Hudson308 

Here's one I just got back from powdercoat.

Jeff Wills

Done there, been that. I went kind of nuts with the 3-piece crank conversion but hey... it rides nice:

Burgundy Super Sport | Flickr

top506

It's not a Corvette, it's a Cadillac!




Somewhat modified.

Top

4funbikes

I’ve got a pair of fairly modified Kool Lemon beauties here.
700c wheels, 3 piece conversions, etc.

BFisher

Love it! Thanks for sharing.

Velo Mule

I like them a lot now, and would like to get one or a Sports Tourer, but that was not always the case with me. I thought of the Super Sport as outdated. So yea, it has a heavy forged crank, steel chain rings and the built in kickstand that is a part of the Schwinn design of the time. It didn't have lugs like the European frames.

Now I appreciate the fillet brazed frame. It is a bit of history as well. When European bikes were getting popular in the U.S. Schwinn was reluctant to give up their bike manufacturing processes that they worked so hard to perfect. When Banana seat bike were the rage, Schwinn adapted and thrived, however, when lugged frames and lighter bikes were the rage, it was not so easy to shift gears in Chicago.

For me, I think it comes down to my early years when my brain was forming and Schwinn is imprinted in there. And the Super Sports and Sports Tourers are distinct.

TiHabanero

In 1975 I bought a left over 24" opaque red Super Sport and toured all over the Midwest with it. Never really cared for the rando handlebars with the upsweep to the hoods. The thing worked flawlessly for several decades and is the bike used to learn bike maintenance. As described to me by the dealer the three main tubes were cromo, the rest "just like the Continental", meaning very strong, albeit plain ol' steel tubing.
Few years back I had the opportunity to work on one exactly like the one I had, but one that had never been used. Bought and sat in a basement for the decades to come. It was flawless and had the original "puff" gumwall tires on it!

noglider 

@Hudson308, what does the bare frame weigh?

machinist42

I know you didn't ask me, but I happen to have weighed the frame and forks of my (24") '72 Opaque Green SS recently, (albeit with headset and BB cups intact), and have the figures at hand:

Frame - 3320 grams, (7 lbs, 5.1 oz.)

Forks - 866 grams, (1 lb,. 14.6 oz.)


(It is a robust frame. The internal sleeving, a crude form of butting, no doubt contributes to the frame of the SS being half again as heavy as most all my other frames.)

noglider 

Wow, that's heavy. What would a Varsity of the same size weigh?

Hudson308 

Pretty close to my results on the postal scale at work.
My 22" center-to-center SS frame weighs 6.86 lbs fully stripped, and the fork weighs 1.94 lbs. @Scooper once posted the weight of his 24" center-to-center SS frame at 7.05 lbs., and his fork at 1.96 lbs.

For comparison, my double-butted 4130 cromo 22" (c2c) '84 LeTour frame weighs 5.45 lbs, and the fork weighs 1.98 lbs.

A 22" (c2c) Continental/Varsity frame weighs around 9 lbs. I would guess a solid forged Varsity fork weighs 4-5 lbs. Note that Schwinn measured their frame dimensions differently. I like to measure center-to-center so I'm comparing apples with apples.

An additional note about the Varsinental frames vs. SS/ST. I believe it's true that the SS/ST fork and rear triangle are hi-tensile steel, but they're still measurably lighter than the rolled, formed & flash-welded rear assemblies on the Continental/Varsity.

machinist42

As the Super Sport was offered in (Schwinn Measurements) of 22" and 24" and 26", I elected to hew to Schwinn's designation for the 24" model, to avoid confusion. C-C both my '64 and '72 measure 22.5", (twenty two and one half inches).

Thanks for supplying your weights. Now I have an idea how heavy the cups might be. I weighed mine on a let's call it a "kitchen scale" accurate to tenths of grams. I'm confident in my numbers. I'm a rigourously sciencey kind of guy.

I mentioned the SS is roughly half again the weight of most of my other frames. For comparison and on the same Post-It, my mid 70's Cooper's 22.5" (C-C) frame is 2019 g., (4 lbs., 7.2 oz.).

I also have a February '64 SS on queue, of the same size, and it will be interesting to see how it weighs? The forks are chromed, and allegedly CroMo, so may be slightly lighter? It lacks the brazed on kickstand, but does have a Huret dropout with integral hanger. I really don't know what they used for the stays at the outset. I've also a similarly sized (likely USA made) '87 SS awaiting my retrieval, which of course is a different bicycle altogether, but it is a Schwinn SS?

I've fondness for the early fillet brazed Superior/SS/ST. They are robust and comfortable. If only the chainstays were a wee bit wider at the bridge (or kickstand braze on), and accommodated wider tyres...

My first drop bar bike was a Varsity. It was heavy. Bikes like that built strong boys?

Jeff Wills

Ditto. Even with 700C wheels, the chainstay clearance limits the bike to 32C (1 1/4") width tires. That was OK when I had my first Superior in the 1980's, less so now.

Hudson308 

Thanks for clarification on the size! I had assumed you were denoting that per Schwinn's method. Could you post pics of your '64? I really like the early ones!

My 22.5" (c2c) '88 stripped SS frame weighs 5.14 lbs., the fork weighs 1.83 lbs.