mkeller234

I recently traded with another forum member for this Schwinn Sports Tourer frame and fork (Sept 1972 frame date). I'm not 100% sure on how I want to build it up, I am thinking North road handlebars. I have a first generation Deore group I will probably use on it if I can. I will be putting the kickstand back on as well.

I've run into a few issues in these beginning stages. The derailleur tab was bent so I had the lbs straighten it. I also had the frame respaced to 126mm and got the rusty threads chased.

The seat tube is slightly oversized, my calipers measure it at 29.4 so finding a front derailleur has been a challenge. I'd like to use my Deore FD... but I have to accept that it just won't fit.

This is a pretty sweet Schwinn frame (IMO) for a few reasons. It has a threaded bottom bracket, huret forged dropouts with built in hanger and it's made with filet brazed cro-molly.

Here are some crappy basement pictures. Please excuse the mess.








I was going to use a single chainring in the front but this crank is too cool looking.

NormanF

I built my Schwinn Super Sport around 700C wheels and Albatross bars. The stock stem gave me a sore neck and a Pyramid Touring Stem solved that problem by pulling the bars up to a comfortable level. I like my bars at or an inch or two above the saddle height for maximum comfort.

The Sports Tourer was one of a handful of bikes Schwinn built fillet-brazed out of straight-gauge cro-moly steel. They tended to get lost with the electro-forged hi-tensile steel bikes Schwinn also made because they all looked identical and Schwinn didn't really bother to market the benefits of owning a lighter bike.

mkeller234

Could you post some pictures? I am looking for a little inspiration.

wrk101

I have a pile of the first generation Deore myself and need some inspiration to reuse it. With the Deore, personally I would have to go with drops and barcons. That group screams for barcons.

Just one guy's opinion.

mkeller234

Yes, I sort of feel the same way. I was thinking those Rivpods would be good because I could mount the Deore levers as bar end shifters. I could use the bar ends in north roads like I did on my lotus...I haven't really decided. I do have a pair of Schwinn and GB rando bars that I have thought about using.

sailorbenjamin

I gotta get one of those little third chainrings for my ST.

Oh, and in case you haven't seen it yet;

mparker326

I took a dremel and just ground out a little of the inside of the clamp to get a standard front derailer size to fit mine. It doesn't take much.

How does the rear derailer work on the Huret derailer tab that doesn't have the shimano/campy style stop? I had to use a Shimano Crane, Campy Rally or Gran Turismo on mine because they worked with the Huret stop.

mkeller234

The Deore derailleur has a stop similar to the one on a Crane RD. In my picture above the RD is mounted with the stop contacting the derailleur tab, I haven't tried any other brands on there so they might not fit. I do have the original Schwinn front derailleur that I could use... but I think it looks crummy. I thought about filing the Deore FD but I am not sure I want to mar one in such good condition.

I like the color of your sports tourer. I was bidding on a Super Sport in that color yesterday but came up short.

WNG

You can try 'clamping' the FD to small drum sander to remove a bit of aluminum to make it fit. This way it's uniform. It won't look much different.

Henry III

That Sports Tourer looks strikingly familiar. lol. It's a bit of a tough cookie to figure out on what to use with it's one off sizes. You'll figure out what to do with my old ST.

mparker326

Mine used to be the Lime Green color under a rattle can paint job. I tried removing the spray, but the original paint was too far gone in places. I had mine powdercoated to match the blue Schwinn color. I'm happy with the job except, the powdercoater didn't listen to me and powdered over the half crome fork.

Were you the person I traded the Suntour VX front derailer to? If so, I had filed the inside of it to fit my ST so you could use that one if you wanted to.

mkeller234

I don't think that was me. We did trade in the past, some Weinmann Centerpulls and I think a Suntour V-GT rear derailleur.

The frame is pretty tempting to powder coat with all the smooth joints, it's perfect for it. A thick coating might even make some of the sloppy clean up work look better too. I noticed on mine the seat stay caps are a little off in relation to each other. The head tube joints look pretty good... the rest... well, it looks a lot better than the EF models. The paint on mine is in pretty good shape so I think I would regret it in the long run.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I really like that 1st gen Deore Stuff. Very cool.

mparker326

If you got the V-GT, then I included the VX front & some clamp on downtube shifters. You may want to check the parts pile.

Of course it won't be near as pretty as the Deore front. Just break out the dremel. No one will ever know and it won't prevent you from using it on another frame.

ColonelJLloyd 

I like yellow Schwinns.
I like fillet brazed bikes.
I like fenders.
I like 1st gen. Deore.

That's gonna be a cool build. I agree that bar-end shifters are the way to go. Adapting the Deore levers to bar-ends would be great.

mkeller234

I bought a NOS Deore DX front derailleur on ebay, with a large clamp that I will shim. It's not perfect, but I think it will be good. I had a bike with Deore DX and it was good stuff.