Frame, fork, headset, and old school Jim Blackburn rear rack – $35 on Craigslist.
It’s probably not an omen.
83 Schwinn Voyageur SP
57cm effective top tube
58cm seat tube
72deg seat tube angle
73deg head tube angle
50mm offset
80mm Bottom Bracket Drop!
Chromed Tange TL dropouts front
Chromed Suntour dropouts rear
Brazeons for racks and fenders front and rear.
Fork shoulder bosses for racks (but no mid-fork – kinda weird)
Canti studs rear only (kinda weird)
3 Water Bottle bosses
This is a good link for some history on these bikes -
http://sandro.knot.org/blog/bike-stable/general-info-on-schwinn-voyageur-touring-bikes/
Ken Kifer used to ride a Voyageur. It was his favorite bike.
http://www.phred.org/~alex/kenkifer/www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/lifestyle/oldbikes.htm
If you’re not familiar with Ken Kifer there’s no shame in it. I didn’t know before I got the frame or before Alex clued me in. Ken Kifer’s website is to bicycle touring and camping, what Sheldon Brown’s site is to bicycle mechanics. His website seems to have fallen to the wayside but fortunately Alex archived it here:
http://www.phred.org/~alex/kenkifer/www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/index.htm
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But all that aside, just shut up. I know I don’t need another bike, but I am excited to have a low bottom bracket 700c bike that will take large(r) volume tires with fenders – almost exactly what I asked for Christmas! I am curious to try some of the Grand Bois tires, or even the Resist Nomads.
Also shut up.
Duuuuuude! I was first in line on that, all set to pick it up. Then I though harder about the canti bosses only on the rear, the size, the time/effort to go retrieve it while trying share a car with the missus, hiding another frame in the basement while claiming to be in pre-swap purge mode.
So I passed on it. Regretting that now, but glad it’s in the family.
Didn’t know about the 80mm of drop-that’s really sweet. I’ll keep an eye out for a front rack to fit those bosses -they’re pretty cool, IMO.
I’m still on the hunt for something to replace my Trek 500 (it’s just too tight with 32s and fenders). Will be keeping my eyes out for another of these.
Yeah I’m stoked. The brake and brazeon mix is odd. I’m still unsure what I hope to do with it – go long reach dual pivot or have posts put on. If I can get 32′s with fenders going on this I’ll be pretty happy.
I think 32s and fenders will be easy -almost 100% sure it had 27″ wheels in the seller’s pics, and there’s tons of room even with them on. Would be pretty straightforward to shave off the rear posts and just touch up the area and go caliper brakes on both ends, no?
Anyhows, great score! Looking forward to seeing it built up. Century grey?
Haw! Nope. Brakes aren’t long enough, and the gearing is too tall for what this bike is going to be. Also, I still don’t like thumb shifting, and I’m half way hoping you’ll buy the grouppo off me and build up that Shogun frame. It’s a good idea. It’s so good I wish I’d thought of it first. You should do it.
Wow, I had that almost exact frame — somehow I dated it to 1984, not sure how — and I obtained in a similar fashion — super cheap on Craigslist. In fact, I am very jealous I did not see this one.
I used mine as a daily commuter. The bottom bracket cracked around the seat-tube after about 7 months. It was the third lugged steel frame to fail like that. That the tubing was surprisingly light for a touring application might have had something to do with also. Also 200+ pushin’ hard.
If you feel like letting her go, you have at least one buyer here that would pay $50…. just saying.
Awesome. Thanks for reading!
Yours seems to definitely be a 1983 Voyageur SP, just missing its front canti studs. Clearly the frame matches the catalog description and picture, but the fork is an oddball.
http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1981_1990/1983Ltwt06.html
From looking at the catalogs only the 83 Voyageur SP had those specific side-of fork crown rack bosses, but it should have canti brakes.
The regular voyageur that year had caliper brakes but now crown bosses. My guess is someone on the production line messed up and either forgot to add canti bosses to an SP fork, or they built a regular voyageur fork with the bossed crown and accidentally sent it to get SP paint.
Of course, all the above assumes the catalogs to be an accurate information source, which I’m sure isn’t exactly the case for every bike as the factory ran low on parts or made running changes.
I’ll keep an eye out when I visit bikeworks and at the swap for a front rack for it.
good find!
Awhile back I found an ’83 Voyageur for my girlfriend at the time, it was in remarkable mint condition, original everything, even the manual. I think we scored it for under $200. Seemed like a really nice bike, unfortunately I don’t think she ever rides it, trying to force someone to become a cyclist rarely works.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andy_squirrel/3783264306/