Originally Posted by
jackbombay
I'm not all that familiar with the schwinn lineup, where does the Super Sport fall into the hierarchy?
In the 10 speed group in the 60's and 70's, The Super Sports were the next step down from the top of the line Paramounts. Below the Super Sport came the much more common Continental and the most plentiful of all was the Varsity (their most basic model). Some years their were other models like the Superior and Sierra but the 4 I mentioned were the consistent sport models they sold through the years that were made in Chicago.
While they don't look all that different, the Super Sport with its chrome molly fillet brazed frame is in reality a big step up from its Variety and Continental brothers. They were brazed by hand instead of being spit out of a machine. They are also a lot rarer and much more collectable. The Varsitys weighed about 40 pounds and the Super Sports 31. The one piece Ashtabula steel cranks were part of the reason they were so much heavier than European 10 speeds.