Mad Honk 

Wiz,
Get a tub of Quick- Glo chrome cleaner, it is a lanolin based cleaner that I use for all chrome cleaning. Water soluable and easy clean up. I buy white wash cloths at the Dollar General store (18 for $3.99) and used them as disposable shop rags. Cheaper than the mechanic's laundry service, and easy to see small specs of dust when cleaning bearings. And the chrome cleaner will require a throw away rag because it permeates the cloth and cleaning is too expensive. But the stuff works and creates a light film that protects the chrome after cleaning. Price last time I a bought a few tubs was about $10 each. HTH, MH

Jeff Wills

The fork was rechromed by Black Magic Paint (Black Magic Paint) who also did the paint and decals. Pictures don't do it justice. I found a NOS Schwinn headset and I replaced the seatpost and clamp with new aluminum parts. Virtually nothing was salvaged off the original bike.

Back when I worked in a Schwinn shop, we sold a product called Quick-Glo. It's still around: https://quick-glo.com/ and it does a wonderful job of restoring chrome items as long as it's not flaking off.

WizardOfBoz

Well, I thought that paint looked awfully good. I'm guessing Black Magic is out of my budget range (just re-roofed, guttered, and sided - with Hardie Plank - my house, AND my wife's care needed replacing... Sigh. Not many new bikes for the Wizard any time soon...).

The funny thing is how many people will look at that bike and think "An old, heavy Schwinn" and not realize it's a hand-made in the USA chrome-moly frame. Plus, you put an XTR groupset on. A Superbike that makes people think of a mild-mannered Clark Kent. Very cool.

You and Mad Honk both have recommended Quik-Glo. Will look it up.

Jeff Wills

Yeah, well... my house will need a new roof in the next couple years and the minivan has about 170,000 miles. The Green Superior came about because I got paid to be a lab rat at a local research hospital.

WizardOfBoz

Cool! A 2nd head might come in handy ( I need another myself). Or, you may need to develop the worlds first 3 pedal bicycle.

BTW, when I looked up Quick-Glo I found that they had two versions: original and fine. I was just going to get the original, but the website talked about using the fine version to remove stains from glass. So (in another big expenditure) we had our chimney redone from stucco to natural stone. Some of the wash water with the cement/grout (whatever you call it) got on the window. So I ordered both. I'll see how they vary in use on bike parts.

I'm going to clean parts with min spirits or the ultrasonic cleaner (note to all: do NOT use min spirits IN a U/S cleaner - not safe). Probably will use Evaporust to get rid of some rust on ferrous/chromed parts, will then polish with Quick glo. Will use mag polish on Aluminum parts. Then reassemble with new cables and housings. I'm gonna keep mine more stock, but may replace the 38cm or so bars with a 44cm radonneur bar (I'm 6'2"). I think I'll leave the original paint. It's ok, except for the "Schwinn" on the downtube. But the downtube also has a genuine "League of American Wheelmen" sticker that I think is cool. So I'll clean the frame and polish and wax the current paint.

The catalog cut above lists the original wheels as 1-1/8, or 28.6mm. Shockingly close to the size that a lot of folks now prefer for road and some light trail use. The guys back then weren't dummies. At the time I was a young engineer, all focused on optimality and "the best". This blinded me to the beauty and function of anything not 531 and Campy Nuovo Record.

Still need to lace the rear wheel.

Mad Honk 

Wiz,
A couple of things; I use Simi-chrome on aluminium parts it creates a mirror finish that I can see my crusty old face in retro Campi hubs. And that car for yer wife, I am getting the 2014 Buick Lacrosse out of the stable. Just pony up 11K and it is yours. But you know that will also create a sense of entitlement for her about you, and you can never recover from giving her a nice car. If you want to know, just ask me... Smiles, MH

BTW I have your next mountain bike frame laying in the car port. A 3700 Trek that came into the place needing everything. I am about to send it to the metal recyclers, but it is yours for the shipping. Smiles, MH

76SLT 

These are wonderfully riding bikes. I've had my 78 since new. It went unused for many years and like yours, the spokes got rusty. I was able to just use a brass brush to clean them up. I may decide to respoke them just because I like when they're shiney.

WizardOfBoz

All,

I did rebuild the wheels. Normandy high flange hubs, Weinmann rims (both OEM), and Sapim DB spokes. 1.65mm front and NDS, 1.8mm DS. The rear wheel is really tight: DS at 135kgf, nds at 90kgf. I have to check these numbers. I'm building a spoke rack to calibrate my Park TM-1. But I think that they're close. The wheel true is pretty good, and I just put on some Panaracers and threw it into the old Superior and rode around the cul de sac last night. Pretty slick. After a half-century of wrenching bikes, my first wheelset.

BTW, there is a point of both satisfaction and disatisfaction. I ordered what I thought would be 14mm brass nipples with a slot and a round head. I got 12mm brass nipples with a hex head. The disatisfaction was that these were not period correct. Oh well. The positive point is that I was able to use two ratchet screwdriver handles (normal and a T-handle Xcelites) and two 5.5mm hex head sockets to built the wheels. Very much nicer and easier than fiddling with a spoke wrench. Thought I'd report back on this - might be useful info to some.

It stuck me as interesting that when I was a lad, we always talked about 21mm sewups. Had to have 'em, to reduce rolling and aero friction! Today, I realize (and the market also seems to have realized) that a 28mm clincher tire, or even a 32mm one, can give a superior ride without much loss in the way of drag. Especially if you have a 32mm inflated to 95psi, vs a 23mm sewup at 130mm which shakes you to bits. Schwinn originally had 27x1-1/8 (28.5mm) on this bike. I'm a big guy so I put 27 x 1-1/4 tires (32mm or so) on. Point is, Schwinn actually knew what it was doing, bikewise. And pimply teenage part-time bike-shop mechanics where were Eddy Merckx wannabes did not know everything. Or much, anyway!

So Schwinn did build great bikes in making the Superiors. But they didn't market the fillet-brazed bikes from the handbuilt shop, like the Superior, very well.

I have no hope that my bike will look as good as 76SLT's. That's pretty sweet. I can fix up the parts using Simi-Chrome and Mother's Mag Wheel Aluminum Polish and Quick-Glo, but the downtube decal is toast. As I've said elsewhere, my bike has a cool League of American Wheelmen decal on the downtube, so I'd be reticent to try to refinish it.

I'll post pics of the wheels at least, if I think of it.

Thanks to all for advice.

ThermionicScott 

Congratulations! It's a great feeling to ride around on wheels you built yourself. After a few, you start to trust them more than OEM wheels.

Your tensions sound a bit high, though. Weinmann rims are generally pretty beefy, but were not designed for the amount of tension some people use these days. I built my first wheel (on a 26" Weinmann concave rim) pretty tight, and noticed after a couple years that the rim was starting to "pooch out" a bit at a few spokes. I retrued the wheel and backed down the tensions, and it's been stable ever since. People generally reckon that 60 kgf is a good minimum to prevent rear NDS spokes from going loose, you could back down your wheel to about 75/110 and still have ample tension. Up to you, you probably have lots of time to think about it.

WizardOfBoz

Scott, Good info. I was wondering about this. I will back them off to around the numbers you suggest. Will advise. Thx.

Mad Honk 

Wiz,
You should be peeing down your leg with excitement! Those spoke nipples were period correct and are hard to find. I hoard the darned things when I find them and recycle on better wheels. Building from the outside of the wheel with a socket is far easier than using a screwdriver. You likely learned a few lessons on how to find torque ratings with your fingers and wrists when building. That info is invaluable and cannot be transferred from me to you over the internet. Again congrats on the build. Smiles, MH