Bill L's 1979 Schwinn Traveler III Restoartion

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle
After

This is Bill L's 1979 Schwinn Traveler III restoration.  Bill has had the Traveler since new in 1979 and commutes on it everyday.  Bill has a lot of miles on the Traveler and even miles with his kids on back.  Bill is very attached to his bicycle and with good reason.

Not only is the Traveler going to be restored there will also be a lot of upgrades.  The first and maybe most important will be a new alloy wheel set, the original steel wheels are horrible braking surfaces and that is important if your commuting. Other upgrades will be new brake elvers and cross brake levers and new handlebar tape.  the Traveler will also receive all new cables and cable housings.

The Schwinn Traveler is in descent starting shape considering all the use it gets, the frame paint is in good shape with a few scratches and chips.  Blue like this is one of my favorite colors, it should polish nice.  Bill already has one of he best saddle in a Brooks B67 so no new saddle needed.  I think the results on the Traveler are going to be fantastic, I think the upgrades will make it function even better, can't wait to test ride it.

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle Before

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle Before
Handlebars

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle Before
Brake Levers

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Bicycle Before - Front Brake

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle Before
Old Front Wheel

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Bicycle Before - Shift Levers

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle Before
Cable Stop

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Bicycle Before - Crank

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Bicycle Before - Front Derailleur

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle Before
Brooks B67

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle Before
Rear Brake

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Bicycle Before - Rear Derailleur

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle Before
Old Rear Wheel

The frame of the Traveler III has a few rough spots on it after cleaning it but nothing drastic.  After polishing the blue paint it is amazing how awesome it looks.  I will say it again "I love this color of paint!!"  The paint really shines and has a lot of depth to it, I am very happy with it.

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Frame Before

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Frame Before - Head Tube

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Frame Before
Down Tube

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Frame Before - Bottom Bracket

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Frame Before
Bottom Bracket

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Frame Before
Brake Bridge

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Frame Before - Drop Outs

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Frame Before - Fork

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Frame Before - Fork

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Frame After

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Frame After - Head Tube

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Frame After - Seat Tube

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Frame After
Bottom Bracket

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Frame After - Brake Bridge

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Fork After

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Fork After

The headset and bottom bracket where pretty dirty and the grease was old a dry but the components where in generally pretty good shape.  I replaced the bearings, they are loose bearings so it takes patience to repack them.  The components polished very nice, the bottom bracket lock ring as a few rough spots but not to bad overall.  Best part is both the headset and bottom bracket spin super smooth.

The stem is fairly new I believe and the handlebars are in good shape, both only took a little polishing to look there best.

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Headset & Bottom Bracket
Before

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Headset & Bottom Bracket
Polished

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Headset Cups - Pressed

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Headset Bearings
Packed

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Headset Complete

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bottom Bracket
Bearings - Packed

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Bottom Bracket - Complete

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Headset & Bottom Bracket
Complete

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Handlebars
& Stem - Before

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Stem - Polished

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Stem & Handlebars
Polished

At this time I installed the new Tektro 520 brake levers and the new Tektro cyclocross brake levers.  I love the look of both installed, this is going to be a great set up!

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Old Brake Levers

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - New Tektro
520 Brake Levers & New Tektro Cyclocross Levers

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - New Brake Levers

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Brake Levers
Installed

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Brake Levers
Installed

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Brake Levers
Installed

The crank came next, the crank disassembled fine but it does not disassemble in a way that makes polishing easy.  I cleaned and polished the chain rings and chain guard.  The non drive side crank arm polished beautifully, the drive side polished pretty good, not as good as I would like but it is very dangerous to polish chain rings, especially with the crank arm attached, so I polished it the best it would while being safe.  Overall the crank turned out pretty nice.

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Crank - Before

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Crank - Exploded

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Crank Polished

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Crank Complete

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Crank - Installed

The brake calipers where a little rough but not to bad, only one bad spot on one of the caliper arm bolts.  All the components polished very nice and after assembling looks fantastic.  I really like the center pull brakes, they look great and work so much better then the side pull brakes from the era and will work great with the 520 brake levers.  I am very happy with the results.

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Brakes - Before

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Brakes - Exploded

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Brakes
Polished

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Brakes - Complete

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Front Brake - Installed

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Rear Brake - Installed

The derailleurs turned out pretty good, the front derailleur has some rust pitting but it did polish okay, the rear derailleur was dirty but in better shape then the front.  Both function great after a flushing and lubricating, the rear derailleur looks fantastic, the front derailleur is a little rough but still looks a lot better then it started.  Over all I am very happy with the derailleurs.  I guess I missed the photos of the derailleurs installed.

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Derailleurs
Before

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Derailleurs
Exploded

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Derailleurs
Polished

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Derailleurs
Complete

At this point I installed the shift levers and cable hanger stops.  These pieces polished really make a bicycle pop, the brackets look fantastic against the blue paint!!

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Shift Levers
Before

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Shift Levers & Cable Brackets - Polished

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Shift Levers
Installed

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Cable Stop
Installed

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Cable Bracket
Installed

Bill already has a very  nice saddle in the Brooks B67, I think its the most comfortable saddle ever made.  Bill already has a new seat post also so pretty much it was just a little cleaning and re-installing them.

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Saddle
Installed

The main components are complete at this point so I started wiring the Schwinn Traveler.  The Jagwire Charcoal/Silver cable housings was chosen, I think its the perfect color to compliment the blue of the frame, this is a fantastic look and color scheme, I love it!!

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - New Cables
& Cable Housings

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Cables & Cable
Hosuings - Installed

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Cables - Installed

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Cables - Installed

I have been waiting for the new wheel set to show up for many days, I am so frustrated with a certain parts dealer, it seems around Christmas they decided to stop having good customer service, problem is they still have great prices so I have to deal with the crappy services.

Just as I was writing this update to the Traveler post the wheels where delivered, they will be installed shortly and the Traveler completed.  Check back shortly.

The wheels are a great value, very nice hubs and great rims.  I ride these wheels on m own bikes.  I installed the rim liners, tubes and tires and installed the wheels to the Traveler.  The Traveler looks awesome with the new wheels and will ride so much better!!

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
New Front Wheel

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
New Rear Wheel

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Double Wall Rim

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Front Wheel
Installed

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Rear Wheel
Installed

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Wheels
Installed

With the wheels installed I can now finish off the Traveler, test ride it and take the final photos.  I am very excited to test ride the Schwinn Traveler III with the upgrades!!  Check back soon.

At this point I installed the new handle bar tape and finished off a few details.  The Traveler III looks great with the black handlebar tape installed!

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
New Handlebar Tape

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Handlebar Tape
Installed

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Handlebar Tape
Installed

One of the last details was to clean and install the rear rack.  I replaced a few nuts and bolts and did some black touch up paint on the rack.  Looks great installed.

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Rack - Installed

I cleaned and polished the pedals the best they would, the pedals are in rough shape but just about all pedals are in rough shape after a while, they really take a beating.  I used a wire brush to remove as much rust as I could before polishing, the pedals work great though after flushing and lubricating.

At this point the Schwinn Traveler III is complete and stand tuned.

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle
Complete

I test rode the Schwinn Traveler III, it rode fantastic, very comfortable and smooth.  The brake pads and rim braking surfaces need some breaking in, I started the breaking in process and they already improved a lot, a little more use and they will stop on a dime.

When I picked the bike up Bill and I where talking how great a good steel vintage bicycle is and how Rivendell and the like are trying to reproduce that feel, which they do very well but at a high cost, they do add some nice refinement though.  Looking at the final photos and how nice it rides I think Bill's Traveler is no slouch to the Rivendell's and the likes.  Beautiful bicycle!!!

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle
Complete

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle
Complete

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Bicycle Complete - Front

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle Complete
Handlebars

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Bicycle Complete - Front Brake

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle Complete
Front Wheel

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Bicycle Complete - Front Half

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade
Bicycle Complete - Brooks Saddle

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle Complete
Drive Train

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle Complete
Rear

1979 Schwinn Traveler Restoration & Upgrade - Bicycle Complete
Rear Wheel

Thank you Bill for bringing me our Schwinn, and thanks for the interest,
John Z.