skydog6653

Using a lot of knowledge and insight gained on this forum I just purchased my first "vintage" Schwinn, a 1963 Schwinn Superior. Can someone with the wherewithal post a pic and/or provide the correct part numbers for the front derailleur, pedals, and brake lever hoods? They're the only non-original parts on it and I'd like to restore it to as original condition as possible. Thanks!

wrk101

I would start here:

https://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1...0/1963_03.html

Here's a more detailed page:

https://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1..._Superior.html

The great news with starting with Schwinn, is that there is almost unlimited information out there on them.

To me, a nice vintage bike starts with nice original paint and decals. Looks like you scored bigtime.

Chris W.

Very nice!
It is a year younger than me, and appears to be in much better shape!

Cheers,
Chris

auchencrow

+1 !

That is really impressive. I very much like the little Schwinnesque appointments on your bike - especially the chromed bobby-sox on the stays.

pastorbobnlnh 

While I can't help with part numbers, I can assist with visuals. Here are some pictures to help ID what you need. A possibility for an appropriate replacement for the FD might be the Campy Valentino. Looks very similar to the Campy Gran Sport of that period. I think it can handle the close spaced triple on your Superior. BTW, what are the tooth counts on the chainrings?

As far as hoods are concerned, I believe they originally had white Weinmanns which looked like these. They are hard to find and very pricey.



Here's the original FDs on my '62 Continental and '65 Super Sport. While I'm not certain, I believe the Superior ran the Huret model. The Sprint is Schwinn's approved version of the Huret.







Here's the Valentino I'm running on my Continental currently.

mkeller234

Am I wrong, or have we seen this one posted here before? Even the same picture I think.

skydog6653

You might have. The pic is the seller's. I've yet to receive it. It was for sale around 3 years ago.

skydog6653

Thanks again Bob for your help on the purchase. It means a lot.

cudak888 

Bob, didn't the Valentino require a shim?

-Kurt

mkeller234

Ah! Cool. So is it on it's way to you?

skydog6653

as we speak!

sykerocker 

First off, drop the quotation marks around the word "vintage". Any pre-Bike Boom bicycle is definitely vintage, if only because there are so few of them surviving. Keep in mind that back in 1963, the only people riding Schwinns (or any other bicycle, for that matter) were children and very weird (in the eyes of the rest of society) adults.

Secondly, a Huret Allvit front is probably the safest bet for authenticity. The predominance of the Allvit in the US is totally due to Schwinn.

skydog6653

I hear ya'! The only reason for the quotes was the fact that I predate this bike by 10 years and that sorta' stings a little! Is it fair to assume that the bike boom era was started with the introduction of the Sting Ray?

Rabid Koala

What a beautiful (and rare) Schwinn. I love those superiors and would not think twice about buying one if one turned up in my size.

dck

Original FD & Pedals.

pastorbobnlnh 

Yes, on the Continental, I had to fashion a shim from a bronze bearing I bought at ACE hardware.

The more I thought about this, fitting a Valentino to the Superior might be a challenge. The seat tube on a Super Sport is over sized and I'm assuming the same is the case on a '63 Superior. The Campagnolo Record FD on Sporty required a longer (non Campy) screw to make it fit.

skydog6653

Thanks again, David. Do you happen to know part numbers? I believe the seat tube on the Superior is 28.6mm or what Schwinn called inch and an eighth.

sykerocker 

Tell me about it. I got out of the antique car hobby when the shows started filling up with cars that dad would bring home at lunch time for me to ride in.

For years I had problems with equating "antique" with "younger than me". On bicycles, with the constant changing definitions of "antique", I always felt very safe in calling anything pre-Bike Boom an antique if only because of it's relative rarity. The Bike Boom was '71-74 (when I worked at the shop, I was working on kid bikes during '69 and '70, then suddenly adults wanted bicycles), while the Sting Rays predated that by about 10 years. If anything, the Sting Ray was the first time that a "bicycle" was something different from the standard balloon tyred newsboy special in decades. To the point that you called them "Sting Rays" not "bicycles" to avoid confusion.

Sierra

I think if you measure it you will find that it's a bit bigger. I measured the seat tube on my '66 Super Sport at 1.60" which equates to about 29.5mm.

skydog6653

I'm sure you meant 1.16 as 1.6 is close to 1-5/8". I was just going by what's on the Sheldon Brown Fillet-Brazed site:

Identifying Schwinn's 1962-1978 Fillet Brazed Models

On bikes with original paint the model decal, "CrMo" decal on the seat tube, bullet-pointed seatstay tops, and round "Schwinn-Chicago" badge on the head tube will indicate one of Schwinn's fillet-brazed 10-speed bicycles. Oversize seat- and downtubes are another clue. If these tubes are less than 1 1/8 inch in diameter, it is not a fillet-brazed model.

But then I found this: The seat and down tubes, as well as the top tube on the largest frame sizes, are slightly oversize at 29.5 mm in diameter. Schwinn called this tubing "1 1/8 inch diameter."

Sierra

Yes, I meant 1.16". Sorry about that.

What that means is that if you are retrofitting a different derailleur meant for 28.6mm tubing, you have to be careful to not snap the clamp.

On a steel clamp it's probably not a problem, but on an alloy clamp, be careful.

I put a Campagnolo Record f. der. on my Super Sport but did some careful filing on the interior surface of the clamp so as not to snap it.

sailorbenjamin

I've got some old Huret stuff that I've pulled off of Schwinns over the years. Mostly 70s stuff but it looks sorta the same.

skydog6653

Let me know please!

4Rings6Stars

I've got some Weinmann brake levers with white "Carlton" embossed hoods that came off an old Super Course. Probably not the right part but closer than the Cane Creek / Dia Compe gum colored hoods you'll find elsewhere. I would let them go cheap.

I also might have some old Huret front derailleurs in the junk bin but my suggestion would be to fit something else on there instead if you plan to ride it. There is a reason all of my Huret parts are in the junk/scrap bin... :

Sierra

Here is a front derailleur on ebay. The cage is slightly different from the original, but not many people would recognize the differences.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/300667696583...84.m1423.l2649

Not mine.