Campus Bike Part III, My Kingdom for a shim (1978 Schwinn Traveler III)

I thought I could build a bike out of my parts bin with zero funds out of pocket and I thought I could put it together quickly.  I was wrong on both counts.

I was able to make it to Bike Works one evening after work and found the stem I needed.

As I was looking through a box of stems one of the staff came over and asked what I was looking for, I mentioned a 70's Schwinn and he asked "is that like 21.1 (.833 inch) mm?" yes it is I replied and he laughed.  He was building up a bike earlier that day and couldn't understand why the normal looking stem was so skinny and then realized it was 21.1 not 22.2, he knew exactly where it was and with $5.50 out of pocket I was on my way.

I got it greased and mounted, it was looking good.  Now for the Handlebars...

So guess I was wrong about all .833 stems having 25.4 handlebar openings, I am going to need a shim.  I have some shims in the parts bin but turns out there are for more modern stems and aren't going to work in this instance.  Screw it, I went on Amazon and ordered a 25.4 to 26.0 shim, which should here late next week.   Sigh, I am now up to about $10 about of pocket on this no cost bike.

I wasn't going to be able to finish the bike this weekend without  a shim but there was plenty I could do like apply clear-coat (nail polish) to those rust areas I treated.

And mount the bottle cage I had lying around, I took this off the Raleigh Rapide Mixte and didn't put it back on so it was available for the Schwinn.

I also mounted the wheels, the rear when on fine but the front didn't want to go, I got out the calipers and noticed the outside nut distance on the axle was a smidge wider than the drop out width,  Then I noticed the nuts on axle were kind of chunky.

I had a Specialized 32h front that has been rattling around in the parts bin for a decade.  I had a bad habit of haunting the Bike Nashbar bargain bin online on '07 and '08, it resulted in a $40 Brooks b17 that is on the Handsome Devil but also allot of stuff I didn't really need including the hub.

I took a look at the new hub and realized it had slim outside nuts, noticeably narrower than the ones on the front wheel, so I swapped them.

I used the specialized hub to "cold set" the front width for a while and then mounted the front wheel, it wasn't easy but I finally got it on the bike.

My final challenge was the rear rack, which also came from the Raleigh Rapide mixte.  The hardware I had set aside for the seat stay bracket ended up being too short and the ones I had that were long enough were too fat for the holes in the bracket,  Off to Tru-Value and a few more $$$ out of pocket and the rack was mounted. Oh and I put on the pedals too, I went with the plastic ones.

With any luck the shim will work and I can get the handlebars mounted and put the finishing touches on the Campus bike.

Tomorrow I think I'll ride to the farmers market and drink beers,  Ride, Smile, Repeat.