Cycle Tourist

Bought this for $75. I can't understand the Suntour components everywhere. Superb brake levers, Rigida rims and a 5 speed Italian freewheel. The serial number starts with A2 so 1982 but that should mean a 6 speed freewheel. I'm guessing this is a rare Suntour equipped bike with swapped out wheels. Any thoughts?

uncle uncle

There are catalogs online that will help you determine what components originally came on the bicycle. I don't recall Suntour being on much of anything Schwinn of that vintage, but, I've slept since my days at the bike shop. If the bar tape could talk, I'm sure it would have some stories to tell.

Cycle Tourist

I've checked the catalogues and they all list Shimano components. Some early ones used some campy stuff. There was a mention of the occasional use if Suntour so I guess this is one of those. The Rigida rims threw me and the Italian freewheel with English threads. I guess they were added by someone along the way. It did make it easy to upgrade to a Shimano twist tooth 6 speed though. I'm doing a full restoration and keeping everything as is wherever possible. With new paint and decals this is going to be a beauty!

St33lWh33ls

That’s a great buy, nice riding bikes, this belongs to a friend.

3speedslow

It looks like you have an after market chain holder on the DS seat stay

Cycle Tourist

Good eye. I originally thought it was a spoke holder.🙄 I finally figured out what it was. The parts are polishing up real nice. I'm waiting for the paint to cure before applying the decals and putting it back together. I found a "Schwinn approved" seat and a Schwinn rat trap rack. Not sure about adding the rack??

Cycle Tourist

That's nice. I love those wide flange hubs and chrome pieces on the forks. I hope mine looks as nice.

ryansu

iirc Schwinn was one of the first bike companies to embrace Japanese components, a lot of the "schwinn approved" components are rebadged Suntour parts -which is a good thing. I worked on a Late 70s ladies LeTour that had them so it would not be suprising for an early 80s bike to be equipped with SunTour. Then again allot can happen to a bike over 37 years so take the Original Schwinn specs with a grain of salt who knows what upgrades, patches, parts bin swaps were made. Some naval jelly or oxalic acid on those rust spots and then some car wax will do wonders for the paint.

Have fun with the project OP should be a nice riding frame when you are done

uncle uncle

I'm no Schwinn expert, but the 70's saw them switch derailleur makers from Huret to Shimano (both marked "Schwinn Approved" to obscure that Schwinn wasn't the actual maker). Brakes, were mostly Weinmann (again, marked "Schwinn Approved"). I'm a bit less clear on other bits, like stems, seat posts, handlebars, etc., but Suntour wasn't really a company that carried those parts often anyways.

Cycle Tourist

Some after shots: