Well I got another "bargain". Its a 1986 Schwinn Passage, and I only paid 5% of what the seller assured me what "these go for".............
I was going to start a thread on "Bikes we paid too much for", but just went ahead and started breaking it down. Almost every thing that could go wrong, went wrong with this bike, but when the dust settled I was left with a forkless rusty frame with a misaligned rear end and a bent derailleur hanger.
With a Columbus Tenax sticker though...
I'm entertaining trying to "repair" the original fork, but its a Tange production fork and I have a similar one from a Bridgestone T-500 that should fit. That ones spec'ed at 60mm of rake so the trail would be a little lower. With the rust and the mismatched fork, this bike is going to need powder coating once the rear end is straightened out and probably spread to 128mm.
So its going to require a certain investment of time and money to make this a bike again. My question is whether the bike is unique enough, what will it be good at and how would any of you build this bike up?
I'm kind of fixated on the "randoneuring" potential of all the old bikes that end up in my attic. I have other full blown touring bikes so I'm inclined to envision a 700c cantilever Randonneuse. I weigh a solid 250lbs right now so I suspect the bike won't be to stiff.
Or perhaps something a little more Walnut Creek? Swept bars, basket and bags?
