View From The Saddle - Nature & Why I Believe in the Bicycle

Albert Bierstadt - Public Domain

View from the Saddle – Nature & Why I believe in the bicycle - by John Z.

I will throw it out there right off, I am a Tree Hugger, an imperfect Tree Hugger, but an improving Tree Hugger.  To go, maybe, a little to deeply for here, it has been an evolution for me, a journey, maybe a journey that can only come with age. For many years I have studied all forms of religion and spirituality, the only place I have found spiritual peace is in nature.

I am a person who needs to see to believe, I have not being able to subscribe to the idea that "you will see it when you believe it."  I “see” God, the Tao, the Great Spirit, Universal Consciousness and all the others in nature.  I see it in what puts life into a seed, I see it in the rotation of the planets causing leaves to fall from a tree, I see it in salmon making the journey up stream to spawn knowing they will die at the end of the journey.  I see it in a member of our family, our dog when she knows my children are sick and will not leave there sides until they are better.  I see it everywhere in nature.

My faith has been put to great tests in 2012.  I have questioned beliefs,  wondered why, looked for purpose and searched deep in my own spirit.  In a real seance, I have lost my spirit, but nature and the universe has a funny way of reminding us that our spirit is never lost if we keep our eyes open and trust that the dots in life will connect themselves.

Recently I came across a quote that I wrote in a journal many years ago, I must have read and pondered this quote hundreds of time in my life.  The words are spoken by Buddha, "If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change."  That alone did not give me the peace that I had lost, but later that day, riding my trusty old bicycle to class, nature kicked me in the head.

I was riding through a Lake County Forest Preserve where the parks department had recently performed a controlled burn of the prairie grasses.  For no particular reason I had the urge to stop and look around, in doing so I came across the tiniest seed sprout, right there in the recently burned prairie in the middle of December.  Everything that I had believed came rushing back in an electric wave, I saw the miracle in nature again.

My spirit needs nature, I am an imperfect Tree Hugger.

I am an imperfect Tree Hugger because I still need to live in society.  I need to drive a car when it is to far to ride a bike, I need to drive a car when it is unsafe to reach a destination by bicycle, I need to drive a car when it is to cold for my kids to ride.  I strive to keep the car parked as much as possible, but as off now it is a necessary evil, especially in the suburbs.

I am an imperfect Tree Hugger as I need to heat my house in the winter with natural gas, I need to use lights powered by a coal fired power plant,  I need to buy thousand mile vegetables when I can not grow enough from the garden.

I am an imperfect Tree Hugger, but I am an evolving Tree Hugger.  I strive to change my life daily in an attempt to protect more and more of the nature I need.

I believe in the bicycle, I believe in practical bicycles, I believe in what the bicycle can do for the world, I believe in nature.  I believe that everyone has there own views and can live anyway they choose, I believe that the only way to change the world is to live the change you want to see in your own life.  I will continue to bring old bicycles back to life, it is my small purpose, I will be at peace with nature and continue to be more content in that peace.

1980's Schwinn Traveler Restored & Converted

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Finished

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Before Restoration & Conversion

I have been working on this girls 1980's Schwinn Traveler between other work.   I do not like girls bikes with drop bars and a step through frame.  It just doesn't look right.  Girls bikes should have always had a horizontal cross bar and just properly fitted, with that being said I will be converting this bicycle to a upright city bicycle.  Going over the bike, I have found this to be a very descent quality bike, it has very nice components for the time and shows now wear at all, the frame is in great condition.  I think the bike shows little wear because of the drop bar setup and the fact that the rear wheel was badly damaged.

The plane for the Traveler is to replace the drop bars with new city bars, witch will require new brake levers and handle bar grips.  The new brake levers are very nice Velo Orange city levers and I am going to go with cork bar grips with a shellac finish.  The cables and cable housings will be replaced along with the tires and brake pads..  The cable housings will be white and a new white saddle will be installed.  I am going to try to save the rear wheel, if I can't I will replace the wheel with a new wheel.

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Before Side View

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Before Crank View

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Derailleur View

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Before Rear Hub

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Before Front View

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Before Headset View

Like always I stripped the frame of all components.  The frame has very little chips or scratches and the paint is just a little dull.  The frame is dirty however, after a good cleaning and some elbow grease and polish the frame looks great.

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Components Stripped- Bad Photo

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Dirty Frame

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Frame Polished

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Frame Polished

With the frame polished I moved on to the bottom bracket and headset.  The bottom bracket and headset showed little wear just hard dried grease.  A day in the crock pot on low cleaned the grease easily.  I quick polish on the buffer and everything looks great.
 

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Headset & BB Dirty

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Headset & BB Polished

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Bottom Bracket Tools

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Headset Installed

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Headset Tools

Next I polished the stem and installed the new city handlebars.  The headset is a very nice quality one and polished better then it came new.  The handlebars are new Wald handlebars with a slight rise and a less aggressive sweep.

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Stem Before Polishing

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Stem & Handlebars Installed

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Stem & Handlebars Installed

With the handle bars and stem installed I moved on to the crank set.  The crank set is very nice quality, I have always like the way they made cranks in the 80's.  A very classic look.  I had to disassemble the crank to polish it correctly.  It takes a little patience but it is all worth it, the polished crank really jumps out against the frame.

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Crank Set Before

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Crank Disassembled

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Crank Set Polished & Installed

Next I started work on the wheels.  The front wheel is in good shape.  The rear wheel I was worried about, it was badly damaged.  The front wheel cleaned nice, not much wear except for some dirty grease.  I polished the hub and rim and installed new Kenda tires.

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Front Hub Old Grease

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Front Hub Polished

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - New Kenda Tires

At this point in the restoration I got the new Cannon Camera.  I have lost a few photos in this area of the restoration in the process of learning the new camera.

The rear wheel was not savable.  There was a bad flat spot on the rim and the axle was badly bent.  Someone really bashed it hard on something.  This is why it probably shows little wear.  I replaced the rear wheel with a Whiemen wheel, same that was on the rear, the new wheel has a different trim line on the rim, it is a better wheel then rim then what was on there.

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - New Rear Wheel

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - New Rear Wheel & Tire Installed

Next I worked on the derailleurs, the derailleurs are in really good condition.  They just need some cleaning, polishing and lubricating.  This is where I lost some of the photos.  I will take a photo of the front derailleur later.  At the same time I overhauled the front and rear brake calipers.  The calipers are in good shape, and overhaul makes them look better then new.  I also installed the new brake pads.  Again I will have to take more photos for this section.

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Rear Derailleur Polished & Installed

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler  - Overhauled Left -Before Right

I order new Velo Orange city brake levers and cork handlebar grips.  I installed the levers and grips, but will not shellac the grips until the bicycle is completely done and tuned.

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - New Brake Levers &  Handlebar Grips

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Brake Levers & Cork Grips Installed

The last for today is I cleaned, polished, lubricated and installed the shift levers.  I also polished the seat post and components. The shift levers work perfectly and have polished very nicely.

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Seat Post Polished

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Shift Levers Polished

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Shift Levers Installed

Tomorrow I will take more photos of the bike to this point and run the cable housing and cables.  Then I am just waiting on a new seat to arrive.

Good Day for now,
John Z.


I am posting three photos of the bike to this point that I was missing with the camera switch.  Below are two photos of the bicycle at 90% complete, one side view and one front view.

I am waiting on a few parts to arrive to finish the bike.  I will update when it is complete.

Merry Christmas to all.
John Z.

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Front Derailleur Installed

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Bicycle 90% Complete

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Bicycle 90% Complete

The new saddle came today.  I really like these Avenier saddles, they look great, are comfortable, well made and the price is a good value.  I installed the saddle, ran new cable housing and cables and installed the chain.  The bicycle shifts and brakes very well on the stand, I am waiting on new peddles to arrive before I can test ride it.  While cleaning and polishing the peddles I noticed the peddle bearing cap was cracked and in polishing it broke, so new peddles are on the way.

When the peddles arrive I will give the bicycle a test ride, final tuning and final photos.  I am excited about this bicycle, I really like the results of the conversion to a city bike.

In the photos below you will see the newest project under way as I wait for parts.

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler -  Waiting on Peddles

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - New Saddle Installed

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - New Cables & Housing

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Chain Installed

The new peddles showed up on Friday.  It was quick work to finish the bicycle from here.  I choose platform peddles for this bicycle, platform peddles are convenient for city riding.  I personally use platform peddles 100% of the time, I broke my foot many years ago and clipless peddles are uncomfortable and painful for me to use, the platform peddles allows my foot to move as it needs to to stay comfortable.

I shellacked the cork handlebar grips.  I have always liked the classic look of shellacked cork grips and shellacked twine handlebar tape.  I am currently looking for a Classic English Raleigh 3 speed to finish out in classic leather.

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Cork Handlebar Grips

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Cork Grips Shellacked

Below are the final photos of the bicycle.  I am thrilled with the results, I can city many more city bicycle conversions in my future.  The bicycle rides very nice, shifts very well and stops on a dime.

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Side View Finished

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Angle View Finished

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Handlebar View Finished

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Final Drive Train

1980's Women's Schwinn Traveler - Final Rear View

Bicycle Highlights:
12 Speeds
27 Inch Alloy Wheels
City Handlebars
City Brake Levers

New Parts:
New Rear Wheel
New Brake Cables
New Shift Cables
New Cable Housings
New City Wald Handle Bars
New Velo Orange Brake Levers
New Cork Handlebar Grips
New Saddle
New Tires
New Brake Pads
New Platform Peddles

Price for the Schwinn Traveler City Bicycle is $275.00

Thanks for looking, Happy New Year

John Z.