William Bjornson

I have a Schwinn Varsity which, due to personal senescence, I must upgrade to electric assist in lieu of hill generated cardiac infarct. Being old and stubborn, I want a 27" wheel and I want the propulsion to be in the rear but I am having serious difficulties locating an affordable (or any) such configuration. The front and mid drives which I have looked at on YouTube and on sell sites do not interest me for various reasons. Can anyone steer me to a solution? None of my local shops are willing to lace such a wheel if I buy just a motor and, as far as my own poor experience has taught me, there is a certain talent to properly lacing a wheel which I do not possess. Can anyone supply me with a solution other than 26" or 700C? Thanks.

cb400bill

Welcome to Bike Forums. We have moved your thread from the Mechanics forum to the Electric Bikes forum.

2old

Lacing a wheel isn't beyond the ability of a home mechanic, and there are tutorials (sheldon brown, for one). You might contact ebikesca, a well-respected Canadian company that sells rear hub kits, and ask if they would build a 27" wheel since they build other sizes or try ebikekit in PA. Ask for Justin and Jason, respectively, at the two places. Surprised your LBS won't build a wheel; there are many in my area of Orange County, CA that willingly do it.

Jeff Wills

William- 27" wheels are almost completely obsolete. They were replaced by 700C wheels and tires starting in the early '80's and were virtually gone by the end of the '90's. Nowadays- no way.

Since you're talking about a Varsity with 27 x 1 1/4" wheels, I'll assume it's from about 1980 or before. (There are some later "Schwinns" sold in department stores but they are very different bicycles.) A rear wheel motor could be installed but it's going to be a chore:

First off, an old Varsity is 120mm between the rear dropouts. AFAIK, the hub motors need that to be 135mm. It's not impossible, but it takes a decent bike mechanic with knowledge of frame alignment to get it done. (I did frame alignment on a few Schwinns back in the day... but that's 30 years ago.) I bet if you go to a bike shop nowadays they won't know what you're talking about.
Second, the brakes on the Varsity were poor back then and are dismal compared to the latest units. Given that an E-bike has greater speed potential I'd be doubtful that an old Varsity's brakes would be close to adequate.
Third, 700C wheels & tires are slightly smaller than 27", enough that the tires are not interchangeable. The inner tubes fit either size, though.

I know this isn't the answer you want, but I think you should consider purchasing a complete E-bike. You'll have far fewer problems in the short and long run.

Doc_Wui

I've got a friend, also old like me, who rides a Schwinn Varsity from long ago, I keep telling him ...change from that tucked in position to an upright comfort bike ..softer/wider tires...go electric. Meanwhile, his back is stiff and shoulders hurt from arthritis, and this man has all kinds of money, but wants to keep his old bike.

A road bike doesn't have a handlebar layout conducive to your typical ebike conversion kit. It's non standard, and a 120mm dropout is a problem most of us would rather avoid.



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William Bjornson

Thank you all for the replies and thank you, Doc Wui, for the reassurance that my insistence on riding my old Schwinn at least has one other vote, even if we both, your friend and I, are just a few brain cells short of 21 years old. But all of you have provided me with valuable information and I will contact ebikesca and ebikekit and I will hunt for a mechanic who can align a 120mm to fit a 135mm motor. I feel more hopeful than my own searches allowed me to feel. I have LEADS. An old exJarhaid (can't shake it even after 53 years out) thanks you all again. I'll let you know what I run into, so to speak. Yes, the brakes...

William Bjornson

Hi. Thanks for putting this in the appropriate category. Could you also tell me how to modify my user name because, somehow, an 'n' was left off the end of my last name. Is there a character limit?

b-

cb400bill

All fixed.

William Bjornson

Thank you!

unterhausen

700c is only 4mm (3/16" for us oldsters) different in diameter. You have a lot more choices in tires and it's a lot easier to buy pre-built wheels. As far as riding a Varsity, as grandma Unterhausen used to say, "bless your heart." I worked as a mechanic in the heyday of the Varsity, and my back still twinges thinking of putting those things up on storage hooks.

You might also consider upgrading the brakes to dual pivot brakes, because the stock Varsity brakes are not very good. You will need better brakes once you convert.

William Bjornson

Thank you. And you say that the 700 wheel will fit comfortably into my Varsity frame? On the one hand, I like to think of myself as just a bit of a 'purist' but...finding a 27" motorized wheel other than a custom construct seems unlikely from my recent searches.

Regarding the brakes, I have yet to address this knowing I will need to, but I thank you for reminding me so that I might pose a question to you. My thought is to convert to cable disc brakes. I've never been a fan of standard old style bike brakes and I have no clue what I will need to do to convert or if it's even possible. Any opinions you might share with me?

Thanks

Doc_Wui

If it's only 3/16", it would seem one could slide the brake pads in their mounts..Whether it is side pull or center brakes. both have that kind of vertical movement. I assume you hit 25 mph coming down your hills and your current brakes work? I have converted a lot of bikes with rim brakes and only had crummy stopping power on one, and that was because the cables had rusted in their housings,

Disks are hard to retrofit because you need to have tabs for the calipers on the frame. Requires welding, which is feasible on steel, but more difficult on alloy. What I have done to add disk brakes to my older bike models is to replace the front fork with a disk compatible fork and use a hub that could hold the rotor. Really no need for disks on the rear when I spend most of my time below 15 moh,. These were mechanical disks and maybe it's more for looks than stopping power.

700cc wheels with hub motor are available. I have this one with the LED controller. I found his LCD controller did not work properly for me. Pedal assist was too strong
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ebikeling-3...S!-1:rk:1:pf:0

Jeff Wills

William: you'll have a very, very hard time finding a fork with disk tabs that will fit your old Varsity. The headset standards have changed so much that finding one will be difficult and expensive. I spent 12 years in the bike business back in the '70's and '80's and I've worked on hundreds of Schwinn Varsities. I've also watched bikes change radically in the years since then.

Like I said before- it's probably a better deal to find a complete E-bike. I know you're stubborn old Marine, but sometimes you got to cut your losses.

veganbikes

I would agree with Jeff. Just buy a new bike. Even if the conversion kits were good and of really great quality and bolting one on was an smart efficient thing to do, you are trying to run it on an old Schwinn Varsity which isn't designed for being an e-bike and has really low quality components and skinny tires on it that wouldn't handle e-biking very well. You can rig up these kits on just about any bike (not that they will work well or be a practical addition) but the cost and PITA they exude just isn't worth it in the end when you have actual quality e-bikes on the market which will do you a lot better. It sounds like you would be a good candidate for something like the Specialized Como which has nice comfortable wide tires and a great upright position but has a very nice peppy and smooth motor.

Your LBS probably doesn't want to build that wheel because it will fail like the many other hub drives before it. The amount of hub drives we have had to re-lace is extremely high and just isn't worth it because it will cost you a lot of money and headaches.

I am probably a lot younger and also quite stubborn but sometimes embracing new things actually isn't so bad. A lot of these new bikes and standards are actually quite good and even these smart phones which I only got two years ago are actually quite handy (I resisted so much and was ridiculed constantly and still get a bit of ridicule for my older gen smart phone) I know it is tough but it can lead to some positive things. Especially in the e-bike world the new motors and batteries are way better than that old hub drive technology and the dedicated e-bikes are vastly improved from the kits and kit like bikes people produced in the earlier 2000s and 2010s.

fietsbob

I went with drum brake hubs a long time before disc brakes were so trendy.. and Asia was making Millions of them..

Positive smooth braking drum shoes last forever can be retro fitted,

Minus, only Sun-race Sturmey Archer makes them any more, (But they are Good..@ it ) and they are a bit heavier and no QR axles..

William Bjornson

Thank you all and I'm beginning to see the actual dimensions of what I want to do from people who clearly know their subject. The Varsity still looms largest in my consideration but the caveats are much appreciated and I will let it stew for a time. I just need the power for the local Oregon (Aloha) hills and this old senescent husk refuses to walk up a hill but pulling up even the smaller ones is becoming aversive and discourages me from riding which is kind of where I am just now at three score and well past ten. Thanks again.

William Bjornson

Don! Thank you for the amazing offer. But, I can't answer your PM because all I get is a Bike Forums page with this message: " The administrator has restricted use of the private message system to members with less than 10 posts." Your message is not available to me so I cannot respond that way. The system did forward the text of your message in the notification email I received so if you send another PM with your email, I may be able to see that and I will contact you. Thank you.