maddog34

reading through it all, I'd say stay with the 27" wheels, but update to aluminum rims... it will make the bike feel much more responsive to each power input, plus you can keep the stock brake calipers. Rim/tire width will be your choice... the wider the tire, the smoother the ride... narrower tires will allow higher pressures and have less rolling resistance, but ride rougher, and may "pinch flat" easier.

maddog34

also, there are some 7/8" ALUMINUM seat posts out there for mini-BMX bikes...I've seen an Odyssey brand one that has rail-type clamping even, so you could mount a regular seat. MEASURE your seat post carefully before ordering though... Schwinn had a knack for doing things it's own way! The lighter seat post will reduce weight up high on the bike, and make a difference in feel for sure, as will losing the rather heavy , old style steel seat clamp.

Jeff Wills

Please note that you are replying to a thread from 2011.

maddog34

and I've just taken in a varsity... plus so did a friend... those things just keep falling off of garage walls and crawling out from behind stacks of old, cracked recap snow tires with walnut shells added for superior winter traction.... someone MAY read the thread, realize the fact that Varsitys were garaged for a good reason, look at the expense and hassle of updating one, then make the correct decision of leaving the thing hanging on the wall of whatever garage they found it in, like some monument to ridiculously heavy engineering from the past. ;-)
Sorry for the rant, but I, personally, hate telling people that they just got ripped off by someone when they pay $75 for a Sherman tank bike with rotted tires and rusted/corroded everything.... isn't it odd that many Varsitys are olive green, and even drab when dust covered?

Plus, I'd searched "Varsity", then forgot to look at the date of the thread,,.,,oh well! it's an oldie, but a goody thread.... considering all the fixies/single speeds getting built up lately from ancient gara
ge bikes, eh?

junkman71

here is my 72 in siera brown.......it has lots of patina... I picked it up for free, replaced tires, tubes,cables and bar tape.... threw on a seat from my parts bin(the one on there was pretty bad)mostly original except for the items above and the rear brake...... its a front brake that they stacked a crapload of washers to make work and it was loose even with the bolt ran all the way to the ends of the threads.... I ditched the washers and used some thick spacers that were in my parts bin.... the rear wheel was the only bearings that had ever been serviced.... the grease from 1972 was about as viscous as dried rtv... the rear axle was bent ( another parts bin replacement) that got replaced too......just need to have the wheels trued and its good to go

Jeff Wills

Honestly, if you replace the usual wear-and-tear stuff (tires, tubes, brake shoes), grease the bearings, and clean the chrome... the bike will be good for another 50 years.

Schwinn Varsities are built to survive a nuclear explosion. After the Alpacalips, Keith Richards will be chasing cockroaches on a Schwinn Varsity, eating a Twinkie.

dddd

The ubiquitous Varsity is revered for it's nostalgic styling, as well as for it's almost uniquely (for a road bike) layed-back frame geometry, which gives it a most-solid feel going down the road.

Some will restore them to an original condition, some will use them as they find them while doing as little work as possible, and some will hop them up with 700c wheels and newer racing componentry.
There is no reason not to convert one to 700c, since the bottom bracket height is extremely high and the brake calipers are more than long enough.
The front axle slot width and 96mm fork spacing will need some tinkering to fit a modern wheel's axle.

The original crankset and kickstand on these bikes are just too good to remove!

myisland

I have a 70' era varsity. Can you bend the original drop handlebars? I want to rotate them up and then bend the tips straight putting the brakes on the underside of the tips.

Velo Mule

Hi myisland . You should start a new thread. You really are starting a new topic, so, it's worthy. It sound like you are looking for bullhorn bars. Personally, I wouldn't try to bend them. However, they can be flipped and cut. I haven't been brave enough to cut up a good handlebar, and I am holding off on purchasing something, but I would like to try them at some point because I ride probably 80% of the time on the hoods which is where your hands would be on a bullhorn bar.

Look up bullhorn handlebars and you will see lots of options to buy and you might find some instructions on cutting a drop bar.

Pure Fix Bullhorn bars

myisland

I just went ahead and cut the handlebar but I can't ride it until I buy correct rear tire. The rear wheel is a 26 x 1 1/4 by Dunlap. Looks like a smaller version of the S6. Maybe Schwinn had Dunlap make some or previous owner found it compatible. (The front is a 27" S6)
I need tire size for the rear.

Jeff Wills

I'd guess that someone replaced the rear wheel with something else that fit between the dropouts. I've never heard of a Varsity that had a 27" front wheel and 26" rear wheel. (The extra-small Varsities had 24" wheels.)

dddd

Sounds like there is no rear brake on there, or it's a coaster brake(?).

Lowering the rear with a 26" rear wheel would lower the bottom bracket (good), and would further slacken the Varsity's slack frame angles.

You have to be careful what you do with the handlebar and stem. Anything that puts your hands further forward of where a road handlebar and 9cm stem would put them is going to make for a lot of steering "heave" when you get up off of the saddle to pedal harder.
These frames are basically cruiser frames and so handle well with upright and pullback bars that position the rider's hands more rearward. Road bars are ok with up to a 9cm stem, and bullhorn bars would I think also need a relatively short stem like the stock 7cm stem or up to 9cm.

myisland

The tire size for the rear is 26" x 1 3/8" ?

ISO 590 or 650A?

cudak888 

All the same exact measurement - but earlier you said the wheel was marked as 26 x 1-1/4". Tire or rim?

The reason I'm asking for clarification is because both sizes are associated with English bicycles, look extremely similar on sight, but one is larger in diameter by 7mm: 26x1-1/4" is ISO597.

Plus, Schwinn did a silly move back in the day and created a tire and rim known as 26x1-3/8" S6...with an ISO of 597. Yep, same size as the British 26x1-1/4", with the name of the smaller rim. Great, eh? Not.

With 26" (I'm thinking ISO559 here, which has been confirmed otherwise) this thing would need those ultra-long Weinmanns from a Raleigh Twenty or Tektro 900As on it...just to stop.

-Kurt

myisland

The Dunlap wheel with 5 gears installed is marked as 26 x 1-1/4
The rotten tire was trashed years ago.

Someone suggested that the back brake may not contact a 26" wheel. Is that true?

Salamandrine 

Yes it is possible. Try it. Maybe, maybe not. 26" wheel is smaller than 27", which is the stock size it was designed for. In your case its is 16.5 mm smaller in radius. Does it fit now? If the brake pads can be adjusted down reach the rim correctly and not hit the tire, you are OK.

Assuming it isn't mismarked, 26 x 1 1/4" is ISO 597, which is the rarest nowadays of the 5 different 26" bicycle rim/tire sizes. If that's an old S6 Schwinn wheel off a Collegiate or something, the Kenda ISO 597 tires should fit, it is supposed to anyway.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/tires/597.html

myisland

I took it to a bike shop and we determined that the Dunlap wheel was identical to a Schwinn 26" wheel. I think that during the 70's bike boom Schwinn must have contracted with Dunlap make some wheels for them.

cudak888 

Don't believe so, but the Schwinn S6 tire was the right one for that rim. Glad to hear it worked out.

-Kurt

nomadmax 

Old part numbers are valuable when searching on Ebay or other online for sale ads. It doesn't matter if the company is still in business or not.

rhenning

Nomadm you realize my post was almost 9 years ago. Roger

nomadmax 

And alas, old part numbers are STILL useful