Retroman69

Hi guys,
I am watching a local ad for a blue Schwinn bike that has the markings of Super Sport, and the CroMo decal as well as the round Schwinn head badge.
Sorry, but I’m still not up to the post count to be able to post photos, so I have to describe it....
This one has the upright cruiser style handlebars and older style spring saddle with the V-pattern two-tone and big S in the middle. It also had fully chromed forks and quick release hubs.
The only Super Sports I’m familiar with have drop bars and painted or partly chromed forks with Brooks saddles.
Is this an early version? I’m curious.
I would normally consult the Schwinn bikehistory website, but they are either temporarily down or no longer exist for some reason.
Any info or speculation would be appreciated, thank you!
Tim

KerryP

Sounds like it could be an SS. Chrome fork makes it 1970 or earlier. I'm not familiar with any men's bikes having upright bars an sprung saddle but that stuff gets changed all the time. The CroMo decal eliminated the Continental which can get mistaken for a Super Sport sometimes. Assuming it's candy blue not opaque blue that is another item that points to age. IIRC down tube shifters would make it '66 or earlier. Not sure when it got the integrated kick stand. If you can get the serial number then you can nail down a year pretty easily.

Retroman69

Thank you for the reply and extra info!
It looks to be opaque blue, but could be candy blue... hard to tell from
photos... just looks like a metallic bright blue. and has the stem-mounted shifters and the downtube decals definitely say “Schwinn Super Sport”. It is a men’s frame.
The saddle, handlebars and grips are period Schwinn but these could well have been swapped early on to make it into more of a comfort bike.
It looks in nice shape, needing a good cleaning, for $40, so I’m going to contact the seller to check it out

KerryP

Forty bucks! Do it before someone else does. Good luck.

Retroman69

I’ll try uploading a photo.

Retroman69

Thanks, will contact seller in the morning.

KerryP

Looks like it might clean up into a real gem.

pastorbobnlnh 

Looks to be a late '60s, '66-69 and the owner had the Schwinn dealer do the work since those are pretty standard Schwinn used parts (saddle, bars, grips, and brake levers). It's sort of surprising that fenders were not added. I believe the color was Radiant Blue (corrected from my earlier guess).

It is a nice find for the price and could easily be converted back to drop bars and either the original Brooks B15 saddle or a new B17. Everything else appears to be original, except maybe the stem (but we'd need a better picture).

ollo_ollo

Looks like a SuperSport to me also, but later than 66. I have a 66 with a July 66 serial # and it has downtube shifters(brazed on posts on downtube) also had bolted on kickstand(no welded on base). unless I'm misremembering mine also has Huret rear dropouts with axle adjusting screws. Mine also came with track drop bars and an Italian stem, which I've seen on a few other SS. May have been an option avail in some shops, looks cool, but I found there's nowhere to mount brake levers that works well. Don

edit: forgot to mention mine has the original Brooks B15 saddle as did the 71 model which I had for a while before passing it to a kid in our church.

dddd

That bike reminds me of two of my bikes, one's a 1970 Supersport Ladies model, and the other is a late '62 Continental in Radiant Blue with chromed fork.

Retroman69

Wow, those are beautiful! :-)

I especially like that blue Continental.

Well I made an appointment with the seller, and it turns out to be the same woman I bought my 1973 Sunset Orange Super Sport from. That one was all original and looked like it had hardly ever been used. I wonder where she’s getting all these SS’s from?
(a little better shot of the ‘73 with new seat and tires/tubes, but otherwise original)

Metacortex

That's a 1967 Super Sport with a 22" (small) frame in Sky Blue. That was the first year for the Twin-Stik shifters and the last year for the Sprint crankset (and the only year it was offered with a chainguard). The saddle, handlebars, brake levers and pedals have been changed to make it more of a "tourist" model.

Retroman69

Thank you for the info! Now I know what I’m looking at.
I’ll update what I find here, I’m about to go in to the seller’s shop to look it over.

Retroman69

I went ahead and picked it up. It actually rides and shifts fine, and it was interesting enough to be worth $40.
Debating weather I’ll put it back to factory specs or a mild period resto-mod, we’ll see.
Thanks again for your input guys!

KerryP

It'll be a nice ride in any of the configurations you're considering. I bet if you give it the same detail treatment as the Sting Ray you'll go back to original.

Retroman69

I think you’re right, I’m already leaning in that direction.

John E

Great find at that price, and in pretty nice condition. If it were mine, I would be inclined to go with barcons and rat-trap pedals with toeclips and straps, and probably a 6-speed freewheel in back.

Retroman69

Thank you!
I’m leaning towards going with a pista style alloy drop bar and vintage drilled brake levers, but otherwise getting it back to correct with Schwinn rat trap pedals, etc.

Retroman69

The cleanup and tear down has begun.
And it turns out that the Montrose Bike Shop where it was originally purchased in 1967 is still in business in the same location.

KerryP

Looking really good already. Cant match you dealer this time but close, this '71 is from Santa Monica.

Retroman69

Cool SS! Looks like they still had the chrome forks in ‘71. That 3-piece crank is something they should have had from the factory.

KerryP

This one was born with a painted fork. I added the fork but this is odd for a '71, it's got forged drop outs.

Kent T

Highly agreed. That would have also been a way to help sales, as it would have also helped it be less similar to a Varsity or Continental, and been more in line with what was appropriate for the upgraded CroMo frame. The Super Sport really needed a 3 piece crank to help it stand out from it's lesser mild steel brothers. And it would have been better competition in that market segment.

KerryP

I agree but in the end Schwinn gave us the Sports Tourer which is pretty much a Super Sport with a three piece crank. The downside was the 44% price increase.

Jeff Wills

And it's probably still owned by the same family. Montrose Bicycle Shop was started by Bob Hansing, who (I think) passed it on to his son. Bob went on to be the first president of Shimano America and open Euro-Asia Imports in the '70's.