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My $10 Vintage Schwinn find and I want to learn how to rebuild and repair it

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Old 08-29-20, 04:07 PM
  #26  
Maelochs
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Originally Posted by Thomas15
One thing that you might want to consider as an upgrade and I would put this off for consideration until after you get it running right would be quick release for the wheels. This will involve new axles and skewers,
Really good idea. One less (heavy) tool to carry and much easier to change a tire on the roadside. Also, so simple it takes literally no knowledge.
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Old 08-29-20, 05:22 PM
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You might want to consider CONVERTING to Tourist Handlebars and ditching the drop-bars. Ask yourself do I really want to ride drop-bars, or will I just be always gripping the "tops", and I just want the drop-bars because I fear that other cyclists will think I am a doofus if I were to install "Northroads" tourist handlebars.

You will have much more stability and control with "the doofus style" northroads-tourist handle bars............SPECIFICALLY something like the 7881 SCHWINN handlebars -or- the Velo Orange Tourist handlebar. The old 7881 SCHWINN handlebars of the '67 to '78 era are the best tourist handlebars ever made in my opinion. They have the finest chrome plated steel construction. Nobody then or now has chrome quality on anything new that compares to a used 55 year old or 45 year old 7881 Schwinn handlebar that has seen heavy use. Millions were made and everything from a Breeze, Collegiate, Suburban, Speedster and other Schwinns had the 7881 bars. These bars are stamped in the area which is not seen when installed (under the clamp area).............7881-67 for 1967, 7881-75 for 1975, you get the picture as the YEAR follows 7881. There is no difference and the year does not mean diddly-squat, unless you're some nut doing a "perfect" restoration on some ancient low-buck Schwinn.
The Velo Orange Tourist handlebar is great too!!! The Velo Orange Tourist is not as good in my opinion because it is aluminum, but if you must save weight in the handlebars, it is an excellent choice. I prefer the old 7881 SCHWINN chromed steel Tourist bars. I have retro-fitted and installed the 7881 bars on more than forty ten speeds/twelve speeds that previously had the drop-style racing bars......................all makes/brands of bikes from the eighties/seventies/sixties with the 25.4mm(1") stem clamp diameter.
My tourist handlebar handbrake lever of choice are the WEINMANN like what Schwinns featured from circa 1963 through the seventies to the Chicago end and beyond. RED DOT eyepokers, RED DOT safetyball end, GOLD DOT safetyball end.....................IT DOES NOT MATTER.....they are all the same! Millions were made and they have no great monetary value, although sometimes Schwinn restorers will bid higher for perfect showroom appearance used Red Dot Eyepokers. Often though, there is so much supply of even these on the bay that they all go for the same approximate cost.........typically $17 to $21 total cost including shipping for a nice pair.........sometimes even less . Don't ever bother with mismatched pairs or cruddy looking pairs because nice looking ones are plentiful at all times. Even the cruddy looking, scarred ones with chrome pitting on the clamp band will likely be perfectly functional but they are so inexpensive and millions were made so you can easily find great looking ones within a few days or a week on the bay if nothing clean appears now.

7881 bars
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/19...lebars.154047/

Velo Orange Tourist bars
https://velo-orange.com/products/vo-...lebar-22-2-dia

Weinmann 22.2 mm (7/8") bar size exterior diameter---- tourist lever.....RED DOT....GOLD DOT...... ......color doesn't matter, levers are functionally the same....
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/re...old-dot.57831/

Here are photographs of the RED DOT EYEPOKERS.......you see why they are described as "Eyepokers" because of the sharp end instead of later safety ball end shape.
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/we...er-1963.78929/



A nice comfortable Spring Saddle upright ridingTOURIST STYLE seat is the only other item that you would need other than tourist handlebars/tourist brake levers and of course a New brake cable set. (the BELL Pitcrew 600 cable set sells for $10 on both WALMART website and ACE HARDWARE online..............ACE does not carry them in the stores, only on the website.....Wal-mart does carry them in some stores, stores in my area, but because of the popularity, the shelf is empty and store is temporary out of stock, so telephone your local store before you visit, unless you were gonna be shopping in your local Walmart anyway.)
This Bell Pitcrew 600 cable set has BOTH styles of cable ends in the Mountain Bike-Tourist style or Road Bike style. You simply cut off the cable end that is wrong for your type of bicycle.............YOU WILL NEED A QUALITY bicycle brake cable cutter or a Dremel with a cuttoff wheel, otherwise you'll damage or destroy the cable if you try to use something that cannot cleanly cut a 5mm brake cable........ The great news is that this $10 Bell Pitcrew 600 cable set INCLUDES the alloy FERRULES that mate and match perfectly to these ancient WEINMANN tourist brake levers, so you don't need to worry about trying to acquire the used alloy Ferrules with your used old Weinmann levers.

Hey, now be rational and realistic!!! All of this old quality vintage Schwinn stuff sold in the Millions, so there are thousands of entire parts bicycles available for anywhere between FREE and $20. Sure it is fine to pay individually for the needed part but be intelligent and understand that nothing of those bikes is valuable.
It isn't a Krate or '64 Stingray or some balloon-tire SCHWINN from 1946 with tank, two-tone paint, etc where the nuts will pay $100 or more for just a single nut or washer.
The 7881 handlebars should be relatively inexpensive on the bay (probably not more than $25 to $27 total including shipping.....)
Again, because there are so many 7881 handlebars out there, because millions of bikes using these were sold.........don't buy any dented, or with poor chrome due to rust pitting..............these Schwinn bars will clean up nicely because the chrome quality is so good, but if it doesn't look good to begin with, wait a day or two and you'll see something perfect on the bay for the same price................year stamp on the bars does not matter...........as you're not restoring something exactly......even so, there is no way to tell without removing the bars. These 7881 Schwinn bars make great upgrades to both New and Vintage beach cruisers of all manufacturers because the shape and width and rise of these bars are perfect and the Chrome quality is better than anything else past or present. Some Schwinn fools will try to say that the chrome may have been best in 1967 or 1968, or 1970 but I have found no difference in chrome quality in any of the 7881 bars between 1967 and 1977.

So yes you can find much of this stuff (tourist bars....tourist hand brake levers, spring tourist saddle...) on FREE to under $20 complete Schwinn bicycles from the early to mid seventies. Millions were sold between 1968 and 1976 with perhaps the most during the period from the beginning of 1971 to the end of 1974. There are alot of too far gone bikes out there that still have excellent WEINMANN tourist levers and 7881 handlebars with clean nice looking chrome. Recycle and re-use these quality parts. They shouldn't cost you much.


One comment on the SQUISHY FOAM HANDLEBAR Slide ON GRIPS that Replaced GRIP TAPE as standard issue on a great many TEN SPEEDS and TWELVE SPEEDS during the 1977 to 1986 ERA......................................................just like the "Turkey" SAFETY LEVERS and STEM MOUNTED SHIFTERS, these were massively popular with the bicycle riders who were buying new bicycles during that era. The so called "serious cyclist" of today makes fun of these items as well as any REFLECTORS, BASHGUARDS on rear derailleurs, THE PIE-PLATE SPOKE PROTECTOR( called Dork Disk by these idiot "serious cyclists"). Yes, they hate these because they all were so common and featured on the great majority of all ten speeds of the era. Serious cyclists often take themselves too seriously and fail to realize that not everybody that bought and rode ten speeds wanted to be like the doofus in Breaking Away, or Greg Lemond or Lance winning in France. There was the thought that you don't need no toe clips, or the uncomfortable bar tape. You didn't want to have to reach down so low to shift when the stem mounted levers allowed those that were gonna ride the "tops" and use the safety levers(turkey levers) to brake. THAT IS HOW THE MAJORITY OF THE BICYCLE RIDERS AND PURCHASERS OF NEW BICYCLES WANTED IT BACK IN THE DAY, AND ALL OF THE BIKE MANUFACTURERS RESPONDED. As my wife will say there were things in the past that we thought were so great, but now decades later, we look back and don't see it as we did at that time .....but the old photographs do show that we were the product of the times. Consumers then loved that stuff. Serious cyclists at that time wanted to reduce weight at any cost. Ordinary bicycle riding ten speed buyers outnumbered the serious cyclists by a factor of probably 100 to 1 or even more than that. Later the majority of bicycle riders jumped on the mountain bike craze and it left a smaller community of folks riding the road style bicycles. These "serious cyclists" began to imagine that they were "special" and more important than all the rest of the bicycle riding public. In fairness to the "serious cyclists", they remained a cash-cow for decades to the bike industry as boom went to bust. More than perhaps any other segment, they lobbied for traffic improvements and "Share The Road" co-existence of bicycles and automobiles. This cannot be understated. Still many serious cyclists do have swelled heads that are often larger than their helmets, as they often overestimate their self-importance. You just must simply laugh-off what some of these idiot "serious cyclists" have to say as they have no perspective of any bicycle riding that might just be slow, comfortable cruising. They just don't understand why anyone would want to ride upright or not ride something very lightweight in the drops that has the best available technology and precisely tailored to the rider It does not mean that the style of cycling that the "serious cyclists" do engage in isn't super fun because it is, but that is ultimately what each person must determine. Slower comfortable cruising is super fun too, you just have to decide how you would rather ride, or ride most of the time. You can certainly do both.
I'm simply just trying to convince you that you should FIND OUT WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO, and not simply go along with the herd because you believe that may be your only option. Bicycle riding is fun. If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong. WEAR A HELMET, no matter where and no matter how slow you might be going. An inexpensive new bike helmet WILL WORK fine...........just remember that IF YOU DON'T WEAR A HELMET, you have no head protection at all and one day you might.......visualize a smashed watermelon............ ......sure some idiots will say I never wore one in the sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties when I rode and I never ever crashed or bumped my head..............YOUR RELATIVES WILL WISH YOU HAD BEEN WEARING ONE WHILE GATHERED AT YOUR FUNERAL or SEEING YOU BRAIN DAMAGED WITH DIMINISHED CAPACITY AFTER SURVING THE MINOR CRASH. There is almost no risk to wearing a helmet unless maybe the helmet were to snag a tree branch if you were riding in trees with low branches. Wear a helmet. You can find something New that is both comfortable and is a color and style that you really like. Don't get on a bicycle without one!
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Old 08-29-20, 07:17 PM
  #28  
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Basically it needs an overhaul and general clean-up. The frame looks solid still, at least from the pictures. Repack bearings, replace cables/housing/brake pads/tires/tubes. Those spokes look bad, but that can be a project for later.
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Old 08-30-20, 08:45 AM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by Vintage Schwinn
You might want to consider CONVERTING to Tourist Handlebars and ditching the drop-bars. Ask yourself do I really want to ride drop-bars, or will I just be always gripping the "tops", and I just want the drop-bars because I fear that other cyclists will think I am a doofus if I were to install "Northroads" tourist handlebars.

You will have much more stability and control with "the doofus style" northroads-tourist handle bars............SPECIFICALLY something like the 7881 SCHWINN handlebars -or- the Velo Orange Tourist handlebar. The old 7881 SCHWINN handlebars of the '67 to '78 era are the best tourist handlebars ever made in my opinion. They have the finest chrome plated steel construction. Nobody then or now has chrome quality on anything new that compares to a used 55 year old or 45 year old 7881 Schwinn handlebar that has seen heavy use. Millions were made and everything from a Breeze, Collegiate, Suburban, Speedster and other Schwinns had the 7881 bars. These bars are stamped in the area which is not seen when installed (under the clamp area).............7881-67 for 1967, 7881-75 for 1975, you get the picture as the YEAR follows 7881. There is no difference and the year does not mean diddly-squat, unless you're some nut doing a "perfect" restoration on some ancient low-buck Schwinn.
The Velo Orange Tourist handlebar is great too!!! The Velo Orange Tourist is not as good in my opinion because it is aluminum, but if you must save weight in the handlebars, it is an excellent choice. I prefer the old 7881 SCHWINN chromed steel Tourist bars. I have retro-fitted and installed the 7881 bars on more than forty ten speeds/twelve speeds that previously had the drop-style racing bars......................all makes/brands of bikes from the eighties/seventies/sixties with the 25.4mm(1") stem clamp diameter.
My tourist handlebar handbrake lever of choice are the WEINMANN like what Schwinns featured from circa 1963 through the seventies to the Chicago end and beyond. RED DOT eyepokers, RED DOT safetyball end, GOLD DOT safetyball end.....................IT DOES NOT MATTER.....they are all the same! Millions were made and they have no great monetary value, although sometimes Schwinn restorers will bid higher for perfect showroom appearance used Red Dot Eyepokers. Often though, there is so much supply of even these on the bay that they all go for the same approximate cost.........typically $17 to $21 total cost including shipping for a nice pair.........sometimes even less . Don't ever bother with mismatched pairs or cruddy looking pairs because nice looking ones are plentiful at all times. Even the cruddy looking, scarred ones with chrome pitting on the clamp band will likely be perfectly functional but they are so inexpensive and millions were made so you can easily find great looking ones within a few days or a week on the bay if nothing clean appears now.

7881 bars
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/19...lebars.154047/

Velo Orange Tourist bars
https://velo-orange.com/products/vo-...lebar-22-2-dia

!
Thank you so much for all this information!!!!! Yes I would love to switch out the drop handlebars for Vintage Schwinn Tourist bars!! I am 52 now and have no desire to race ride and I want to be upright while riding as my back just doesn稚 like the position I have to be in for drop handlebars.

I am very excited about this bike. I grew up having a brand new Schwinn World that my parents bought for my 8th grade graduation in 1982 and I rode that bike probably hundreds of miles all over my town back in the day.

My interest in getting back into riding is just to enjoy being out on our back County roads and enjoying nature and the cool breeze and getting exercise. So I知 not interested at all in racing or long long road trips with groups of people.

My first set of tools came today the tire levers and a wrench 🔧 and I知 expecting my 44 piece tool kit and my bike repair stand to come within week or so.

I really love the suggestion of Tourist handlebars on the bike as I want to be totally comfortable riding it.
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Old 08-30-20, 10:35 AM
  #30  
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You should check if there's a rust inside frame tubes. I've rode rustier bikes without any issues but if its complete rehaul then it's now the time to take care of it.
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Old 08-30-20, 10:49 AM
  #31  
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Front should already be QR if someone did not change it.
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Old 08-30-20, 11:51 AM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by tpadul
I really love the suggestion of Tourist handlebars on the bike as I want to be totally comfortable riding it.
I share your opinion about installing handlebars that fit your riding preferences.
This Schwinn Varsity was bought at a garage sale for $5 about 14 years ago.


I changed out the drop handlebars and associated brake levers for a set of used upright handlebars and brake levers w/cables that I had in my garage from a previously disassembled bike. Required no special tools. No other overhaul or maintenance required to make it "street ready" other than oiling the chain and removing the old broken light accessories and obsolete local license disk attached at the seat clamp. Surprisingly the original Schwinn mattress saddle is comfortable for rides up to 10 miles in length.




Has served me well and remained "street ready" for the last 14 years when I want to use a bike to pull the pictured trailer about town for shopping or take cans/bottle to the recycle center. The rock solid bike has not required any maintenance other than replace tires and chain when worn and one of the pedals went bad so I replaced the pedals with a $10 set from Walmart that works fine for its intended use.

Good luck with your project and I am sure you will have a lot of fun overhauling your find.
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Old 08-30-20, 05:11 PM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by thumpism
Front should already be QR if someone did not change it.
Yes the front is QR already. I definitely want the back with QR as well and I am going to take the back wheel into my LBS for them to help me. I tried to remove the FW today but I made a mistake of taking it apart the wrong way and I watched the wrong video on YouTube

So I値l have the LBS check the FW and see if it is good or needs to be replaced and have them service the rear hub and put QR on the rear.

I値l try to do most of the other other work myself but I made need help from them with putting in new cables too. It all a learning process for sure



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Old 08-30-20, 07:26 PM
  #34  
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Yep, I see the problem already, you definitely need a bigger hammer You do realize that if you're going to take the easy items to the LBS you might consider taking in the frame and having the bottom bracket and front steering tube cleaned and greased at the same time. Just a thought.
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Old 08-30-20, 11:43 PM
  #35  
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Looking good.
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Old 08-31-20, 11:42 AM
  #36  
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A bench grinder with a wire wheel will get many of those rusty parts looking good again, then you can soak them in solvent, lubricate them and put them back on one at a time. And taking phone pics of everything will keep it from turning into a mystery. Have fun, that's a great $10 find!
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