capnjonny 

A while back a ladies Yellow Schwinn Super sport was donated to the bike Exchange. I intended to do a clean up / resto on it until my friend at the local bike shop called asking if we had a Varsity parts bike we would sell him for a Continental he was restoring for a customer. As soon as he heard we had a Super Sport he grabbed it for his project. Fast forward about 6 months and he gave me back the Super Sport frame. I want to bring the old girl back to life but it needs everything. It just so happens that we now have two old Schwinn Beaters in the back room , a yellow ladies Varsity and a Brown metallic Suburban. My guess is that I can strip the parts off of one or both of these bikes to use on the Super sport. The main differences I see are the forks, the varsity has the forged blades and the Suburban has tubular forks. The Varsity has a forged stem while the other has an aluminum stem (with an S cast into it , and the varsity has centerpulls where the Suburban has side pull Schwinn approved brakes. My guess is that the suburban probably shares almost all its parts with the Super Sport. Am I correct?

Would I be wrong to swap in a pair of aluminum rims . Nothing wrong with the steelies though and we have some S7 sized tires at the shop. Also preference for drop or upright bars? Both donor's have drops. Would the bike be more valuable stock or would some mods make since. I'm thinking upright bars, dia comp levers, Aluminum rims, gum wall tires, and maybe a more modern drive train with a bottom bracket adaptor and a square taper crank.

Velo Mule

That is a nice looking Super Sport. I asked a similar question here on Bike Forum and the way that I went, based on member input is to keep the character of the Continental. I kept the crank, shifters, kickstand, brakes and stem. I did change to alloy rims. The wheels and derailleur came from a Fuji Espree.

There is a huge temptation to replace the crank with a three piece alloy and lighten it up. And as a Super Sport that might make it a little more Super. The Fuji Espree has a three piece alloy crankset that is similar in appearance to the Schwinn.

I encourage you to get better tires than the Kenda K35's that I installed. While they look the part, they are value tires that don't really feel great.

I prefer the sidepulls over the center pull brakes because the cable run from the rear cable stop to the cable hanger is tight. I ended up using a Surly hanger rather than the Schwinn hanger just to get a better cable run. The tight cable run results in a mushy brake feel because the first part of the cable travel is for the cable hanger moving.

Oh, I got distracted, this is a step through frame. The side pull would be better in my opinion.


I picked up a Varsity recently and found that the Rustolum Yellow (Sunburst Yellow or similar) is a good match for Schwinn's Kool Lemon.

ollo_ollo

The OP asked about using Continental and Varsity parts to restore a Super Sport. I am no Super Sport expert, but have had a 1965, 1966, and 1971 SS. Two from their original owners, all in original condition parts wise, right down to their Brooks B15 leather saddles.

All those year Super Sports had aluminum, not steel rims. All had Weinmann center-pull brakes. 65 and 66 models had Chromed, hollow tube forks, down tube shifters, forged Huret dropouts with dropout screws, and bolt on kick stands. The 1971 had stem shifters and the welded on kickstand. So putting alluminum alloy wheels would bring the SS back to spec, and the step thru model probably had stem shifters If I remember correctly, the Continental had center pull brakes, so use them on the Super Sport. The Varsity side pulls don't match Super Sport Specs. Don

ollo_ollo

I converted the 66 and 70 to 3 piece alloy cranks. Both SS frames had a ridge inside the BB that was incompatible with the Tru-Vativ kit. including a pic of the kit that worked.






Still have the copper 66 gave the 71 to a kid in our church.

bikemike73 

Plus 1^ OO

Great looking bike !!!

Nothing beats steel !!!!

Velo Mule

You are right ollo_ollo , the step through Super Sport had center pull brakes. I didn't notice it at first, there are cable guides or stops for center pull brakes. I have to also say that the cable run looks better than the big loop on that is used for the side pull brake with a step through frame.

capnjonny 

I touched up the paint on the Super Sport and clear coated it yesterday. I started with Rustoleum Hi Performance yellow - to lemony , and added a dash of red, green brown, etc. from my stock of mostly empty paint cans trying to match the bike color. I could never get it perfect but the touch ups look better than the scratches and nicks.

Adding a clear coat (after a THOUROUGH cleaning) really makes the bike shine. The original paint didn't have a clear coat as evidenced by the yellow stain on my rag when I rubbed it out with white polishing compound. the clear should help with oxidizing and seal in the gloss.

I spent some happy hours cleaning and polishing the chromie bits. The crank was disassembled and the rings polished separately. the chrome cap was removed from the fork and dipped in vinegar along with the stem shifters and brakes then rinsed and polished on my wheel.

After cleaning the Schwinn spec Weinman brakes I swapped them out for a pair of NOS Weinmans I got from the bike shop move and will use them . No polishing needed. I pulled the Kool Stop pads off the old ones to use on the Super Sport.

Another bike I am currently working on, a 1970 Gitanne, came to me with a new pair of Cheng Shin tires on Stay True 27" Aluminum rims and tires that I swapped out for Rigida 700 c's . I cleaned the rims and spokes and will mount some new Kenda K40 Gum walls I have in the garage on them for use on the Schwinn..

A problem came up when I tried to mount the front derailleur from the Schwinn Suburban. The Super sport has larger diameter tubing . I pulled out a selection of old front der's and none of them fit, either being too big or too small . I finally found a Suntour Comp V that almost fit. Due to the design, with 2 separate halves with 2 bolts holding it together I was able to file the edges and change the interior shape enough that it fit. I suppose there is a specific derailleur spec 'd for this bike. Don't know where I would find it.

After looking at the ratty looking Schwinn approved Rear derailleur off the donor bike I decided to install a Suntour GT instead. This is heavy but bullet proof and is a log cage so I can use a 14-32 tooth freewheel if I want to. I'll decide that later.
I noticed that the bike is missing the cap on the seat tube. Unfortunately the one from the donor doesn't fit , again, the wrong size tubing. I am going in to the bike shop tomorrow to see if we have a mountain bike collar that will fit.

I keep reciting that poem "For the want of a nail" . So many old 10 speed bike parts are interchangeable. But not all! This build is starting to be less a restoration and more a Resto mod. I had to trash the drop bars from the donor bike and now think I will use upright bars instead. I have a selection of riser bars and 3 different North Road style but can't decide what will look best. then there is the brakes lever question. Oh well.

Vintage Schwinn

The Super Sport would have had aluminum 27" (630mm ) wheels and center pull brakes like the Continental.
(the Continental and the Suburban have the same electroforged frame as the Varsity , EXCEPT that the CONTI. & SUBURBAN have tubular front fork.....The CONTI. has CENTERPULLS, while the SUBURBANS have the Sidepull Weinmann L.S. 2.4 that the VARSITY has..........VARSITY & COLLEGIATE have the forged blade front forks)

Super Sport IS NOT Electroforged, and the frame geometry is slightly different too.

Now the SUPER SPORT had 14-32 freewheel (THE COLLEGIATE of 1970 onward and the FIVE SPEED Suburban ALSO HAVE THE 14-32 freewheel....32-26-21-17-14.....)
The VARSITY, Collegiate of 1964-1969 & 10speedSUBURBAN, and CONTINENTAL have the Model F freewheel which is 14-28..........28-24-20-16-14

NOW THIS ASSUMES THAT the Super Sport, like that Kool Lemon example is from circa 1971 and BIKE BOOM ERA of SEVENTIES.
You likely do not have the same WIDE GEARING as you go back into the sixties.

For example, (1971) SUPER SPORT whould have the exact same 52/39 front ONE PIECE CRANK as the VARSITY/CONTINENTAL/10speedSUBURBAN, and the same SCHWINN TWIN STIK (s) (s) stem shifters.--------------------------- 27"ALUMINUM WHEELS(630mm) came on the SUPER SPORT.........Varsity/Continental/Suburban have STEEL 27"(630mm) wheels........the COLLEGIATE has STEEL 26" (597mm) WHEELS..




It is really cool to see that someone cares about the Women's frame (STEP THROUGH).
They ride nice and because Schwinn's Women's frame in the MED & LARGE frame sizes were Larger in wheelbase and larger in effective 'top bar' distance from headtube to seat tube than today's typical modern frames, so they easily fit MEN to about 6ft 3 on the LARGE(21") Frame --and- to about 6ft 1" on on MED (19") frame.
**************************------YES, the STEP THROUGH Women's Frames CAN BE a P.I.T.A. for some folks to transport using ONLY car/suv EXTERIOR bike racks.....****because it is much easier to place a typical Diamond(mens) frame on an exterior car/suv bike rack......there are/or were once available, A BAR TO ATTACH & REMOVE FOR Carry on BIKE RACK.......these are hard to find today....because you need a Good, Quality Constructed Adaptor Bar......but it is possible to have such a part fabricated but unless you know how to cut and weld with above average fabrication skills, you will end up paying a qualified welder/metal fabricator twice what a nice Schwinn mens bike might cost. If you have a p/u truck, van, suv, hatchback, or station wagon with room enough inside to transport your bicycle, then a STEP THROUGH (women's) Schwinn MIGHT BE THE WAY TO GO, Especially if you are a middle-aged or even more seasoned, beyond 60 year old Man.



*** DO IT LIKE YOU WANT TO DO IT !!! That is what makes it Fun !!
Don't feel like you have to be locked in to doing it like it originally was. MAKE IT FUN FOR YOU TO RIDE.
You can always find another one anytime in the future if you.......

Here is just one possible different suggestion:
--- go without a FRONT DERAILLEUR, but keep the 1 piece Ashtabula crank........Make IT Like the Collegiate & Suburban FIVE speed WITH 46T front crank (BUT YOU HAVE MANY OTHER CHOICES 44 or 42......, or even 48, or something else) ...................I WOULD HOWEVER GO WITH A MORE MODERN REAR WHEEL WITH CASSETTE AND MORE THAN FIVE..........why not, You Can................Steel frame can deal with a widening of the rear to accomodate a wider wheel axle. ------------....................you can easily run something conservative like SEVEN with Friction shifting and using an ORIGINAL (s) Single STIK stem shifter that you pirate from any Seventies COLLEGIATE 5 speed or SUBURBAN five speed.....(actually any 1967 onward Collegiate Five Speed.......................Okay now, the 1967-1973 stem shifters pretty much look the same with (s) .....with a smaller funkier looking "ess" while the 1974 onward stem shifters have (S) with a larger, normal looking "ess". -------------the same applies for both the Twin STIK of ten speeds and Single STIK of five speeds.....
The 1974 Suburban five speed came equipped with THUMB SHIFTER, but the 1975 Suburban five speed returned to the Single STIK.......only '74 Suburb FIVE speed had the Thumb shifter.....
You might hate Stem mounted shifters, and you could mount something on the downtube if you wanna do that.........Some ancient various bikes and ancient aftmkt parts/and oem replacement parts had CLAMP ON Downtube Shifters........ You've got plenty of other shifter options too, and the location of where you want the shifter.
You get to decide everything. Isn't that cool? Yeah......it is............and you get to ride something that you designed and built...........just like some product planner at the Windy City headquarters might have if he/she would have had all of the potential equipment choices that you have at your disposal today.
No need to stay old school friction shifting unless that floats yer boat.......forget my suggestion.......and just explore the possibilities and Do It Your Way!
You'll come up with a great game plan, no matter how you might decide to proceed.

ollo_ollo

For a stem shifter setup, I like the SunTour power shifters.

eBay illustration
They make the Schwinn pot metal shifters look shabby by comparison. Used by many different Marques, so widely available at low cost. Don

capnjonny 

Today I removed the Cheng Shin black walls. Damn those tires fit tight. I had to let them sit in the sun a while to soften up and still almost broke my tire irons getting them off. I serviced the bearings and installed a Shimano 14-28 six speed hyperglide freewheel and new plastic spoke protector then mounted some new Kenda K40 27 x 1 3/8 gum walls. they were much easier to mount. I was able to do it freehand . I cleaned up some residue off the Nito pull back bars and mounted them with Suntour ratchet stem shifters, Weinman levers and custom grips . After I mounted the Weinman center pull brakes I realized that I needed a cable hanger at the seat post collar. Nothing works. No mater how short the hanger there is zero space between the brake straddle cable and the hanger. All the pictures I have seen of this detail indicates that there is a miss alignment . regardless I don't like the way it works. I dug up a Schwinn approved Weinman 850 single pull and am going to try to make that work, converting it to a top pull and using the original cable routing up the seat tube.

By the way, I know the head badge is incorrect. The round one would have been nice but this one is better than nothing. It is glued on using 3M 90 contact adhesive .

Quakertownrich

Excellent! I did a search, but could you give links with part#s of conversion piece and that suntour bb you used on your SS? Thx in advance.

ollo_ollo

It was awhile ago, My pic info shows it was taken 1/2017 of a kit I bought on eBay prior to that. The BB is one I got at a swap meet. Appears kit I used is NLA on eBay or Amazon, although common back then. The TrueVativ kit is still out there, but I couldn't make it work on a Schwinn BB. It fit the main part but was larger diameter than the inner ridge. I damaged it trying to modify to fit. This one looks like it might work: https://www.ebay.com/itm/28248599719...wAAOSwTApZbQ6d But I don't really know if BMX BB size is same as Schwinn?? You just have to work with what's available. Don

ollo_ollo

I did manage to use the TrueVativ kit on the yellow 71 SS, but it was pretty beat up, someone will think less of me some day if it is dis-assembled. Don

Velo Mule

That is looking good capnjonny . On my Continental pictured above, I had problems with the rear brake cable hanger. It doesn't allow a nice arc into it and then allow the cable a straight shot at the brake. I used a cable hanger from Surly. It provides more room, it is simple and it allows adjustments. Surly Cable Hanger

It looks like you haver Kool Stop Continental brake pads. How do they work for you? Mine squeak and squeal. I tried tightening the pivot bolts as much as possible. I am thinking that they are just too grippy for my particular rims.

capnjonny 

The rear kool stop pads did squeal till I angled the pads with the rear out about 1/16th inch. had to tighten the pivot bolts too. I added a washer between the pad and brake pivot to reduce the distance between the pad and wheel . otherwise, even with the cable stop as high as possible I couldn't get adequate braking at the rear. The kool stops really do stop better than other pads.

By the way, I weighed the bike after all mods and it came out 31.2 pounds. If I had swapped out the steel crank and used a lighter saddle I could probably have gotten it under 30 lbs. It rides very smoothly and that Suntour ratchet shifter combined with the shimano Hyper glide freewheel gives effortless shifting. the only thing better would have been Suntour ratchet thumbies, in my view , the ultimate in friction shifting for upright bars
.

Quakertownrich

thx Don. I have a '72 Kool lemon SS in mind to convert to Super Sports Tourer(?). I was hoping on not buying a bunch of stuff needlessly and wasteful. It may require more work than benefit.

ollo_ollo

Removing the kickstand, converting the 1 pioece steel crank to 3 piece Aluminum alloy, a lighter 700c wheels/tires plus changing other steel parts to aluminum alloy gave the most bang for buck. Got my 66 SS down into 26 pound territory, but later swapped in slightly heavier, but less expensive. Japanese parts for the italian stuff. Don

Quakertownrich

Not interested in changing wheels which would devolve into brake change. The aluminum stock rims are fine. I have 3 Sports Tourers, but none are Kool lemon and 26". SS's and ST's are no matter what, NOT for real long rides. I did 50 on the ST, that was enough.