Daniel V’s 1986 Schwinn Prelude

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Staying with our inadvertent theme ‘Blending Old with New’, this is Daniel V’s better than new 1986 Schwinn Prelude. Nicely executed.

1986 Schwinn Prelude

I picked up a dusty old frame from a small shop that had piles of old bikes in the back of the building. I had it media-blasted down to the bare metal and then it got powder coated with antique white followed by a couple clear, sealing coats. This is the second bike project I’ve gone into thinking I’ll just get it riding smooth with minimal investment, then turned around and sourced many expensive NOS and era-specific parts — spending way more than I should have. The end result though is one exceptional ride on a classic steel Schwinn. I don’t plan on ever selling this bike!

Here are the current specs: White powder coated 62cm lugged steel frame made from Columbus Tenax tubing on main triangle and Tange steel fork (I hand-painted the lug detail trim with red enamel paint), Suntour BarCon shifters, Suntour Cyclone front & rear der., Suntour Superbe Pro crankset 53/42, Phil Wood bottom bracket, 7-speed cassette 12-28, Fulcrum Racing 7 wheels with Continental Ultra Gatorskin tires, NOS DiaCompe “SVX” brakes, Cane Creek SCR-5 brake levers, Brooks Professional saddle, Laprade aero seatpost, really beautiful Modolo stem, Modolo Anatomica bars (just added the new Fizik microtex dual tape—comfortable!, red Jagwire cables, a red Chris King 2Nut headset and some red Nashbar spd-style pedals. I recreated the Schwinn logo in Illustrator and had a friend from a sign shop output new decals cut from red vinyl (see detail shot) They are made of a lot of tiny little pieces and were quite a process to recreate and to plot out and place on the frame. Also, Columbus didn’t have any original Columbus Tenax decals that originally came on my bike, so they were nice enough to mail me a sheet of red oval Columbus bird decals. Thanks so much for providing a great site to showcase old ten-speeds (even though mine is now a 14-speed — hope that doesn’t disqualify my post!)

Note: I’ve included a photo of another person’s ’86 Prelude to show what the color scheme of my actual frame looked like before I did my custom rebuild.

Thanks Daniel

Related posts:

  1. FastHerb’s 1983 Schwinn Super Le Tour
  2. Dustin G’s 1979 Schwinn Le Tour
  3. Ross E’s 1984 Trek 560
  4. Art F’s Mini Schwinn Collegiate and GreatSport Aquarius
  5. Jason V’s Fuji Espree
  • Simon C

    Nice colour scheme!

  • Mark D

    Yowzers! Nothing succeeds like excess. I doff my riding cap to you. Fantastic job. Perhaps we need a new acronym — OTTOTS, Over-the-Top Old Ten-Speed. I’m sure you enjoyed the project, and it’s a great feeling riding a bike that you built yourself. In my book, it’s $$ well spent (but remember, I’m crazy, too). BTW, aren’t those Cyclone derailers sweet?

    • older1

      Okay, forget what I said in another post about contrasting-color gaudiness; Daniel’s Schwinn just plain works! Like a candy-cane on wheels, I bet it rides SWEET!
      Here’s a challenge for David: build the next one in a photographic-negative color-scheme!

    • Daniel V

      Thanks! The Cyclone derailers are nice indeed. My first OTTOTS (nice new category btw) which you can see here: http://velospace.org/node/2739 has the Cyclone Mark II derailers on F & R…and they are even sweeter. cheers. DV

  • http://hughsbicycle.blogspot.com Hugh

    There are no words except. Absolutely “Fan -#$%*!#$ – tastic”

  • http://trailerparkcyclist.blogspot.com Tim Joe Comstock

    I wanna ride it. Seriously, I WANT TO RIDE THAT BIKE!

    Over the Top? I really prefer Better Than New.

    Way Better.

    • older1

      WBTNOTTOTS.

  • Bob H.

    I have a similar frame – badged as a LeTour – which I picked off the curb. Sadly it’s too far gone with paint and rust issues to be worth a restoration. May end up as a single speed. Your bike is beautiful!