1988 Schwinn Circuit Project - Before & After

Some before & after pics.

I'm not sure how the red in the frame turned out so 'bright' in the after pics, but I hardly think it was all due to my efforts! I did not do any color adjustments or other manipulation after the pics were taken. I guess the camera used for the after pics was a bit more sensitive.

When I initially inspected the bike, it looked like it was in rough shape. Dirt, rust, dried-on grease. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I did a deeper inspection. No rust inside the frame, bearing surfaces on the BB and headset showed very little wear, uniglide cogs in great shape, and aside from scratching and fading, the components were all mechanically sound.

Very little $$ spent on this project. Everything was in great shape and all I needed was a new KMC chain, cables, tape, and splurged on a Selle San Marco Concor Supercorsa re-issue saddle. Vintage Schwinn aficionados will notice the use of white brake housing instead of the factory clear. I would've liked to go with the clear housing, but it was just too difficult to find and I had some of the white lying around so I used it.




After removing all the components, I rubbed the frame down 5 times. In order: rubbing compound, polishing compound, color restorer, cleaner wax, and finishing wax. Doesn't take as long as you think, and the results look pretty good. I also did my first dabbling in applying Testors as touch-up paint, with mixed results. That was a royal PITA since there were so many little chips to touchup and each on required me to color match and sand down with 8 polishing cloths before doing the above 5 polishing steps.

Headtube




Front Brake



Drivetrain





The cranks and other painted surfaces got the same 5-step treatment as detailed above for the frame. Interestingly, the white pearl finish appeared to be a bit faded and yellowed on the cranks and shifters that no amount of buffing would restore. You can tell the difference by looking at the 'whiteness' of the brake levers and comparing them to the cranks.


Bottom Bracket



The Columbus Tretubi decal is in bad shape, but enough of it is still there to make it readable.

Rear Brake Bridge



I tried a couple different methods to remove the rust here; WD-40 and also Simichrome polish. Unfortunately, I don't think I was careful enough and left some fine scratches on the chrome. Also unfortunately, some of the WD-40 appeared to have run down the seatstays and crazed the cheapo Schwinn decals there.


Rear Brake




Shifters





Rear Cluster

Finally! 1988 Schwinn Circuit complete!

Whew! Almost one year after succumbing to the addiction and acquiring a beat up 1988 Schwinn Circuit, the restoration is finally completed. Without further ado, here are the pics. Note - the actual work performed probably could have been done in a week or two of vacation, but squeezing in the hobby whenever I had a few hours' spare time (rare) ended up taking a year!






First Ride:
I thought the 57cm frame might be a little big for me initially, but once I got the fit dialed in, it turned out perfect! Being a light rider, I don't concern myself with frame flex at all, but through some informal tests, the Circuit frame is definitely the whippiest in my stable by far. Doesn't bother me a bit, though.
The first thought that popped into my mind as I took her for the maiden voyage was "Are my tires leaking?!" I had put some 120psi 700x20c IRC Triathlon Duro tires on and expected the ride to be a bit jittery, but it was so smooth and buttery I seriously thought I was riding on underinflated tires. I can now see why those Tenax Schwinns are so highly regarded. The drivetrain is super-quiet and the hubs feel silky even with 20 year old grease in them. As for the Biopace chainrings - I was halfway through my ride before I even remembered about them! I honestly couldn't tell the difference between those and the round rings I'd ridden up until this point. The Concor Supercorsa re-issue I bought for it was a pleasant surprise too - one of the more, if not most comfortable saddles I've ever ridden. I've been riding the Circuit more and more lately and I just love the way it feels. This bike will definitely be my first pick for any full-day in the saddle ride and is quickly becoming one of my favorite steeds.

Nice '88 on eBay

Ok, let's face it. Until I have more time to actually work on my *own* Circuit, I guess I'll just keep posting pictures of other people selling their Circuits that I wish I could buy.

Up for grabs on eBay right now is a 1988 Circuit that looks to be in pretty good condition and all orignal, right down to the Selle San Marco Concor Profil saddle.
Wat???
Yes, you heard (read) me correctly - an original vintage Concor Profil.

Judging from the pics, the bike is in pretty good condition, but that's not saying much. I've had bikes that looked "pretty good" in pictures to be complete horror shows in person. Come to think of it, I'd been on a couple blind dates in college that were pretty much the same. But I digress.

I won't be posting any pics or other info about the auction until it's over. Why? If the grips of the vintage bike-collection addiction overcome me, I don't want you bidding against me! Haha.


UPDATE 9/28/2009
Final price, incl shipping $446.22.
I'd say that's a pretty decent price, given the condition and original components on the bike. A bit too high for me, but the winning bidder sure got a nice bike!

Another '88 on ripmeBay

Wow, right on the heels of that last cherry '88 Circuit auction is another one that's almost but not quite as good.
Here's the Flickr photstream the user setup.
(Careful, Maui, you're turning this into a Schwinn Circuit/Shimano Sante shrine again...)

Judging from the pics, aside from some paint specks of unknown origin (overspray from another project?), it's in marvelous condition. As far as I can tell, the seat and the rear skewer are not original. Too bad - those Concor Profils fetch a pretty penny too.

I don't think this one will go for as much as the previous Circuit since it's not quite as good cosmetically and is bound to have had more miles put on it. I'd be tempted to bid on it for this reason alone... if not for the WAF!

Update: Final selling price? $292, including $70 shipping. Someone scored a steal! (Provided the paint flecks aren't a pain to remove.) But even so, I think that's a darn good price. Ya just never know with ripmeBay.

1988 Schwinn Circuit project - Brake Levers

Here's a couple shots of the Sante brake levers I'd been cleaning up a few weeks ago. This is the "before" shot - I did polish up the lever itself, but the hood is still in its original 'excavated-from-the-tar-pit' condition.



The "after" pic. As I mentioned in a previous post, I used Simple Green on the hoods, which worked very well, followed by some Goo Gone to see if that would help anymore (it didn't). I also gave these a good dousing of bleach solution, but that didn't appear to have much of an effect either.
Like I said, these white hoods get dirty just by looking at them the wrong way, and they appear to have accumlated some grime already inbetween the time I cleaned them and when they were photographed. Sigh.



Photo credit

1988 Schwinn Circuit on eBay

Item # 170362224959

I told myself I wouldn't make this blog into a Schwinn Circuit/Shimano Sante shrine and that exactly what I'm ending up doing with this post.

I've been following this auction since it was first posted; it was for a virtually brand-new 1988 model Circuit. And I'm not exaggerating. This baby is cherry and I'm not talking about the paint job either. Even comes with the original owner's manual which is in equally fine condition.

The seller writes:
"I acquired this bicycle from the original owner. He claims to have put less than 200 miles on the bike total, and part of me just thinks he was trying to make himself feel better about buying a bike he never really rode, the bike is in INSANE condition. EVERYTHING is original."

Indeed. Final price for this vintage ride? An astounding $736.91! Plus $75 shipping to the lucky bidder. Zoiks! What's that you say about a recession again?

1988 Schwinn Circuit Project - Look & Cinelli

Ok, you got me. The Look pedals aren't original or OEM, but they did come with the Circuit, presumably swapped in by one of the previous owners. Looks like (no pun intended) I'll be keeping them when I build the bike up again, especially considering the red and white goes with the color scheme perfectly and is just plain dope.
I cleaned and polished up the right-hand pedals and left the other side untouched for a 'before & after' comparison. I guess it was pretty muddy where this Circuit was last ridden.
I don't know if the first Look pedals that came out in '85 also came in the red and white colors as well or if these are indeed a later generation model that's featured in the magazine scan. I do seem to recall the first Look pedals were white with black trim and had non-adjustable tension. I haven't been able to locate a tension adjustment on these pedals yet or a date code.
Last, we have the venerable Cinelli stem. Nothing particularly special I have to say about this - 1-E model, anodized aluminum, a few scratches and insertion marks, except, "Hey, it's a Cinelli!"

1988 Schwinn Circuit Project - Father's Day

Seeing how yesterday was Father's Day, my wife took the little tyke off my hands for a few hours and I was able to get back to work on the Circuit.

Rear wheel - Sante hub laced to Rigida HLC 2000 rim:
Got to work cleaning the rims up of years of grime, brake smeg, and other abuse. I went at it with some rubbing compound and then finished off with a round of Nevr Dull. I can't say the rims look that much better, but at least all the black gook is cleaned off. The hard-anodizing has smeared in a number of places and rubbed right down to the bare aluminum in others.
I also went to work on the spoke nipples. Again, rubbing compound to attack the years of corrosion and finished off with a polishing of Nevr Dull. To my surprise, the cleaning revealed unplated brass nipples. Now, I realize a lot of wheels are built with brass nipples, I've just never seen them on a wheel in their unplated form. Or maybe I polished a bit too hard with the rubbing compound... Heh.
There's still a lot of work left to do cleaning and polishing up the hub and spokes. After that, I'm going to see if an overhaul is in order. Considering some of the other bikes I've worked on of this same vintage, I suspect the old grease in the hubs is all dried out.

Handlebars - Cinelli 1-E:
I unraveled the grungy Cinelli cork tape when I was initially disassembling the bike. The cork came off just fine; the adhesive separated from the backing and stubbornly stuck to the handlebars. No problem. I've had good results with any number of "sticker-remover' type cleaners before. The best one I've used so far is called "De-Solv-It", which is similar to Goo-Gone. Just spray it liberally on the bars, let it work for 15-20 minutes, and wipe all that sticky crud right off. I didn't have any of the De-Solv-It handy this time around, so I rummaged around under the kitchen sink and found some Goo-Gone gel which worked almost as good.

Stem - Cinelli 1-E:
Nice looking Cinelli stem with the Cinelli "C" logo on the left side. Pretty typical of aluminum stems from the 80's - silver, anodized with a satin finish. Not a whole lot to do here except for a quick cleaning and polish with Simichrome. I think I spent most of the time here cleaning up the bolts. Both the bolts for the stem expander and the one for the handlebar have gratuitous amounts of rust and grime in the bolt heads. This has been a royal PITA to clean.

Brake levers and hoods - Shimano Sante:
Guess what? 80's bike, white brake hoods that look like they were excavated from a tar pit. In the past, I've just scrubbed them with a bit of Simple Green and had great results. Yes, it left the hoods tacky. And yes, they looked white until the first time I rode the bike and they became grime magnets again. This time, I just wasn't satisfied with the Simple Green treatment, so I used a bit of the aforementioned Goo Gone sprayed on a toothbrush and gave it another scrubbing. (Note to Self: Please read the warnings on the cleaners you use BEFORE you actually use them. Specifically, the portion about "not safe for rubber".) After the 2nd scrubbing, it still wasn't quite as white as I'd like. I think I'll use a bit of bleach or bleach cleaner next and see what happens. Yes, I'll read the warnings. Maybe.

More on Rigida HLC 2000 rims

I was flipping through my 1987 Bicycling Buyer's Guide issue again last night (yes, I flip through these old mags quite often all to bring you, valued blog reader, interesting tidbits of information.) and I ran across this advertisement for the 1987 Schwinn Circuit.
The '87 Circuit was (is) a pretty sweet bike. Black Columbus SL (three main tubes presumably) frame with chrome (re: bling bling) stays, Suntour Sprint 9000 Accushift group, Dia Compe Royal Compe brakes, black anodized rims. Nice. It was dressed very similarly to my '87 Allez SE, but I'd have to say my Allez was one up on the Circuit mainly because it sports anodized chainrings that I think are the cat's pajamas. But I digress.
If you remember in a previous post, I was musing on the origins of the Rigida HLC2000 rims that came on my '88 Circuit. Well, I haven't found any 'new' information, but I may have solved the mysterious origins of the rims. The '87 Circuit ad above advertises "Hard Anodized Rigid (sic) HLC 2000 aero dynamic rim". This is odd, considering the specs in the 87 Buyer's Guide and also the catalog page provided by the good folks at trfindley.com both spec Araya rims. I guess this proves two things: 1) Schwinn did indeed OEM Rigida HLC2000 rims, at least for the 1987 Circuit, and 2) Schwinn, like every other bike maker, doesn't always follow catalog spec to the letter.
I would guess that the advertisement for the 1987 Circuit, spec'ing the Rigida rims went to press first. Perhaps Rigida had supply problems getting the rims to Schwinn and they modified their catalog to spec Araya rims instead. Later, the Rigida HLC2000's probably finally made their way down to Greenville, and stuck with a surplus of rims, they stuck the remaining Rigidas on a few of the earliest '88 Circuits that came off the production line. That, of course, is just pure speculation. The date code stamped on the head badge of my Circuit, "0338", indicates that it was built in the early part of 1988 (33rd day of year ending in '8', or Feb 2, 1988), which would seem to lend a shred of credence to that theory.
Anyone want to chime in on what kind of rims they've found on their Circuits and the date codes on the badges?

1988 Schwinn Circuit Advertisements

I spent some time this weekend scanning some stuff from the old cycling mags I've got.
In addition to the steel tubing information and Sante scans, I found a few pics of the '88 Circuit.

The top pic is a Schwinn advertisement from an '88 issue of Cycling on the back cover. It's actually for a Schwinn Velodyne trainer, but they mounted an '88 Circuit and all its Sante'd glory on it. If you look closely, you'll see Mark Allen is wearing what appears to be those funky Nike cycling shoes with the velcro'ed-in cleats. Funny how 20+ years later, Nike still has yet to achieve even a toehold in the cycling shoe market. Considering how horrid a pair of Nike SPD touring shoes were to me on a camping trip I did a couple years back, I'm not surprised. I've yet to find a good, comfortable, breathable spd shoe. However, for Look-type cleats and pedals, I haven't looked (no pun intended) back since getting my Sidi Genius 5's. Those fit me better than even most non-cycling shoes I buy. If you want my Sidis, you'll have to pry them off my cold dead feet.... or just order your own online.

The bottom pic is from the 1988 Cyclist Buyer's guide. I guess they picked the Sante to show how much bling you got in the $700-$1,000 range back in the day. And then of course, once you get above the $1,000 range, we're talking the almost exclusive territory of high-end Campy bling bling.

Shimano Sante Marketing

The above is a smattering of advertisements for Shimano Sante from 1987-1988.
The top three scans are from 1987. Notice that Sante was only available as the basic drivetrain components in 1987. Later, in 1988, the complete gruppo was introduced.
From the top picture down:
"New Products" section in 1987 issue of Bicycling magazine. (Year forgotten, but I'll update when I flip through the mag again).
July 1987 issue of Bicycling magazine.
February 1987 issue of Bicycling two-page spread.
July 1988 issue of Cyclist magazine.
Absolutely gorgeous two-page spread from the March 1988 issue of Cyclist.

Some more Shimano Sante bling to break up the monotony of your day. Shiny.
These pics (and pretty much all the pics on this blog that don't look like crap) were once again taken by my co-worker. The ones that do look like crap were taken by me.
These don't look half bad with a little cleaning and polish/wax. The rear derailleur is in pretty sorry shape cosmetically, but it's 100% functional. Some interesting items of note are: There's a hard plastic piece on the derailleur cage where the chain wraps around the guide pulley. Apparently, I've read that this was to reduce drivetrain noise. Also, the "Centeron" guide pully that features a bit of lateral play to keep the chain "centered on" a cog to further reduce drivetrain noise and probably increase the "Rideable Range of Adjustability". Pulley bushings are ceramic, which as far as I can tell was pretty bling back in the day. All in all, a quality, functional derailleur with some bling to boot.

1988 Schwinn Circuit Project - Uniglide goodness

Here we have the Uniglide cassette cluster off the Circuit. When I first slid it off the hub, it was black with grease - I couldn't tell what was underneath all that gunk. After disassembling the cogs cluster and shooting it with the good ol' Simple Green, I was pleasantly surprised to find the beautiful chrome plating you see in the picture. Awesome!
I was doubly pleased that the cogs show very little wear at all! Uniglide cogs are difficult if not impossible to find in certain sizes these days.
Ultimately, however, bikes and parts are made to be used and this cassette will look great with the rest of the Sante bling!
You can see more of my co-worker's photography on his Flickr photostream.

1988 Schwinn Circuit Project - Brakes

This weekend I finally was able to find some time to re-assemble the rear brake caliper and the results look great! Top 'before' pic was taken by me. The photo to the right was taken courtesy of a co-worker whose photography skill and equipment far surpass my own.
Although the brake caliper themselves typically hold up pretty well over time, I still disassembled the entire unit so I could rub out each arm with polishing compound and wax with a generous dose of elbow grease to coax out every bit of shine that I could.
These are truly beautiful brakes that will look great hanging on the Circuit frame once I get that polished up.

Check out the label index on the right for other Shimano Sante pics and other 80's vintage bicycle info!