Tonyp884

Hey Guys and Gals,
I am 58 yrs old and I have what I think is a 1991 Specialized Rockhopper XC red and white, with a Fox air Shox that I love. And I am going to pick up a CL bike for $40., a 1986 Schwinn Voyager British Pine color all original I think with a Nasbar rear rack, Cateye computer, tire pump, tools, needs tires, tubes, new seat and a good cleaning!
In the last 18 months I have dramatically improved my health. I was overweight, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and T2 Diabetic that was having trouble walking. I bought an old Specialized Rockhopper, put some flat resistant street tires on it and cleaned, lubed and tuned it up a bit. And since then, I have ridden that bike well over 2,ooo miles, mostly before sunrise on a hilly country road before going to work at 5:30 am. I have gone from 189 lbs down to 154 lbs, no high blood pressure or cholesterol, and my diabetes is Way Better, I am a totally different person.
I am sure I will have many questions!
I tried to post a photo with no luck... Will retry later!
Tony p
Monroe, NC

OTS 

Hey Tony,
Good on ya !
Welcome to the Forums.

Wildwood 

Welcome. Congrats on good solutions.
Fifty + forum has a sub-forum for health issues and maintenance.

2k miles RockHoppered = 3K miles on a skinny tired roadie (or more).

TiHabanero

Way to get it done, Tony. Taking one's health a bit more seriously changes one's life for the better as you have discovered. It has done the same for me. Here's to many more miles and smiles.

Bianchi84

Welcome from Concord, NC. Congratulations on your success! Looking forward to pictures. I think you need 10 posts before you can post any.

rubiconazoid

Welcome to the forum!

Sir_Name 

Nice work, Tony! Cycling is a boon in so many ways -- stick around. I have a '91 RockHopper here that I absolutely love. Ask any questions and post plenty pictures.

gugie 

Great to have you here! All you needed to do was find something physical you liked to do.

delicious

Great job! Definitely post up any questions you have about your bikes.

Lazyass

Is this it? I would love to get my hands on it with some wet sandpaper, Blue Magic alu polish and rubbing compound/wax. That bike would polish up and restore nicely, I could get it looking almost new. I like bikes like that. Quality ones you can buy cheap with no rust or peeling paint. Just needs some elbow grease.

https://columbia.craigslist.org/bik/...705338841.html

Schreck83 

Tony,
You need to have 10 posts before you can upload photos and you can't post more than 5 times a day until then, so do some replyiing today and tomorrow and you should be good to go!

machinist42

Welcome. The NC contingent continues to expand, though in your specific case, apparently you are shrinking? Good off you!

You can upload photos as attachments of appropriate size directly from your PC or Mac, not from a mobile device, with fewer than 10 posts.

That's an awfully nice Voyager at a very reasonable price point; ride it like you stole it if it's your size!

Tonyp884

Yes, this is MY bike now. I actually paid $35.oo for it! LazyAss, I Welcome any refurbishing suggestions!
Tony p
Monroe, NC

Tonyp884

I am not a fan of not letting a new member post a pic or two...
I actually bought it for $35. It has a Nasbar rear rack in great condition, Look pedals, and the BioPace crank has been replaced with a Sakae XCE. I think everything else is Original. The tires are so dry rotted, I cannot read anything on the sidewalls, they have Presta Valves, but I am sure they are 27x1.25 Schwinn. Kinda wish I could install a slightly wider tire, but I don't think that is possible. I have a lot of questions and plans for the bike. First glance it needs shift cables, tires, tubes, bar tap, seat, cleaning, tuning, polishing...
I welcome any cleaning and refurbishing tips. As well as best place to purchase cables, housings, tires, tubes, rim strips, etc. I assume there are some better sources than ebay.
I think I am going to try to not repaint, add tan cork bar tape, gumwall tires, light colored leather saddle, and hopefully find touchup paint after I replace above parts.
Tony p
Monroe, NC

Tonyp884

You guys might think I am trying to get my TEN Posts on the books!
Please share any and all tips! I plan to post many pics along the way. I spent many years as a professional NASCAR and dirt bike racing photographer, so, I always take pics!
Tony p
Monroe, NC

Tonyp884

Is there a rack for the front forks? Maybe something that matches the rear Nashbar?
Thanks,
Tony p
Monroe, NC

Fahrenheit531 

Welcome to the forums, [MENTION=490724]Tonyp884[/MENTION], and congratulations on all the good stuff so far.

After 2k miles on your Rockhopper, yeah, you're gonna dig that road bike.

Tonyp884

Finally looked the bike over this morning.
SunTour Hubs
Araya 27x1 1/4 w/o rims with Presta Valves
Sakae Crank replaced the Original BioPace
The Schwinn brochure from 1986 says my bike is an 18 speed, this one is a 21 speed!
SunTour XCE Expert Auto Shift Plus rear derailleur
SunTour XCE Front Derailleur
Look Pedals
SunTour AccuShift Plus / Bar Con Power Shifters mounted to the bar ends instead of the downtube mounted shifters mentioned in the1986 Schwinn Brochure pdf
Serial number is F8011986 or F8011936
Lots of rusty scratches along top tube from a formerly frame mounted tire pump
Lots of little rusty scratches on the frame including a one thru the middle of the left hand side Voyager decal on the top frame tube.
It seems that my bike has a lot of components that are Different from the specs in the 1986 Schwinn Brochure and an All Year Voyager Comparison Chart I have found online!
At this point, I'd rather try to clean up the rust on all of the metal parts and painted frame tubes, and try to find British Pine touch up paint.
Maybe I can use some light compound on the paint and then a good coat of wax. This is going to be ridden a LOT, and I'm not wanting to repaint.
I need to research the best way to put a shine on these aluminum wheels and other parts.
Question? Could I / Should I disassemble and re-grease the steering stem and the hubs?

I am Really Happy with my $35 1986 Schwinn Voyager!
I plan to ride in at The American Diabetes Association Tour deCure for Diabetes in Charlotte on October 27th. I plan to ride the 45 mile event, or at least the 25 miler on this Voyager. Should be a step up from riding my olde Specialized FSR XC, which I dearly Love by the way
So, I guess I need to get to work!
Thanks everyone for all of the encouragement!
Any and All re-furbishment Tips will be Greatly Appreciated!

Tony p
Monroe, NC

Tonyp884

Lazyass,
You mentioned sandpaper... Could you offer up some details? The bike has a good bit of rust on metal brackets, brake linkage, nuts, etc..
I am trying to learn the best way to clean and polish the wheels, hubs, spokes, crank, stem, etc.
thanks,
Tony p

Tonyp884

I have started disassembly and cleaning. I have ordered a seat, Schwinn gumwall tires, tubes, rim strips, cables and housings..
Can't wait!
tony p

ollo_ollo

Welcome Tony. You can learn a lot HERE

INTRODUCTION & WELCOME

You can remove parts and soak in a solution of Oxalic acid to remove rust or try some 0000 steel wool with some light oil or WD40.

Now that you have 2 bikes, watch this Winter for an attractively priced Centurion, Raleigh, Lotus etc. making a Hat Trick for the year Don

Tonyp884

Thanks ollo ollo,
That website is exactly what I was looking for!
Yes, I am already primed for my next vintage bike find!
I feel like I stole this Voyager for $35.
Thanks Again!
Tony p

Kevindale

Welcome! Yes, clean and regrease the wheel hubs, headset, bottom bracket. I would take the whole thing apart (take lots of cell phone photos as you do this if you're like me and haven't done it 100 times before, and use lots of baggies for different components). Make sure the bearings and races, spindle, etc. are in good shape, otherwise replace (probably worth replacing all the bearings while you're at it).

Easy cleaning of components: Disassemble and degrease/clean everything to get the grime off. Don't want to clean hard with any dirt present. Use. wet aluminum foil on all chrome. Fast and easy. After it's cleaned up, rinse, dry well, and wax. Get aluminum polish for the aluminum parts. Most of these are probably clear anodized. If they are mottled and don't easily shine up, then you'll need to polish off the anodizing to get it to really shine. Then you'll be faced with trouble keeping them shiny, so I don't recommend this. Clean, polish, buff to a light shine.. Rusty unchromed metal, or badly pitted/rusted chrome, use oxalic acid. Barkeepers Friend is a ready source. Soak overnight, rinse thoroughly, dry, buff, and wax if appropriate, or a light coating of grease if it's a nut or a washer.

Clean the frame, wse paper towels soaked in oxalic acid on small rust spots, rinse, and dry. Check inside the frame for worrisome rust, maybe use Framesaver if you're worried. With the frame clean, use something like Scratch-X to make the paint look as good as it can, then wax. If you can find a great match for the paint, do your touch up painting before you wax.

Don't try to save the chain. Get new tires and tubes. If you don't think you can do a complete disassembly/reassembly in time for your ride, I would just do a cleaning without removing too many pieces, get new chain/tires/cables/saddle, and deal with anything that is a problem (wheel hub doesn't spin smoothly, wheel out of true, hardened brake blocks). If this is going to be your main ride, then remember that "the best" is the enemy of "good enough." It's easy to do the leisurely complete and compulsive rehab when you have another bike to ride.

Edit to add - what I mean is, maybe save the full tear down for the depths of winter, when you might be choosing to ride your Rockhopper most of the time anyway. A full teardown/rehab always takes me much longer than I anticipate.

ryansu

Welcome @Tonyp884 I had an 86 Schwinn Passage, a step down from the Voyager, and really loved the ride. $35 is a steal for that bike!

The forum is of course a great place for info (+1 on [MENTION=337442]Kevindale[/MENTION] advice above), you can also check out

Mytenspeeds by forum member Randy Jawa - mentioned above by [MENTION=8403]ollo_ollo[/MENTION]
Sheldon Brown Patron saint of vintage bike restorers
RJ the bike guy great videos on vintage bike maintenance

For analog references I use Zinn and the art of road bike maintenance a lot but you can also find 70s and 80s vintage bike manuals, like Anybody's bike book or Glenn's Complete Bicycle manual on Amazon for a pittance. Have fun and congrats on the return to health. The Passage below after too much time and $$

Lazyass

Go to Walmart and get some 3M wetsand paper in 400, 800 and 1000 grit. You can even go down to 2000. Then go to Advanced Auto and get Blue Magic aluminum polish (the AA here stocks it), use no other. Start with the 400 grit if it's really corroded or if there's gouges like on a seatpost, otherwise start with 800 or so and go down from there. After hitting it with 1000 or 2000 polish it and you'll get a mirror finish. For your paint buy some Turtle wax rubbing compound. Use it until the paint feels smooth on your fingertip. Don't rub it too hard or you'll remove too much paint. If the paint isn't too faded you can use Turtle Wax polishing compound instead, it doesn't have as much bite. Then wax it.

The best thing to do is find something aluminum that isn't good for anything and practice on that first, or do like the bottom couple of inches of your seat post that stays hidden inside the frame.