skiingfury

I was hoping to draw on the collective brilliance of bike knowledge to help identify this frame.

I recently purchased this frame that has been rattle can painted black. The PO must have stripped it before painting because I can't identify a color underneath the black. I am going to build a flat bar city bike for towing a kid trailer with it. Right now, I am trying to figure out if the frame is worth powdercoating or just running as is. If I can figure out that it is a keeper frame, I'll PC it. The main triangle makes a nice ping when I flick it at the center of any of the tubes.

The frame is lugged steel (main triangle checked with magnet). The tube diameters(approximately) are below:
Seat tube, top tube ~29mm (28.6?)
Down tube ~32.5mm (I think greater than 31.8, but maybe not)
If you need the ID of the seat tube, I'll have to purchase a nicer caliper- but I needed one anyways.


Some notable points about the frame construction:
-Built for 700c wheels
-The dimensions are a bit goofy- 22"/56cm ST (C-T) and 24"/61cm TT (C-C).
-There is no obvious seam in the seat tube.
-The dropouts and fork ends are forged but not marked
-Double rack eyelets on dropouts
-There is a crease in the cap on the seatstays at the seat tube
-Diamond shaped bosses for both water bottle mounts
-There are two holes drilled circumferentially at the mid point on the HT where a badge was mounted

The S/N is GA209###, where the ### are three more numerical digits. I'd be happy to post the full S/N if it is material in identifying this frame, or if there is another specific request (S/N log?).

I have a couple guesses, but don't want to bias the study. Thanks for the help!

3speedslow

@skiingfury Looks like one of the 90's Schwinn cross offerings. Higher end would be crosscut or crosspoint. Looks nice.

Andy_K 

I would say the best way to tell whether or not it's worth powder coating is to ride it.

Given the condition it's in now, any connection to whatever it originally was is lost. Even if you could somehow convince yourself that it was something special, it won't have any more resale value than any other repainted generic frame so the value is all in how it rides.

The diamond braze-ons for the water bottle bosses establish a certain level of quality, I think. So I would assume that it's reasonable well built, and probably not with terribly cheap tubing. But at the end of the day, even a very finely crafted frame made from top-notch tubing can be ill suited to your particular purposes and preferences.

So what I'm saying is that I don't see anything that would rule it out as a keeper. I say build it up and put some miles on it. If you like it, tear it down and powder coat it.

skiingfury

@3speedslow, you are dead on, this is certainly a Schwinn 'Cross-" based on some photos I pulled up with your suggestion. I think that it is one of the double butted 4130 models as a 26.6 seatpost fits (This diameter was spec'ed on the 4130 models, Hi-Ten models unknown). Based on the geometry numbers, it should make for a nice 'daddy tractor'.

@Andy_K, your advice is wise. I'm going to go ahead and build it up. If I fall in love, I'll PC it.

T-Mar

The serial number is consistent with a 1992 Giant manufactured product, so it may be a Schwinn, as stated above.

zukahn1 

Looks to be 92/93 Giant made Schwinn Criss-Cross which is only interesting because it was the last year Schwinn sold a mid level lugged frame. These are very nice basic all around frame sets and are worth more as riders than sellers as presented with crank set worth about $75. If I had it I would build it up as beater cross bike and just ride it.

Scooper

Bingo.

Unfortunately, I don't have a '92 catalog, but by '93, the Crisscross was TIG welded while the top-of-the-line Crosscut was still lugged. The '93 Crosscut is a dead ringer for the OP's frame.

Scooper

Here's the 1993 Crisscross.

skiingfury

Last night I pulled the fork and saw some green overspray on the steerer that I think is the "British Racing Green". The frame that I have matches the following exactly. (below, ref: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...int-frame.html, @Steve Whitlatch)



However, I can't find this exact bike (mine or the one pictured) in the Schwinn catalogs. The 1992 model is shown in this color, but is shown with a sloping top tube. My top tube is horizontal. I think it is safe to say that this is a Cr-Mo double butted frame, as it built up relatively light.

oddjob2

It never ceases to amaze me that with limited information and lightning speed, the cognescenti on this forum can ID just about any frame.

howsteepisit

Cognescenti ? Are they related to the illuminati? I got a Ouija Board doesn't seem to help me though.

3speedslow

The crosspoint, if it be your frame was the top model. I lust after the crosscut or crosspoint models after I had to let my Crosscut go cause it was too large.

Two more of my older bikes I want again, Crosscut and the 87 Traveler.

satbuilder 

Gesundheit!

T-Mar

There is no doubt that you have a 1992 model, as it was manufactured during weeks 3-4 of 1992, per the serial number. Sloping versus horizontal top tube frames were dictated by the frame size. Your have the largest frame size (22") which which was the only size that could be designed with a horizontal top tube, due to the fork geometry.. In order to achieve smaller frames the head tube had to be shortened but this could only be done by about 1", so the smaller the frame, the more the top tube had to slope. This is why some 1992 Schwinn hybrid models have sloping top tubes and others (the largest frames) have horizontal top tubes.

Darth Lefty 

I had a Giant Prodigy in similar size pass through my hands a while ago, clad in Exage 500LX... I ultimately donated almost all of it to the co op. I wish I had taken photos as it would be fun to compare them. It was a larger size (23.5 st, 25 tt) and also had a very long stem to make it a very big bike.

NoPhart

Just spotted this old thread regarding the Schwinn Crosspoint. That was the bike I switched to after having neck issues with my Schwinn Paramount road bike back in the early 1990's. I recently pulled it out of my shed.



Still have one of the original tires and the original tan leather saddle is like new. The narrow Ritchey flat bars feel strange by today's standards. The tan rubber grips have shrunk and will need replacing.

As I recall this was the largest and top of the line cross bike Schwinn made at the time. Logged a lot on miles on this baby, then parked it for about 20 years. Somewhere in that 20 years it was loaned out as a commuter for a friend that lost their drivers license and it served him well during that short period. Great steel frame bike before Schwinn changed course...

I've heard by many that this bike has the "feel" many riders prefer due to the quality steel lugged frame and wonderful fork. There is huge room for today's wide tires too.

Schwinn catalogs, 1991 - 2000 (60 of 577)

I'm seriously thinking about reviving this original owner purchase "barn find", found in my own shed.

NoPhart

Wow, post #6 in this old thread is a rave review:

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...rosspoint.html

@skiingfury - Did you ever built this frame up?

skiingfury

I did build this bike up, thanks for reminding me to follow up. I did 1x9 with a 44t chainring for torquing the baby trailer up hills. I put a N-W chainring on, but don't have a clutched derailleur. I have not yet had a chain drop but I'm not raging on this thing either. It is mostly MTB parts with heavy duty DT swiss wheels. The Deore direct pull brakes give me plenty of stopping power with the trailer going downhill. So far its been a great daddy tractor.

The 24" TT is a little strange though. The 22" ST fits me right, but I got some bars with pullback to put me in a more comfortable cruising position.

NoPhart

Nice! What bars are those?

I am 6'2" and happen to have a long upper body, so the longish 24" top tube on the 22" seat tube frame was one of the features that played into my original purchase back in the day. Don't plan to go hog wild on this ride either. Just picked up a new Schwinn gel comfort seat and have been considering some of the new wide 700 x 45c Marathon GT Tours for it to make it a flat proof pedal bike; the only non-electric assist in my stable now.

skiingfury

They are the Origin8 Pro-torq Space Off-Road bars. I like them.

If you need flatproof, you should consider some slick or semislick 29" tubeless tires with sealant. I think you can find those in 1.9 which should be close to the 45 Marathons.