2008 Schwinn Madison
Part Diary, Part Technical Manual, Part Tips & Tricks

When the Madison came out in 2008, I really liked the way it looked. The 2007 model was ok, but I really didn't like the 80's logo. The 2008 had the perfect shade of blue, the cool 70's Schwinn logo, chrome accents, and that straight blade fork, all for a MSRP of $569.99. Given that I already have nine bicycles at the moment, two of them fixed gear conversions, I never this bike much consideration. So late in 2008, I see that Performance Bike had a sale on Madisons. The wife seemed to like it, especially since Madison is a name we are considering for our daughter. So on November 10, 2008, my wife bought me my 10th bicycle as an early Christmas present.

1/17/2009 - I picked up a NOS SR Sakae seatpost in 27.0mm diameter today on craigslist for $25. Really sweet post which is fluted at the top.

7/22/2009 - After fussing around with various saddles, I finally installed a white Cinelli Unicanitor. I liked the look and put on some matching white Cinelli cork wrap. The white goes well with the graphics on the frame, the bike is starting to finally look right.

8/22/2009 - Took the Madison to the track for the first time. Using the parts I had in the garage, the highest gearing I had was 81 inches. I was told that 85 inches is a good beginner gearing, while most intermediate riders are in the 91 to 93 range. I started with a caged SPD pedal and scraped a few times, so afterwards I got a pair of LOOKs. Overall, it was a fun and laid back experience, also shows how slow I am.

10/20/2010 - As I have been riding larger frames lately, I felt this frame was a little on the small side, so I installed the 130mm stem that came with the Gios and the longer original seatpost.

12/18/2010 - Looking at the new Schwinn website, I saw a new model called the Sprint, which basically is the old Madison, but with a retro Major Taylor style handlebar, I thought it looked pretty good. Besides, with the frame already being on the small side, riding it with straight bars doesn't really help. So I looked at the Merry Sales catalog to find a handlebar bend that increased the reach, but was not super deep like most track bars are. So the Walker Racer bar seemed to be good, not too wide, not too deep, with a cool look. The bars look very nice on the bike, but these old style track bars have very little reach, so I didn't get as much reach as I was hoping for. With such little reach, these handlebars would be ideal on an oversized frame, to reduce the overall length. With the suicide brake lever and the internal cable routing, the bike looks pretty slick. Since I put the white Cinelli saddle on the Gios, I put on the black Regal saddle, which goes well with the black Thomson stem.

4/1/2011 - After two and a half years of tweaking with stems, handlebars, and seatposts, I think its time to move on - this bike is simply too small for me. The frame geometry is relatively short and relatively tall, so there isn't much top tube clearance (that's why I bought the Small in the first place), but there isn't enough reach. Over the years, this is the bike that I've probably ridden this bike the most, lots of rides at Sawyer Camp Trail in the rain. My only fixed gear with brakes and fenders, a really great combo. So I'm going to put all the original parts back on and try to sell it. I'll be looking for a new fixed gear with a 55-56 top tube, smaller diameter tubing, and fender eyelets.

4/17/2011 - Posted an ad on the 15th and got a couple emails today. A really nice guy named Aaron drove all the way from Modesto with his entire family to buy the bike, sold him an extra Brooks B17 as well.

Here are the specs:

Frame: Schwinn Madison, Small (52.5 CTC). N'Gauged double butted Cro-moly with 6mm thick horizontal dropouts. 120mm spacing. "Old School Blue" with chrome seatstay, chainstay, and dropouts. Serial Number: SNI DT70901287 FE 5SL03.
Fork: Schwinn N'Gauged Track fork with brazed crown, 1-1/8" threadless. Cro-moly with 100mm spacing. "Old School Blue" with chrome crown and dropouts.
Rims: Jalco DRX2000, 6061 aluminum, silver.
Front Hub: Formula TH-50, high flange, 32 spoke.
Rear Hub: Formula TH-51, high flange, 32 spoke, 42mm chainline.
Tires: Schwalbe Lugano, 700x23c.
Cranks: Truvativ Touro Track, Power Spline, 170mm, 130mm BCD.
Chainring: Sugino Messenger PJ130, 42t, 1/8".
Bottom Bracket: Truvativ Cartridge, Power Spine, 68x108mm, 40mm chainline.
Cog: Forumla 18t, 1/8", chrome.
Headset: VP A71, 1-1/8" threadless.
Chain: KMC Z410RB, silver. The RB is for Rust Buster, which is a zinc and chrome coating to make it rust resistant.
Stem: Thomson Elite, 1-1/8" threadless, 5 degrees, 130mm reach, 25.4mm diameter, black.
Handlebar: SOMA Walker Racer, 44 cm wide, 25.4 mm diameter, chrome. 44cm wide, 13cm drop, 6.5cm reach. I drilled a couple holes to allow for clean internal cable routing. The bars are a retro bend, named after Don Walker, an Australian champion racer and good friend to Marshal ‘Major’ Taylor.
Front Brake: Tektro 510A, dual-pivot, silver.
Brake Lever: SOMA Urban Pursuit, silver. Installed suicide style.
Pedal: Forte Campus.
Seatpost: Schwinn alloy with micro-adjust head, 27.0mm diameter, 350mm long. The website says its a 27.2, but that's incorrect.
Saddle: Selle San Marcos Regal Girardi, leather with copper coated steel rails.

The bike currently weighs 23lbs 13oz as shown.

The following are OE parts that I am currently not using:

Handlebar: Alloy 31.8mm diameter, 41.5mm width.
Freewheel: Dicta Brand, Lida Machinery Company, 18T, 1/8".
Rear Brake: Tektro 510A, dual-pivot.
Levers: Tektro R200A.
Pedals: Wellgo LU-964 with toe-straps.
Saddle: Selle San Marco Ponza Lux, black.

Here is a link to the original 2008 Schwinn Madison page.