sd5782 

Interesting thread for us fillet brazed owners. I was aware of the Sports Tourer, but not really educated about the Superior, especially the later model ones. Also I did some research about the Volare which someone mentioned. I knew nothing about that bike at all. No room, and too many bikes, but wow! I also learned where my small dork disk could have come from as it was discussed as on the Superior. All very informative.

Doug Fattic 

Jeff, thanks for sending me that link that shows how one guy repainted Schwinns. The techniques and methods he uses are similar to how I paint frames - well except i have a lot nicer equipment. He even put on a sealer coat between the primer and color coats. And he painted a candy which requires advanced techniques. I prefer Using House of Kolor paint instead of PPG. H of K got started by a custom car painting guy (whose last name began with K) wanting to supply glamour type of paints (pearls, candies, chameleons). It is used by motorcycle painters too. The primary purpose of painting this Superior was for a demonstration to the 2 guys taking my frame painting class. I sent them the link. They already have an outline I wrote describing all the steps but pictures can bring these methods to life.

There are many C & V threads on repainting classic frames. I seldom participate because my methods using pro equipment with catalyzed paint (meaning it hardens by chemical action after an activator is added rather than air drying like house paint) is much different. In the thread you referenced, the author described pro methods and paint but using modest equipment - including a $50 spray gun from Harbor Freight. His method always made the most sense to me even for an amateur just doing a few. The 7 different spray guns I use cost a LOT more than $50 each.

bulgie 

On my 1971 Schwinn Twinn, a 1-1/4" headtube fit right through. (I used Reynolds 531 since it was handy) It was not a snug fit, but close enough for brass. Since this bike is already 80 pounds (no joke), I just ran one tube all the way top to bottom, versus separate rings, though I only brazed a bit at the ends — not trying to pull brass all the way through of course. Didn't re-melt the fillets at all.

Note I am not recommending this method, just sharing an anecdote. A Superior is too nice to add all that extra steel to, for no good reason. On my Twinn, it was just laziness, two fewer cuts to make.

Since my Twinn is the clown car of vintage tandems, I just want it to fit, originality be damned. I left the Reynolds HT an inch long to get the bars up higher, and also to fit the existing steerer on the replacement fork I wanted to use, from an '80s Schwinn MTB (made in Japan by Tange). Compared to the original Twinn fork, which was borderline criminal negligence to put on a tandem, the Tange Cr-Mo fork made the bike so much more rideable. The bike came with chrome steel rims and one of the wimpiest brakes ever made, a Weinmann side-pull in the extra-long reach to go around balloon tires. The only weaker brake I can think of is the Atom drum on the back wheel of that same bike. We couldn't ride it any faster than "how fast are you willing to crash?" Now with a strong canti brake, Kool-Stop pads on an alloy rim, we can actually ride it. It's a great grocery-getter or picnic bike now.

Doug, I'm sure you don't want a 1-1/8" OS steerer, but if anyoneone out there does want to "upgrade" their old Schwinn, there's someone out there making a headset with Schwinn/BMX dimensioned cups and a crown race to fit a "single OS" fork. I forget the name of the shop selling them. They appear to be a normal steel 1-1/8" headset with the spigots on the cups ground down a bit to fit the Schwinn-sized headtube, which is almost big enough as-is for an OS headset. I can find the link if anyone asks. I did actually buy one of those headsets to look at, but decided not to use it on my Twinn because I really liked that Tange/Schwinn MTB fork I found, with a cool sand-cast crown and extra-heavy butted 1" steerer. Beautiful full-polished chrome. It let me use a normal 7/8" quill stem too.

Does a Superior get that tacky chrome-plated cap that goes over the real fork crown? My '73 Super Sport has that, and it's a sour note on an otherwise well-engineered bike. Hopefully by '76 or whenever your Superior was made, they'd ditched that embarrassment.

Mark B

JohnDThompson 

An advantage of the straight-through tube is that removing the pressed headset pieces is more straight-forward. If a future owner needs to remove the pieces but is unaware of the sleeves, a cup remover tool may land on the sleeve instead of the cup flange, and no amount of hammering on that will break the cup loose! A single tube, all the way through avoids this potential pitfall.

bulgie 

Yes but separate rings top and bottom can avoid this problem if they have an internal taper. The taper is most easily done on a lathe, with a boring bar, but it could also be done caveman style with a burr (rotary file) in a die-grinder. Even by hand-filing I suppose if you wanted it badly enough, but that sounds like too much work.

Anyway, however you make the taper, it will feed the punch or "rocket ship" shaped cup remover onto the headset like a funnel.

Mark B

Jeff Wills

Sweet Mother of Elvis that's pretty. Now I want one real real real REAL bad.

cudak888 

Doug, the original forks on these were not far removed from the same low-end forks found on the Schwinn Continental through the Super Sport, stamped steel chrome cap and all.

If the original fork doesn't show up, have you considered building a replacement with a Vagner PL crown? That'd be a beautiful, period homage to the original fork that would look "right" from 20 feet away and still be a noteworthy improvement over the original, up close.




-Kurt

Jeff Wills

Are you sure that your Twinn had a 1 1/4" oversize headset? I don't remember anything different about the headsets back when I was working in a Schwinn shop. (We had a several Schwinn tandems available for rent: 2 five-speeds and 2 Mini-Twinns. They would be really valuable nowadays.) I think all of the Schwinns except for Paramounts and Japanese-made frames used the same headset dimensions: what Sheldon calls "BMX/OPC" in his crib sheet:
Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Headset Dimension Crib Sheet
As noted, these dimensions make it relatively easy to adapt a 1 1/8" threadless fork to these frames. I think BMXer's have been doing this by shaving down 1 1/8" headset cups to fit "BMX/OPC" frames. It would be kind of neat to do this with a Superior and a 1 1/8" sloping-crown fork like this: Lugged CrMo 57 Road Fork | SOMA Fabrications . That would keep the purists guessing!

FWIW: here's my green Superior resto-mod:
Green Superior | Flickr
Here's my burgundy Super Sport 3-speed:
Burgundy Super Sport | Flickr

bulgie 

I'm sure... that I never said that. My Twinn originally had, and still has, a 1" steerer. The headset was only "oversize" in the sense that all those old Schwinns were bigger in the pressed cup dimension than ISO, JIS, Campy or old French headsets, which all took smaller cups. So you can't put a normal headset in one of those old Scwhinns unless you shim the headtube. My way of shimming it was to slip in a 1-1/4" headtube, Reynolds 531 in my case, but any old 1-1/4" head tube would work.

This brings up a pet peeve of mine, people say "1-1/4" head tube" when they mean "a head tube to fit a 1-1/4" steerer." This is incorrect and misleading, causes the type of miscommunication we're seeing here. A head tube sized to fit a 1-1/4" steerer is very much larger than 1-1/4", obviously.

Yes, in my post I even mentoned those "shaved down" OS headsets that let you use a 1-1/8" steerer in a Schwinn/BMX sized head tube. I bought one of those headsets but decided against using it, so instead I shimmed my headtube down to take a Campy Record (old Record, "NR era"). Some people have given me grief about putting a Campy headset in a Twinn, but it's what I had handy, it's very solid and high-quality, and I just want this bike to work. As I said, "originality be damned", for this bike. (I'm not against originality in general or for some other bike, just this one.)

Doug Fattic 

The process to begin the restoration on this Superior has begun. Yesterday I brazed on new cable stops to replace the damaged old ones. They look almost identical but the new ones are slightly bigger and more robust. I positioned the top tube brake cable bosses just slightly different too. They are a bit more towards the center of the tube and ever so slightly more towards the outside. This will give the brake cable housing a nicer loop in front and back. It is a change that nobody would notice unless given a calipers and told to find the difference.

I wish I knew if my neighbor actually still has the parts for this bicycle in his shed. He said he didn't buy it but found it or something. That means it is less likely whatever is left is in good condition. Although it must have been good enough for him to have brought it for me to fix up in the 1st place.

It would also be nice to know what the future owner might like. Is he going to want it to be a faithful to original or just fixed up to be a nice rider? I'm tempted to put on lever bosses. Gear levers for braze-ons are a lot more common that levers on a band.

The same question involves the head set. The 2 cups left in the frame were pretty rusty. I can refine the internal sleeve to make it work with any headset. I can put an internal taper on the ends so a headset cup removal tool won't get stuck. i've got tubing that is slightly bigger than 1 1/4" used for head tubes when fillet brazing. They will be a perfect slip fit inside the head tube just right for silver brazing.

Today I have 3 guys I'm going to teach how to professionally paint. This frame will be used as a demonstration. Here are some pictures of replacing one of the 4 braze-ons.



The damaged old one

Getting the boss in just the right position lengthwise and around the tube

Brazed on with the help of a holder

Doug Fattic 

Today the Superior was used in my painting class to practice spray patterns. We didn't use real paint but rather thinner that evaporates quickly but not so fast that a student can still tell and evaluate how they are doing. it is necessary to control paint volume flow at the gun and keep the distance and speed of their motion that allows just the right amount of liquid left on the frame.

Once they get their spray pattern perfected (or at least tolerable), we will be spraying 2 yellow Super Sports with yellow House of Kolor primer. Of course before that the frame surface has to be prepped properly. More on that later. Today it was to learn how to spray a bicycle frame to minimize overspray. I'll be spraying the Superior as an example of how it is done. I'm painting it candy red and 1st I'll put down a red primer.

Steve (sd5782) made a road trip from Toledo to keep an eye on us to see what we were doing. He brought a Super Sport frame that can be added to our growing collection of class paint projects. I'll sell these to support our charity bicycle project in Ukraine. He showed me how I can take off a Schwinnn kickstand by using the handle of a 10" Cresent wrench. Thanks Steve!


Phil practicing on the Superior

Tom's turn. I took out a air filter so I could yell instructions.

juvela

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Hello Doug,

wrt the shift smoothing ring seen on the chainsets for the Sports Tourer and on the Superior of the 1976-78 time here is a photo of one of the chainsets, T.A. in this case, as well as the Schwinn parts catalogue illustration for the Schwinn Approved T.A. set used on the early Sports Tourer -




the earliest Sports Tourers came with a T.A. set and the later ones with a NERVAR

all of the 1976-78 Superiors came with a NERVAR set - your frame is showing its NERVAR fixed bottom bracket cup

a big thank you to member Metacortex for sending this illustration from the official Schwinn dealer parts catalogue!


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sd5782 

I had fun in Niles and was overwhelmed with everything. I can’t really take credit for the easy kickstand removal, just passing it along. I remembered later that I saw the RJ video on that, and he explains it much better, and others may find it useful.

machinist42

Have you weighed this frame? Could you, please? (I have a reason beyond idle curiosity, though I have that too.)

The frame of my 1972 SS weighs 3320 grams, or 7 lbs 5.1 oz. I haven't weighed my 1964 SS yet. By contrast my '74ish Cooper weighs 2019 grams, or 4 lbs 7.2 oz. and an '87 Schwinn Prologue frame I once had weighed 1985 grams, or 4 lbs 6 oz. All weights are without forks, and the frames are nominally 23 inches, though according to Schwinn, the SS is 24 inches.

The 1963 Superior morphed into the 1964 Super Sport (with a double up front). The only significant difference other then the decals was the stem engraving changed from "Titan" to "Super." As the bars were engraved with "Sport" on both sides of the bar clamp, it reads "Sport Super Sport." which is what I call my 1964 Sport Super Sport.

The robust kickstand from my 1973 Super Sport weighs in at a "modest" 383 grams, or 13.5oz." nearly a pound. (Poe's Law invoked.)


(Thank you for your work in the Ukraine. My Mom's family hails from there. I never met my maternal Grandfather who died of black lung in Wilkes Barre/Scranton, but my maternal Grandmother only spoke Ukrainian, so I learned a little when I was very young. I have friends from Siberia. Very different language and culture. This must be a very trying time for you: I get that.)

Velo Mule

I am wondering if it is possible that Schwinn used a Tange fork on the Superior. From the pictures, it looks like it to me anyway. This could be the same fork as on the Continental and Suburban. Since Schwinn was already doing business with Tange, perhaps they got a better model than the Continental for the Superior with chrome-moly. I am just speculating, but that would fit with the way I believe Schwinn was going at the time.

The picture below is the Tange fork from my 1980 Schwinn Continental. It has been repainted. It originally was all chrome with a decal on the side of the fork. For the repaint, since there was rust on the fork, I painted most of the fork and tried to clean up the crown as best as I could. That gave it a look that is similar to the Superior.

BFisher

I can't say if this is relevant to Doug's Superior, but this old post from @Metacortex indicates that at least for '74 the Sports Tourer fork came from Ishiwata.
Schwinn fork info

Doug Fattic 

I don't know people personally that live in the regions Russia has overrun. I saw videos taken by guys that work on the same college campus where our frame/bike shop is located and they were horrifying to see. The Russians just blew everything up - homes, businesses - so it is inhabitable. The poor and old didn't have anywhere to go. Refugees flooded the campus to get food and clothing. It was very disturbing to witness this even though I didn't know anyone personally.

I get the bicycle frame fixtures I use in class and sell to students laser cut and etched out os stainless steel in a city south of Kyiv. This latest war may mess up my ability to continue to get them made. Compared to what is happening in the east that is a pretty small problem but it is still an unfortunate result. Over many years I've spent thousands of hours refining its design with the help of many including the engineers where the fixtures are made. Their purpose is to allow me to take a cyclist position on a fitting bike and convert it into a frame design. And confirm my miters are correct and to hold the frame while I spot braze the tubes together. I can also use them to figure out to the mm the geometry of already built frame. This is a picture of the Masi I got in 1972 on my fixture.

My Masi I bought in 1972 in one of my fixtures made in Ukraine I use to build frames

Jeff Wills

Mark, my extreme apologies... you are correct, I got a bunch of stuff wrong. I plead extreme fatigue and fuzzy-headedness.
(I was posting after a long hard weekend at work. My current day job is in a Portland hospital... we've gone from frantic to insane and now we're back to frantic.)

Doug, back to painting: how do you manage to keep your paint room (booth?) warm enough for proper paint adhesion without having paint fumes explode? I'd love to be painting frames in my garage but it usually doesn't get above 60 degrees until late spring, I think I'm missing something.

Doug Fattic 

The parts of my spray booth were made by Binks. I used their various panels and pieces to put it together like I wanted. It is situated in my nicely heated shop that has a big furnace. I deliberately made the height and width dimensions small (4' X 7') so it doesn't take so much total heated air but still enough to get a reasonable flow going through the booth. I don't paint if the outside temperature in below 20º. My furnace can't keep up if it is that cold outside.

bulgie 

Don't apologize! You guys are heroes and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise! OK not really, I'm a lover not a fighter...

Hang in there,
Mark

cudak888 

That's likely Tange-sourced tubing for the later US-built fork. Earlier forks were built without Tange steerers that were otherwise identical to this one. (Correction: An inspection of a '73 Super Sports fork below suggests a Tange mark).

Of course, it's not out of the question that it might have been subcontracted out, but that means the exact same crown had to be sourced as well. Not impossible, just a bit unusual.

-Kurt

juvela

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BICYCLING! magazine published a review of the Superior in its April 1978 number -

​​​​​​
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machinist42

Thanks for that Doug. The consistency of the frame weights leads me believe they all have that often overlooked attribute of internal butting.


Head-tube cutaway showing brass fillets and internal
reinforcing sleeve on a Schwinn fillet-brazed frame.
(Source: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/schwinn-braze.html)

As a frame builder, how much do you think those "sleeves," that "butting," contribute to frame strength?

Doug Fattic 

These frames are practically indestructible. It is way beyond what is necessary. I suppose they made these super strong because of their life time guarantee (wasn't it a life time guarantee?). Also they put way more brass on the joints than necessary for strength. They look nice. LIke I say indestructible. The frames are chrome/moly and still way thicker than standard touring frames.

Doug Fattic 

Today was another frame painting class. Our job this time was to prepare some fillet brazed Schwinn for painting. This is timely because once they are finished, we will sell them and donate all the proceeds to our Ukraine Bicycle Fund. Phil sandblasted 2 Super Sports while I continued to make frame modifications on the Superior. After taping and facing the bottom bracket shell, I aligned the frame. It was pretty close except one dropout was a bit bent. I reamed and honed the inside of the seat tube as well as the inside of the steerer. A 26.8 seat post just slides in nicely now. I noticed some small dents in the top tube while sandblasting the rest of the paint off. I wondered if in its former life it carried a lock around the stem that banged the top tube. I filled them with silver and filed and sanded them smooth. It is now ready to be prepped for painting next week. Here are some pictures of the progress.


taping and facing

aligning the dropouts

honing the seat tube

the little dents filled with silver and smoothed