PilotFishBob 

Good to know, I didn't even consider the insert diameter aspect.

Jeff Wills

Yes, I'm keeping the centerpull brakes on the Super Sport. The brake shoes need to be adjusted down to match the 700C rims but there's plenty of adjustment there.

I built the wheels myself- I learned wheelbuilding back when I was a Schwinn mechanic in, um..., 1980 or thereabouts. They are 36-spoke wheels with Sun CR-18 rims.

In theory you could relace the 24-spoke R500 rim on a 36-hole Sturmey-Archer hub. That's fairly advanced wheelbuilding, though- I don't think you should attempt it until you've built a dozen or two wheels. (Bicycle wheel building is a fun way to occupy the time, but it's addictive. I find I have to build a set or two every year or my brain starts twitching.) Since you're going cheap, just install the wheels as is. To make thing even simpler, you could put a single cog on the rear wheel and run the bike as a single-speed.

To address the other thread: I'm going to install an adapter for a threaded bottom bracket and put on a Nervar crank. I never do anything "normal".

Here's pictures of the Super Sport (it's a work in progress):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ohpv/a...57670249022375
You might like to see my green Superior:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ohpv/a...57642470085394

Kent T

Should have been done in 1973, for all of the new ones. Then Super Sport would have been justified. Schwinn's introduction of the LeTour made the Super Sport look dated, overpriced, and less of a buy (and I admire the Super Sport and Sports Tourer's nicer frame) (which should have been lugged, and more distinctive to make it worth considering against Varsity and Continental, and justified paying more to bike buyers then). Super Sport and Sports Tourers should have lost the Ashtabula cranks early on. Would have helped sales considerably, and made the bikes easier to sell. And stand apart from Varsity, Continental, and Collegiate.

Metacortex

The Le Tour was introduced in 1974 and was considered as the replacement for the Super Sport, which was technically discontinued that year. I say "technically" because while the Super Sport was no longer listed in the Schwinn consumer catalog for '74, Schwinn did actually continue to produce it in limited numbers that year (I have a couple of them).

The fillet-brazed Sports Tourer *always* had a 3-piece crank, either a TA Pro 5 Vis (w/Cyclotouriste rings) or a Nervar 5 vis, both customized specifically for Schwinn with a ramp ring between the inner and outer rings. The Sports Tourer was the re-named re-introduction of the 1968 S/S Tourer, which was the first fillet-brazed Schwinn with a 3-piece (TA) crank. In other words if you wanted a Super Sport with a 3-piece alloy crank you spent a little more and ordered an S/S Tourer ('68 only) or a Sports Tourer ('71- '75):

Jeff Wills

^^^ Wow. 36/34 low gear. You could climb a tree with that!

sdn40

Uneducated opinion:
Anyone else think Schwinn took advantage and pulled off a multi decade money grab ?

Pcampeau

Perhaps I missed it elsewhere, but out of curiosity, what was the track bike?

Darth Lefty 

Yeah, are we going to see a Super Sport with Aerospokes?

mtarrant05

HAHA! No you will not! In fact, this thread has particularly helped me realize what’s truly involved here. I’m going with you Dark Lefty. This bike is beauty and I do not need to change a thing. While I love a good project, this is not the time.

I will take off the Pie Pans and run new Schwinn cables for the derailleurs (brakes already done).

Will DEFINITELY adjust the stem before riding again. Picked it up like that. Good catch gents!

Definitely needs a tune up. Do you guys handle these yourself or lean on your local Bike shop? A full tune here runs about $85.

This will keep things easy so I can spend time out with my little dudes.

xraydog

Yellow Super Sport!!!! That was my bike as a teen. It was my means of transportation as a teen before driving. I'd love to add one to my stable in the future for sentimental reasons.

mtarrant05

Heres the track bike.

TenGrainBread 

Took advantage of what? What do you mean by "money grab"? You're going to have to be more specific if you want people to respond.

RVS

nice one love it

Kent T

Orange of this era, my favorite Schwinn color. Thanks for the correction about the Sports Tourer. I like it. I wish in that era, that Schwinn had a small enough frame size for me to have ridden one.

sdn40

I'm not a timeline expert but didn't Schwinn sell boat anchors with crappy proprietary cranks for a premium price for a very long period of time ? They didn't put out a better product until they were forced to by the imports. By then it was too late to recover. It seems to me they could have upgraded their lineup to something better over the years and they chose not to. $$$. Other companies had no problem evolving and offering more. Sure, they were solid bikes, but anything 40 lbs should be. And at a premium price, they must have pocketed an ungodly amount of money since the parts were less than premium. By today's standards, the only bike pre-imports that can hold up is the Paramount.

TiHabanero

Not sure why people claim the old Schwinn bikes were overpriced boat anchors. I liked them then and I like them now. I toured all over the Midwest on a 1975 Super Sport I bought new for 140 bucks. My riding buddy rode a Torpado that cost 20 bucks more. We both had fun, we both rode at the same speed, and we never dissed the other person's bike.

Both bikes were hand built in factories, his using lugs to join the main tubes, mine using a filet to join them. The weight difference between the bikes was only 1.5 pounds. His bike was a 56cm, mine a 60cm(24"). Eventually he had to replace the front changer, and later the rear changer. I never replaced the simple, but durable Huret changers on the Schwinn. I an go on, but really, why the harsh words for a bike that was equal to all others in its category?

Kent T

Huret, durable, Hardly! Shifted with the precision of a Scud Missile. Good by the standards of say, 1963. Compare a $200 Motobecane, Gitane, Peugeot, or a Raleigh, of the day to a $200 Schwinn, the French and English bikes in 1972, 1973 were lighter weight by something like 7-8 pounds (unless you paid $329 for a Paramount). And I say this as a Schwinn fan. When I bought my first bike with derailleurs in 1973, at 9 years old, I wanted to buy a Schwinn Sports Tourer (and the smallest was 2 sizes too large for me). Schwinn had 50 pound kids bikes my size. I worked as a disc jockey/assistant broadcast engineer then. I was also somewhat of a serious cyclist (grew up riding Raleighs), After racking up considerable overtime doing a studio install, I got a weekend off, and travelled to Alcoa, TN to Drake Auto Parts with around $400 in my pocket, as my Raleigh junior sized English 3 speed I'd outgrown. I saw the catalog, the International caught my eye, and available in a small enough frame size. The gentleman behind the counter said "You've been a good customer for years, I have a small green International, a 4 year old never sold example in the back" He brought it out, he said "We had to get the rear derailleur off it to replace a defective one, and we ordered a replacement, let me install and adjust it, then I'll teach you how to shift it and let you test ride it". I rode it, loved it, and shook hands. I got the International for $230 with a rack and panniers. It served me well for 5 years until I outgrew it in 1978, went from Sturmey-Archer hub gears to Campagnolo Nuovo Record and Reynolds 531 Double Butted frame, and each ride a delight. I sold the International to a short announcer (he gave me $300 for it). And bought a new 1978 Schwinn LeTour.

TenGrainBread 

There were ups and downs with Schwinn's products. Paint quality and durability on the entry-level bikes were way above what any European importer was offering at the time. And they were made the in the US. Believe it or not, but many consumers, especially parents buying 10 speeds for their kids, valued durability, utility, and local manufacturing over light weight. To claim that they were being scammed isn't correct. You just have different values than they did.

I also disagree that Schwinn's "proprietary" parts were much of an issue. The majority of Schwinn's "unique" standards were shared by a lot of manufacturers of the time. One piece cranks were not a uniquely Schwinn part. 21.1 stems/steerers were used on entry level bikes by tons of companies, including European and Japanese brands (Raleigh, Nishiki, etc...). Schwinn brought stem shifters into the mainstream. Most of Schwinn's unique parts were basically utility-oriented modifications to standard parts, like the shift-aid ramps on the Nervar and TA cranks, the integrated kick-stand mount, etc... The only truly unique feature of those bikes I can think of was the tubing diameter. OK, and the wheel size thing.

specialmonkey

Re: the conversion kit, there's one that works even with the ridge inside the bottom bracket shell, so you wouldn't need to remove any material, something like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Botto...e/221233819882

with its tapered edges, it should fit perfectly.

mtarrant05

Thanks Gents! Stem adjusted!

ryansu

A tune up is pretty straight forward and most adjustments - shifting, setting up brakes, etc. there are You tube videos or 3 available ofr most things - check out RJ the bike Guy or the Park tool series. The main cost is the correct tools but once you have those and some skills you will rarely need to go to the LBS for routine stuff. I enjoy the maintenance and as a not very mechanical savvy guy even I can tune up a 70s era 10 speed. Wheel building I leave to the experts for now but most other stuff I have accumulated the tools to tackle. Have fun and post some finished pics.

PS some judicious use of rubbing compound followed by car wax will do wonders for the paint. It won't be perfect but it will shine and it will help protect some of those bare spots from rust.

mtarrant05

Thank you!!

What essential bike tools are needed?

I have a chain whip somewhere. Then standard tools. That might be it.

Darth Lefty 

Cone wrenches if you want to take apart the hub, a 14g spoke wrench and a chain breaker. You don’t even need Allen wrenches for most of it, it’s all regular nuts and bolts.

Some special tools you just won’t need for this bike. You can take the freewheel off the wheel but you may not need to. I’m trying to remember if this one has a freewheel that blocks access to the drive side hub bearings. If so then you want the matching freewheel socket and a vise or big wrench. You won’t need the Shimano cassette or bottom bracket tools for this bike, or a crank puller, but if you keep wrenching on bikes you will sooner or later.

ryansu

IIRC someone posted a basic tools thread recently. For me I use Y allen head and Y hex tools allot, a good adjustable wrench is handy, cone wrenches for hubs, a chain break tool, spoke wrench, pedal wrench, good park tool cable cutters (don't go cheap it doesn't pay ask me how I know) bottom bracket tool(s), crank arm extractor and a bike stand of some sort - I used a bike rack on the car for years before finally springing for a Park PCS 9. That's off the top of my head. Personally I just bought a tool or two over time and as I needed to do work on projects and in a few years I had most of what I needed. YMMV

Edit: If you have a bike Co-op near you sometimes you can use their space and tools to do work for a nominal fee- cheaper than a shop rate and or buying a cart full of tools and it gives you an idea of what you need.