First Ride(S) Impressions: 1986 Schwinn Passage

Elliott Bay from Alki Point

Yes rides plural, nothing epic both were about two miles each just getting a feel for the Passage and a couple baby steps towards some semblance of fitness.  So here is what I know so far.

Definitely smooth feeling steel and with no racks or stuff its surprisingly light especially as compared to the HD.  I started with approximations for fit borrowed from my Handsome devil; saddle height, distance of saddle from stem etc but its going to need some tweaking to feel as natural as the HD does.  The good news is I am in the ball park I don't think the frame is too big or too small, which would suck,  I just need to keep fiddling with it.  

After the second ride I am fairly convinced I need a Nitto Technomic stem to get the bars higher, right now I get them just about level with the seat but I am used to a more upright position on the HD and the stem on the Passage is maxed out.  I'll need to get a longer reach as when the stem comes up it also comes back and closer.

Those tires seem so skinny! The Passage has 27 x 1 1/4 tires the standard 27" wheel size but I have ridden 700x 47c tires for the last 4 years and its noticeable how much they smooth out the ride especially over the crappy pavement we have in my neighborhood.  Long term some 27 X 1 3/8 tires are in order.  Update: Actually Kenda K40s are on order as I found a deal for $8 bucks and change a piece at bike tires direct.

The front derailleur tends to slip after a while and I believe I have a slack chain, my guess is that the chain has too many links, it was ok in the middle ring  but it felt very "floppy" in the granny ring so I will need to adjust that, and if  I do I may also replace the free wheel.  I have a wider range IRD 6 speed (14-32) that I think should work -of course you start to peel away a layer and you find more and more.

I noticed a slight rub from the front wheel so it either needs to be trued or the brakes need adjusting which could prove interesting.  I did some web searching for adjustment info on Dia Compe 960 Cantis and didn't really find anything expect a ton of ebay listings.  I am going to try the stock option first but I do have my eye on some Tektro 720's that I think wouldn't look out of place on this bike, are reasonably priced and have greater adjustment options.  We'll see.

I am not sure the WTB saddle is going to be... um ample enough for my "luggage" and I do have a nice Brooks Imperial sitting on a bike thats getting no use right now so that might be a change too.

Ample coverage

After the second ride I am not sure I am in love with the stock SR SP-250 alloy semi-platform pedals, they are probably great with toe clips but I am not going that way just yet and in the interim I might try out some MKS Sneaker pedals for a better platform for my foot.

Minor wishes; I would like a bell for safety as much as anything and I usually avoid bike paths because even though they are multi-use I find that some of the people who use them are oblivious to everything around them and it would be nice to have a bell for a polite warning rather than having to whistle or shout.  I also have some cyclo -computers about somewhere and while I don't really care about my speed or distance in an of themselves they do provide a useful benchmark so I can say "back in August I was only doing X and now I am doing Y" - progress.

So the bike is rideable especially for the short flat stuff I am going to be doing for a while but the problem with having worked on so many bikes is that I notice when little stuff isn't quite right; fit, sloppy chain, faint brake rub, slack shift cables and it bugs me so it may not be the "just ride it" experience I was thinking of but I hope I can get it satisfactorily dialed in without peeling away too much of the onion, for now I am really just concerned about the functional and not the cosmetic which I also notice but choose to ignore for now.

The Curious Case of non standard Colors

While I was waiting to go collect the passage from seller I was scrolling through images on Google of 1986 Passages and I noticed something kind of odd.   The only catalog color listed for this bike is Midnight Navy (Blue) and indeed most of the bikes I saw were that color... but not all.

My Passage in Midnight Navy

On ebay there was a 1986 Passage in Imperial Rose (Red) a color for the 1987 Voyageur.  EDIT  I found out that frames that didn't sell in 1986 were sold in 1987 in the Imperial rose color.

Passage in Imperial Rose

I also found an example in British Pine (Green) a color for the 1986 Voyageur. EDIT I looked again and British Pine is more of a dark forest green so this was a repaint and new decals but I do like this color green so Chapeau to the owner.

Pinetrest Passage in British Pine

And I even found one in Gunmetal (Grey) a color for the 1986 Prelude sport bike EDIT I found out that this was also a color for the 85 LeTour and a color Schwinn had on hand for leftover frames that needed to be painted.  Thanks to the knowledge members at Bike forums (C&V) for dropping some knowledge on me.

Passage in Gunmetal

It doesn't really matter but it does make a fellow wonder why is this?  Some ideas:

• Like car companies back in the day you could pay extra and order a different color from the factory
• April fools joke
• The lines on the dot matrix printer at the factory got mixed up
• They ran out of Midnight Navy one day and sorta improvised

Whatever the answer it did make for some interesting browsing.  Until next time..,

Ride.Smile.Repeat.