The basement isn't clean yet but I spent a little more time messing around with this. I did a trial fit of the new front brakes and found out they're probably too short. Oops.
I thought about ways to lower the fender a touch but then discovered that the rear hub with it's drum brake takes a short travel brake lever. The V-brake takes a long travel lever. Hmm...
I put that one on hold and moved on to the chain tensioner. The Sturmey hub has the sprocket offset quite a ways from the frame and the tensioner doesn't have the reach to make it work very well. Oops 2. Here it is at full reach and it still needs to move a little more.
The solution there is to use the derailluer as the tensioner. Not ideal but it'll work. I'm going to get a short cage derailluer from a friend and put that on there instead of the stock plastic one. There are also two possible "magic gearing" ratios that could still work, but that's on hold for now until until I try the gearing I already have - I'll be running 44/20 for now. The Magic ratios are 48/20 and 48/18 for lengths, but I'm not sure those ratios would work very well.
Next I decided to set up the brake lever and shifter angles so I could use the stock braze ons for the shifter and rear brake cables. Finally some good news - I think things will work out there. Getting the brake line to run along the seat stay means securing the brake arm to the seat stay. I thought that might look wonky but I think it's going to be fine. There is no cable housing shown here but trust me, it works.
And then the shifter side. I found that setting up the hub/shifter for a reverse dropout runs the cable along the seat stay more or less. I may use the unneeded brake mounts as a cable mount now? For those who don't know, the internal gear hubs have an anti-rotation feature for the axle, it's orientation is locked to the dropout orientation so it's not just a case of putting the wheel in place and rotating the shift mechanism to where you want it. I could probably offset the mechanism one notch to make it line up better but then I'm on my own figuring out the shifter setting since it wouldn't play along with the preset markings. We'll see...
The background here is pretty busy but you can see how the cable runs above the seat stay. Never mind the cable that's fallen down between the chain stays, that's the brake cable. I can't run it through the braze ons until I cut the end off, which I'd have to do anyway since it's about 8 inches too long.
In other news, the spokes have shipped and should be here on Monday, so I can build up the wheels next week. And in a late night retail therapy session I came up with another solution for the front brake, along with a few other things. I ended up ordering a set of Sturmey Archer brake levers to match the rear dream. They're short throw, so I also ordered a cantilver brake for the front. My only worry there is getting the link cable to clear the fender but I have a couple ideas for that if it's an issue. It was an "in for a penny in for a pound" momemt so I also ordered some alloy handlebars with a different bend and an alloy seat post to replace the super low end stock unit. And a single speed 3/32 chain to replace the flexi-flier multi-sped chain on there. I couldn't find any interesting grips to use though, so those are on the shopping list. Along with a new kickstand - the stock one is pretty solid but dang it looks cheap.
At this point the stock parts that will be left on this bike will be the frame, fenders, fork, headset, bottom bracket/crank, and seat. But I've been eyeing a Brooks saddle and keep thinking about an eccentric bottom bracket to replace the tensioner. I'd have to make that myself though so it will likely never happen... though I do have CAD software on my laptop, friends with CNC mills, and can't figure out why I couldn't copy an existing design using a different OD.... But I digress. I already have better fender braces to replace the flimsy stock units, and I already put rubber pedals on it to replace the stock plastic ones. Tires? I'm pretty sure I'll be taking the tires off my Rockhopper Comp to put on this, whitewalls with more of a slick tread. I decided to rebuilt that bike this winter too, and if I have this cruiser for riding on the paved trails around here I can go back to knobbies on the mountain bike. And now my wife asked if I'd give her bike some attention over the winter too, so it looks like the new service stand will be put to good use over the next few months.
And there are a few REAL Schwinns for sale around here that look interesting... so maybe I'll add one or two projects in the next few months too?
