine for the occasional riding I do on this bike. If I take it on the GAP/C&O this summer I'll pick something more suitable for that surface.

4funbikes

Made some changes to my '85.
swapped the original cockpit for old wald beach cruiser bars. These feel great and offer a few different hand positions.
Switched the triple to a single chainring w/guard (It's completely flat here)
Mounted a suntour thumb shifter on the stem. Less cludder on the bars, less reach to the down tube. I'm a fan atleast.



Tire wise; I run 1.5 Schwalbe Marathons.

okmain

Just found this thread. I have a 1987 Schwinn Cimarron I bought new.
How many here know that the first UCI mens and women's mountain bike champions in 1987 in Val d'Isere Franch were riding Cimarrons for the Schwinn team?

okmain

I am a newbie with this forum. I wanted to say that I have an original 87 Schwinn Cimarron. Still very much original. How many know that the first UCI world championships were won on Schwinn Cimarrons?

okmain

Mountain Biking?s first World Champion: Mary Lee Atkins | Jacquie Phelan's Weblog