1972 Schwinn Sport Tandem (cont.)
Scrounged some replacement rims from Working BIkes, as well as a stem and some pedals. Replaced the headset from one that came off my Superior. Disassembled and rebuilt the hubs, cleaned up all the spokes, and relaced the wheels. Replaced the rear derailleur, and disassembled cleaned up and reassembled the front derailleur. Got the cranks put back together, and forgot to note if there was anything different about the set used on the rear compared to the front. Installed the timing chain and idler gear, and then the bike sat for a while. A couple of other projects came up, and I still wasn't having any luck locating a center pull front brake. I mean they were out there, but $25 parts and shipping for just an old caliper from a Continental was a little steep. I could find whole bikes for under $50 locally, but hated the thought of scrapping an entire bike just for a caliper, so the hunt continued.
After I completed a couple of other side projects, I went back to this one and went to install the rear wheel with one of Tioga Bloodhound tires I had planned on using. i want as fat and as high of a profile tire I can find to help protect the rims from potholes, as you can't really bunnyhop over them like you can on a road bike. I went to put the rear wheel on, and discovered that the stays between the seat and chain stays had next to no room to accomadte a fat tire, and the Bloodhounds were rubbing pretty badly. I threw a set of really old Continental touring tires on there, and they had about 1/4" clearance on either side. I was hoping to use Continental Gatorskins, like I had purchased for my Superior, but there's no way those were going to fit. While my search continued for a front caliper, I was able to get the derailleurs back on, and get the drive chain installed. I also ordered a set of Velo Orange Grand Cru randonneur handlebars for the front (48cm - way wider than the GBs from the Continentals), and a pair of Nitto B206 Nordeast bars for the stoker. Afterwards the bike sat again while the parts hunt continued
A few days ago, I finally got over to the bike shop, and the owner let me root around the junk pile in search of parts. I did manage to get another seat post, as well as some NOS DiaCompe brake levers and extensions. Saturday, I finally struck gold. On the way walking home from dropping car off at the garage, my wife and I walked by a yard sale, and there I found a mid-70's road bike with Dia Compe centerpull brakes. $25, and I finally had what I needed. based on the componentry, I don't think this was a high end bike (cottered Huret cranks mixed with SunTour slant-parallelagram rear derailleur), yet the parts were pretty decent. Anyway, the brake parts went on the tandem, the derailleurs replaced some worn out 70's crap on a Traveler for my kid's girlfriend, the wheels were claimed by my other son for a fixie project, I now have some spare chainrings for the tandem, and now I have yet another 25" frome just in case. Anyway, the last of the project went pretty smooth. Brakes went together, crappy seats for testing went on, I ordered a set of 27 X 1 1/8 Continental Ultra Sport tires that have a very high profile, yet fit between the stays. The bike is now complete, and went out on its maiden voyage. I found that the sterring wants to flop left to right at very slow speeds, but at higher speeds, it was pretty steady. Still need to take it for a couple longer rides to make sure this is a keeper, but if it is, I plan on buying Brooks B67 / B66 saddles and maybe a paint respray down the road.
More pics here.