A while ago, I started a thread about a project Schwinn and posted some pics of it before and after paint. Well, that bike has been sidelined for a while now, and all it's money has been siphoned off and funneled into a bike for my better half.
She normally rides a Raleigh Revinio 2.0, but that's been giving her some rather serious discomfort issues. Not being one to complain much, she tried to tough it out. Finally, I offered to pick up a cheap steel bike to see if the combination of a springy steel step through fame, wider, softer tires and different geometry would help her out.
Enter a 1982 Schwinn Sprint. It measured out to within a 1/4" of the Revinio's crank to top of seat tube and seat tube to steering stem measurements. I spruced it up with a set of 700c rims, Panaracer 35c tires, new KMC chain, SKS fenders and we transplanted the Terry Liberator seat from the Revinio. I figured if it was going to be a bust, I'd just dump the bike and rob the parts for my project.
She immediately noticed a difference (positive) but wasn't quite where she wanted to be comfort wise and it was also picky shifting and braking and both the seat and bars were past their max extension points. Another trip to the LBS yielded new cables/tubes, used Shimano thumb shifters (she didn't like the stem mounted shifter position) a longer seat post and a new, longer stem. The new stem was WAY longer than the original but proved to be just right, getting her upright enough to alleviate ALL discomfort problems.
We went on a 45 mile ride on Thanksgiving day. At several points, I asked her how she was doing... Each time was "Doing great". Taking a different tact (seeing if I could improve it any more) I asked her to rate comfort 1-10, 1 being sitting in a recliner. She said 2. Not too bad! One more minor seat tweak (nose up a hair) was the last improvement.
Now that she's sure it's a winner, we're going to blast and paint it like I did to mine. She's thinking silver with green pearl.
This, after she spent a fair amount of $$$ on seats and a couple of trips to the LBS to recheck her fit, trying to make the Revinio work. I don't think the LBS was doing anything wrong, I just think she has a unique enough physiology that standard fitting/modern cycles don't work as well as the old Schwinn. She does want to try to make the Raleigh work and plans on raising the bars on it up as well... Any thoughts from the seasoned bike guys here?
Pic of the bike with a Saris bike beam still attached to aid in transport.
She normally rides a Raleigh Revinio 2.0, but that's been giving her some rather serious discomfort issues. Not being one to complain much, she tried to tough it out. Finally, I offered to pick up a cheap steel bike to see if the combination of a springy steel step through fame, wider, softer tires and different geometry would help her out.
Enter a 1982 Schwinn Sprint. It measured out to within a 1/4" of the Revinio's crank to top of seat tube and seat tube to steering stem measurements. I spruced it up with a set of 700c rims, Panaracer 35c tires, new KMC chain, SKS fenders and we transplanted the Terry Liberator seat from the Revinio. I figured if it was going to be a bust, I'd just dump the bike and rob the parts for my project.
She immediately noticed a difference (positive) but wasn't quite where she wanted to be comfort wise and it was also picky shifting and braking and both the seat and bars were past their max extension points. Another trip to the LBS yielded new cables/tubes, used Shimano thumb shifters (she didn't like the stem mounted shifter position) a longer seat post and a new, longer stem. The new stem was WAY longer than the original but proved to be just right, getting her upright enough to alleviate ALL discomfort problems.
We went on a 45 mile ride on Thanksgiving day. At several points, I asked her how she was doing... Each time was "Doing great". Taking a different tact (seeing if I could improve it any more) I asked her to rate comfort 1-10, 1 being sitting in a recliner. She said 2. Not too bad! One more minor seat tweak (nose up a hair) was the last improvement.
Now that she's sure it's a winner, we're going to blast and paint it like I did to mine. She's thinking silver with green pearl.
This, after she spent a fair amount of $$$ on seats and a couple of trips to the LBS to recheck her fit, trying to make the Revinio work. I don't think the LBS was doing anything wrong, I just think she has a unique enough physiology that standard fitting/modern cycles don't work as well as the old Schwinn. She does want to try to make the Raleigh work and plans on raising the bars on it up as well... Any thoughts from the seasoned bike guys here?
Pic of the bike with a Saris bike beam still attached to aid in transport.
