Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander" (Lightweight sub-build off)

[OctopusHook]

I've been wanting to do a bike like this for a while. The idea is to make a classy town bike, ready any time to make a run to the store, to cruse to a pub, or simply enjoy the wind on a sunny day. The plan so far is to build a front rack for it, run a single speed or geared hub, fab a cool aluminum chain guard, get some nice vintage brakes, paint is going to be a seafoam-ish green possibly with blue and yellow bands around the down tube with the name "Portlander" in between them, custom badge woven leather grips, leather saddle, and tires chunky as will fit.

Looking around at the other builds, the competition is going to be tough, but I'm really looking forward to seeing all or your creations come to life. This is going to be sweet!
Good luck all,
Nate

 

[OctopusHook]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

For now I'm going to use these wheels simply because it's what I already have. They aren't exactly what I had envisioned for the look of this bike but I think they will still go well with it. I had been thinking that I was going to go with polished aluminum rims and hubs with chrome spokes but I think I'll spend money on things I don't already have and come back to the wheels if I get a chance. I will need to get a freewheel cog to replace the fixed gear one that came with the wheels though. I'm thinking Schwalbe Big Apple in the brown color to go with the leather seat and grips. Although finding brakes the can reach around those fat tires might be hard.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

Sounds like a good plan!

Luke.

 

[kingfish254]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

Brown BAs will be cool.
Welcome to RRB and the madness of BO8.
Good luck.,

 

[Punxs]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

Cn wait to see what you have planned....

 

[OctopusHook]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

Well crud, the Big Apple tires are going to be a little too big and appley.. they are supposed to be about 2" wide and as you can see in the pic below I don't have 2". So if anyone has any recommendations for a brown or white road tire that's somewhere around 1.5" that would be helpful. I'm also going to assume that if I bang in the inner walls of the chain stays to make more room I'll get moved to anything goes.

 

[OctopusHook]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

Ok, after a little looking around I found the Little Big Ben tires from Schwalbe that will be right around 1.5" wide. So that's what I'll go with.

 

[expjawa]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

Are the rims 700c? If so, I think that there are probably several choices of cross tire that are white in the 32-38 mm range. I think that Schwalbe has a Delta Cruiser in that size range too. As a side note, I'm looking at ordering a set of 28mm wide Vittoria Randonneur tires in white for the Surly Pacer that I'm building up in parallel with by build-off bike. So, I expect that there a lot of choices available.

 

[OctopusHook]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

Those Delta Cruisers look good and are slightly cheaper than the Little Big Bens. Thanks expjawa!
OK next question... Dose any one know where I can get a nice looking aluminum stem in a 21.15mm? I've been looking and haven't found anything, I know there are adapters for threadless stems but I'd rather keep it vintage where I can. I might just have to turn down a standard stem on the lathe.

 

[expjawa]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

Those Delta Cruisers look good and are slightly cheaper than the Little Big Bens. Thanks expjawa!
OK next question... Dose any one know where I can get a nice looking aluminum stem in a 21.15mm? I've been looking and haven't found anything, I know there are adapters for threadless stems but I'd rather keep it vintage where I can. I might just have to turn down a standard stem on the lathe.

Are you sure that you need a 21.15? Since the Le Tour is a Panasonic-built bike, I expect that it'll adhere more to the universal standards of sizing than to Schwinn-specific sizes. You might find that a 22.2 will fit. I actually have a 22.2 mm stem in my '61 American, which by rights shouldn't fit. But the Schwinn size was loose fitting and squeaked. I was able to get the 22.2 with a little filing inside the steer tube.

BTW, I have the crème Delta Cruisers (in 26x1-3/8 size) on a maroon AMF Roadmaster 3-speed. They look quite good and ride well.

 

[OctopusHook]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

So I mesured the ID of the steertube and it's 22mm but the hedset nut has a ID of 21mm. So maybe a little filing like you said could do the trick.

 

[OctopusHook]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

Well I got the head nut off and wouldn't you know it, a standard stem fit right in. So provided the steer tube threads are standard I'm just going to replace the head set. Hopefully I can find a nice used Campy one for not too much.

 

[Machine Age Victim]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

Nice seeing another lightweight entered. Looking forward to this one. I have a Dutch bike as my grocery getter, a high handlebar makes all the difference in a comfortable ride.

 

[jats]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

its good to see a Schwinn! gonna love seeing this built!

Troy

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

This will be a fun build ,Enjoy !!!!

 

[OctopusHook]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

Nice seeing another lightweight entered. Looking forward to this one. I have a Dutch bike as my grocery getter, a high handlebar makes all the difference in a comfortable ride.

Maybe we need to do a lightweight sub build off? There is at least one other http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=72040

its good to see a Schwinn! gonna love seeing this built!

Troy

Schwinn for the winn!

This will be a fun build ,Enjoy !!!!

Thanks, I will

I have to work today for a few hours (mowing lawns) suppose to be 85 today! :shock: But after that I'll be gathering some parts and I'll see if I can get my tires ordered. Dose anyone know if Campagnolo ever made brakes that would be big enough to get around 1.5" tires?

 

[Machine Age Victim]

Re: Schwinn Le Tour "The Portlander"

Nice seeing another lightweight entered. Looking forward to this one. I have a Dutch bike as my grocery getter, a high handlebar makes all the difference in a comfortable ride.

Maybe we need to do a lightweight sub build off? There is at least one other http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=72040

I'm in! I'll put "Lightweight sub-build off" in my title and get the word out

 

[OctopusHook]

Just updated my title for the Lightweight division. It's awn!
Sadly my work got the better part of the day and no progress was made on my build. Soon though.

 

[SpokeAndTruth]

Seeing your pics pushed me to go ahead and join the forum. I did that tonight. I've been following this site for about eight or so months but never thought I'd have the nerve to try and do a build off. Well, I have a LeTour also. The frame and scattered parts have been in the garage taunting me. Well I'm gonna go for it. Thanks for the inspiration. ~Rob

 

[OctopusHook]

Seeing your pics pushed me to go ahead and join the forum. I did that tonight. I've been following this site for about eight or so months but never thought I'd have the nerve to try and do a build off. Well, I have a LeTour also. The frame and scattered parts have been in the garage taunting me. Well I'm gonna go for it. Thanks for the inspiration. ~Rob

Nice man! glad to have helped! Just forget about it being a competition, we are all just building because that's what we enjoy doing. Just make a bike to the best of your own ability and you'll be filled with pride when you out cruising around on it. And maybe your build will inspire some one else to pull out that pile of parts and make something great out of it.