My wife and I found an old road bike with no name plate or decals, hiding under a table at Goodwill. She had been thinking of taking up bicycling and kind of liked this one's old fashioned looks - sprung seat, lugged construction, just something out of a different age. So we gave them their $11 asking price and hauled it home.
The first thing I did was replace the crumbling tires and the inner tubes - it is wearing the new tires in this photo. It'll also need new cables and brake pads. All the more expensive parts seem to be in good working order, though.
With the nameplate gone, and no serial numbers visible, it took me a while to figure out what we've got. I found that a lot of the parts were stamped "Schwinn Approved". It took a lot of poking through Schwinn site archives, as most Schwinn "lightweight" lady's bikes had a bent top-tube. This one appears to be a Panasonic-built Traveler, from a point where Schwinn had just started importing and rebadging bikes but still wanted them to be made to high standards. According to catalogs, this style with side-pull calipers would have been imported between 1972 and 1977; later Travelers used a center-pull design, and the earlier Travelers were US built and had one to three speeds instead of the 10 speed drivetrain on this one.
I love vintage bikes. I've had a few of them, but it's been a hobby left behind for the most part.
As long as you keep the budget to new tires and cables, you are fine. I wouldn't put any money past that. Even at Schwinn's best, there are definitely better bikes worth the effort. You don't see the stem shifters on nicer bikes. They work fine as long as your knees stay away from them, but its usually a sign of the lower end bikes.
first things that jump out at me:
i'd look at some used late-model "brifters" that combine brake and shift lever in one convenient package. just makes it nicer to ride.
i'd also look at a threadless stem adapter and a stem with a rise angle to match the top tube. just because it would look cool.
it's an eleven-dollar blank canvas. personalize it. make it what you want it to be. then, ride it until it's worn out and build it again!
Nice! I love me some old road bike. I worked at a local bike shop while in college and pretty much ignored every bit of new, expensive bike that came through and worked on the old ones as much as possible. It was also too much fun blowing by the guys on their carbon bikes wearing spandex in a heavy steel bike, gym shorts and sleeveless shirt!
I also have a Panasonic. It was my grandfathers, was hanging in the back of our garage and my sister stalled my dad's Saab into it and bent the handlebars. It then became a fixie.
I've also got an 80's Miyata Three Ten that I literally road daily throughout college. I still ride it about twice a week to work when the weather is nice. It's not sprung, but I've got one of the hand-riveted Brooks saddles on that one. No pictures unfortunately.
Excited to see where it goes.
I used to buy old Schwinn's (mainly Varsity's) in the late 1980's at garage sales for $5.00. Cleaned them up and fixed them and nobody would pay me $7.00 for them at my garage sale as everyone wanted Trek's and these beasts were dinosaurs.
I did have a Schwinn 3-speed mens bike I fixed up and got $100 for. I used to also pick up the speedometers for a $1.00 - those too are nutty on prices today.
I still have a Schwinn LeTour and I bought a retro Chinese Krate that I am trying to sell - (POS).
AxeHealey said:
Nice! I love me some old road bike. I worked at a local bike shop while in college and pretty much ignored every bit of new, expensive bike that came through and worked on the old ones as much as possible. It was also too much fun blowing by the guys on their carbon bikes wearing spandex in a heavy steel bike, gym shorts and sleeveless shirt!
I also have a Panasonic. It was my grandfathers, was hanging in the back of our garage and my sister stalled my dad's Saab into it and bent the handlebars. It then became a fixie.
I've also got an 80's Miyata Three Ten that I literally road daily throughout college. I still ride it about twice a week to work when the weather is nice. It's not sprung, but I've got one of the hand-riveted Brooks saddles on that one. No pictures unfortunately.
Excited to see where it goes.
I just "resto-moddded" an old Cr-Mo Ross into a SS/FG as well. I love the style of the old, lugged frames and like they way they ride.
I have had a few mixtes that I love, but I'm afraid there's not much about the OP bike that suggests enjoyment.
I would look for a higher quality bike as a basis for spending any time or money on. Doesn't have to be expensive, but can be way better that this.
I recently put this together from a cast off Univega Nuovo Sport. Granted I had some decent parts in my stash, and I bought some nice tires:
But there is a Univega Nuovo Sport mixte model, for example, which would be a good candidate.
+1 on the fixed gear bikes, I have a few as well.
In reply to FSP_ZX2 :
Couldn't agree more. I really like what you did with the color scheme.
MadScientistMatt said:
My wife ... had been thinking of taking up bicycling and kind of liked this one's old fashioned looks - sprung seat, lugged construction, just something out of a different age. So we gave them their $11 asking price and hauled it home.
most critical information from OP is quoted above. if mama likes it and it gets her on a bike, who other than the OP can say that it's not worth spending money on?
I know nothing about bikes, what is a "lugged" frame? My curiosity is killing me.
In reply to pinchvalve :
look at pic in first post. see where the upper diagonal tube (on a mens frame this would be called the "top tube") meets the tube that the seat post comes out of (crazy, i know, but that tube is called the "seat tube")? Notice that the tubes arent attached directly to each other, rather they are inserted and then brazed into a cast piece? that cast piece is called a "lug", and a frame built with this construction method is called a lugged frame.
I had a Panasonic road bike when I was in college myself. It also had stem shifters - I didn't have any trouble with my knees hitting them, and I'm pretty tall.
Ultimately where this project goes is going to depend on my wife's riding preferences. We didn't buy this expecting it to win any races, just to be a fun thing to pedal around the neighborhood and paved local trails. So the main things it's going to need to do are be comfortable and not break. There may be a single speed conversion in its future - not sure about fixed gear though.
In reply to MadScientistMatt :
I did the same thing for my wife. I found a super cheap 3-spd that had been sitting unused for years. Put new tires on it, tuned it up and threw a basket on. It's not worth anything but it's got plenty of style and gets the job done.
AngryCorvair said:
MadScientistMatt said:
My wife ... had been thinking of taking up bicycling and kind of liked this one's old fashioned looks - sprung seat, lugged construction, just something out of a different age. So we gave them their $11 asking price and hauled it home.
most critical information from OP is quoted above. if mama likes it and it gets her on a bike, who other than the OP can say that it's not worth spending money on?
Me..... I owned a big bike shop for 25 years and watched this scenario unfold many many times. The "fixed up" bike typically gets ridden once or twice then goes dormant like a piece of exercise equipment bought because of a new years resolution. Once it gets put in a place where it becomes a minor project to ride it (like hanging from a garage ceiling or put down in a basement) or it needs air in tires, it just sits. People would bring bikes to my shop thinking they were going to do the same thing thinking "it must have never been ridden when new because the tread on tires is perfect they're just dry rotted". Then I'd often end up explaining to them that I knew the tires on the bike weren't original to the bike, they were from the last time some one "fixed up" the bike thinking it'd get used.
If she has an interest in riding, my experiences have shown the best thing to do is go to a good bike shop and buy a entry level bike for the type of riding intended, in the correct frame size, properly adjusted to the rider (by the shop) that was built by a professional bike mechanic. Then there's the highest possibility of continued use of the bike IF it's in a place at home where it's easy to just get it out and go ride and either someone maintains tire pressure for her or she has a easy to use pump that's easily accessible and knows how to use it. It'll cost a couple hundred bucks more than fixing up an outdated cheap old bike that was a piece of crap 40 years ago or some craigs list "deal" but there's a much higher chance of an enjoyable experience leading to continued use.
Fixing up old bikes is fine for hardcore bike guys willing to put up with their idiosyncrasies but for someone who's not currently even a casual rider it's not the way to go IMO if you want the person to continue riding. For someone who isn't a hardcore rider it needs to be easy to go ride and comfortable so the overall experience is fun.
If she actually rides that old bike 3 times, take her to a bike shop and buy her a new bike before she quits and consider the money spent on the old bike already as an investment in her continued health and fitness level.
AxeHealey said:
In reply to FSP_ZX2 :
Couldn't agree more. I really like what you did with the color scheme.
Thank you. Its Rustoleum Dark Gray and White; I stripped the frame to bare metal and primed and painted from there. I had the stem powdercoated as well as the seat post. The crank and wheels and brake were all purchased white. I had the decals made out of vinyl...
This is what I started with...
In reply to FSP_ZX2 :
Well now that you show me that...maybe you should have just kept it as is! 
In reply to AxeHealey :
Yeah--the picture does not do it justice.
To NOT A TA: I see your point. This one was more my wife's choice than mine, so we'll see how it goes. This wasn't a spur of the moment decision to pursue more fitness, though - she's been a runner for a long time and was recently sidelined with a foot injury, and it's been bothering her that she can't run. Most likely if she doesn't like this one there may be a better bike in her future. At least this can't go as far off course and take as much money as the time she wanted a vintage truck.
Project update: Started replacing the brake parts, only to find that modern "universal" brake pads are longer than what these calipers are designed for and they hit the front fork. Time to find some shorter pads.
I'm rebuilding a 53 scwhinn spitfire 24 inch for my wife for the same reason. Because she likes It! It was originally purchased for parts for my bikes. I personally prefer the middle and heavyweights. I just think it's a fun hobby. People really look at you funny if you build a "klunker" style vintage set up and ride dirt trails. It's been a blast.
8valve
Reader
5/11/18 4:23 p.m.
Unloved model is best model cause $.
At least around here you couldn't buy one with a horizontal top tube for 5x times what you paid.
In reply to MadScientistMatt :
For older bikes, I recommend Kool Stop salmon pads. Probably something like: maybe http://www.koolstop.com/english/continental.html
You might need to put a bevel on the continentals to get them working well off the bat
Nader
New Reader
5/12/18 1:03 p.m.
Dug out my old Univega Supra Sport that I rode all the time 35 years ago, and it now makes for an excellent pit bicycle at the race track.
Found the correct brake pads this weekend and installed them, then took it for a test ride to make sure it was safe. I don't remember side-pull calipers feeling this "squishy", but I may have been spoiled by the V-brakes on my mountain bike. There's probably a bit of dialing in I can do there. I need to adjust the front derailuer too.
My wife took the bike for a spin after I'd made sure it was safe - she was happy with the way it rode and decided she didn't want a single speed conversion after all.
She now wants pink handlebar tape (just purchased, need to install) and a water bottle mount. As it doesn't have the bottle mount lugs you'd find in a later bike, I'm checking what my options are for this.
In reply to MadScientistMatt :
standard bottle cage attached to frame with hose clamps
