para88.htm

Owned by Craig Boardman. Email inquiries welcome.

The tri-color crystal blue, icy white & (Wheaties) orange paint on this WATERFORD frame and fork was done by Joe Bell. All lettering including "the CHIEF" covered in acrylic clear-coat.

CINELLI handlebars, stem and post. Now DURA ACE equipped.

Cinelli bars (Champione Del Mondo) were used by the team in 88. It also was a very popular bar that was used by lots of cyclists. There is no way to know for certain it was original to the bike. I don't know if Cinelli 1/R is the correct stem.

The wheels & the other components are not original. DURA ACE 7400 was what the pros used.

Documented and verified the rider of the bike was Michael Vaarten's team bike which is in very good condition for having been raced. Sold as frames only, most don't have the original stuff any way. The only way to be sure would be if you had bought the bike from the team at the season's end & were the original buyer. Jerry ( New info inserted Sept 2008)

On July 9, 2008, I got a call from Jerry Jeter (St. Louis). He called Joe Bell, who painted the Team Wheaties bikes, and confirmed the following:
1) "the Chief" was Michael Vaarten who replaced Volker Diehl as the '88 team leader.
2) DEAL stamped on the bottom bracket was a mis-spelling of DIEHL the original team leader (Joe said he specifically remembers this. On July 10, he further confirmed to me that all the other bikes had serial numbers on the bottom bracket but the Diehl-DEAL bike was some kind of special order. He didn't know the reason why it was).
3) Orange color was intended to match the Wheaties cereal box color. 4) The lines running through the SCHWINN decals are 1988 bikes. The 1989 bikes had solid lettering with no lines.

Both 1 & 2 were further confirmed by Richard Schwinn in an e-mail to me.

Jerry pointed out that with WOLBER on the fork, tires were probably WOLBER as well as the original rims. (July 10, Joe confirmed tires as having been WOLBER, not sure about the rims, but that all components had been DURA ACE.)

On July 14, 2008, Mike Farrell provided the final piece to the this bike's history as well as the other Team Bikes sharing some memories as well: Lew, I always enjoy talking about the past teams I have managed.The Schwinn Wheaties Team <88/89> had some of the best riders in the world. including Michele Vaarten, world champion in the Kieren, a very exciting race to watch. Mike was also a great criterium rider which made him a great asset to the team overall, The bike you have was a custom bike for Michael.The nick-name "The Chief" was given to him by his mates in Japan where Michael would spend 10 weeks every winter racing the Kieren circuit . Michael was a great motivator and adviser to his racing teammates.

Doug Smith was featured on the Wheaties Box. The brand manager picked Doug after looking at all the other men on the team. Doug was an accomplished rider in his own right, winning the U S National Road Championships in 86.

All team bikes were built up with full DuraAce. We would sell off the frames at the end of the year, so someone else most likely put those 600 components your bike. Mike Farrell

NOTE: The final piece of the puzzle is thanks to Mike Farrell. This means that there's likely no Team Bike out there with original components. As for "the CHIEF'S" bike, someone did a loving, expensive job with the components that are on it & I plan on keeping it that way. Let someone else "DuraAce" it. Lew

1988 (above) & the 1989 (above right)Team Bikes were painted by Joe Bell using Dupont Imron Polyurethane Enamel. (Joe Bell Bicycle Refinishing @ joebell.biz

The "split-decal" on the top tube is a unique feature of his work on the 1988 & 1989 bikes. Some of the '88 bikes had O/S tubes & ALL of the '89 bikes had OS (Oversized Center) tubes. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Lew: Most bikers won't know a Wheaties bike from a nice looking Schwinn unless you were into following the racing teams in 88 or 89. Only two years for that paint scheme. If I hadn't been to Joe Bell's website and seen them, I wouldn't have known what one was even though I was living in Boulder, CO at the time, home of the Coors Classic!.

None of the COMPONENTS had SN's. Most of the frames were stamped with the rider's name. I know the OS Tilford bike has the number 9 on it & a date of 88. Another Tilford frame that is owned by Tilford just says Tilford as best I can tell. I don't think it is OS. One thing seems to be consistent: Most of the bikes have the rider names stamped on the bottom bracket (Michael Vaarten's bike stamped DEAL being another exception) . Jerry

There's no doubt that another "Team Bike" in pristine condition would quality for a price at the top of the market, but it would be ONE of many "TEAM" bikes (though enviable to own one).
There was just this one known "Chief's" bike. No collection would be complete without it & with it any such collection would have historic value.

July 20, 2008 from Rob Moore:
Dura Ace components would include the brakes, hubs, all gear components, cranks, seat post and headset. They did not make the rims, tires, pedals, handlebars or stem. That is why the team had other sponsors like Wolber (rims & tires) and Cinelli (handlebars & stem).

Mike Farrell is a great guy who was very nice to a kid like me who raced bikes and loved Schwinn, the Icy Hot (1986 & 1987) & Wheaties teams (1988 & 1989).
Michael Vaarten, and Shaun Wallace came to my Dad's bike shop in Rome, GA in '89 and took our group out for a ride. They're great guys as well.

My father (BMX Bob) and I had 2 frame/fork sets that were the bikes of Volker Diehl. He sold his a few years ago and I still have mine (photos on Dr Deutschmark link). As far as I know it is correct that only frame sets were sold at the end of the year. Rob

(August 2008) Lew, I looked at your bike last night and the bar stem might say Milan on top of the stem but it is a Cinelli 1/R which may be correct and original. I know the bikes used either a Turbo or Rolls white saddle. They used 7400 Dura Ace components ( crank, brakes, Levers, derailleurs and down tube shifters). It would have been 7 speed in 88, The bar is the correct type, a Champione Del Mondo from Cinelli. Original seat post was "fluted", probably a Dura Ace ST-7400 (not an earlier 7200). Cinelli to my knowledge never made a seat post. The only component that I am still working on is the bar stem. Dura Ace and Cinelli both made very similar stems and they are hard to tell apart in photos except for the Cinelli logo on the front. Cinelli stems and bars in combination were likely used with the Wheaties bike. The wheels were either Wolber Profil 20 or Wolber Aspin, depending on the stage, hills vs flat. Jerry