retlaw53 

I recently acquired a collection of old bikes in need of repair. Included are eight Schwinn bikes of which I've refurbished three - '74 and '81 Le Tour an '86 Super Sport. Now I'm into the Continental. A previous owner swapped out the drop bars for flat bars. I am looking to source the drop bars and brake levers. I've been searching ebay and craigslist with no luck. Any ideas?

albrt 

I just disassembled a 1977 Collegiate Sport last week at the co-op. The steel parts were somewhat rusty, but if 1977 is close enough and you don't mind dealing with some rust I'll send you the whole stem and bar assembly with brake levers for ten bucks plus shipping. I'll be at the co-op Tuesday night and can post a picture if you want. You specify how you want it shipped - I usually avoid shipping anything that won't fit in a flat rate envelope.

nlerner

I'm no Schwinn expert, but I believe that the Continental of that era featured rando-bend drop bars as shown in this eBay listing.

albrt 

Wow, fancy alloy.

I'm pretty sure the ones from the 77 Collegiate were regular steel. I can look around and see if we have any of those randos if that's what is wanted. If we have them, the package might be more like twenty bucks for that and the brake levers.

retlaw53 

I would be interested in the randos as the stem matches the one in the ebay ad referenced in nlerner's post

albrt 

Here are the pics of the Collegiate assembly.




They have an outward rando bend, but are steel and straighter across the top than the alloy version. This bike had a lot of rust on the wheels and a few other places, but the bars and brake levers look pretty clean from what is visible.

Here's the Schwinn Continental catalog summary.

First mention of alloy bars on the Continental is 1975, so I suspect the earlier 70s were steel like these, but I can't be sure from the limited pics in the catalog.

tkamd73 

Here is what I’ve got, came off an old Schwinn, you can have them for shipping. I’m guessing from the size of the box to fit them, no more than 25 bucks, assuming your in the continental US.
Tim

retlaw53 

I located the bar and brake levers today. They were in a bin of salvaged parts at a local non-profit where I volunteer three days/week. Thanks to all for your comments and help.

retlaw53 

I found the1974 Schwinn Dealers Specifications documentation. The Conti bars for 1974 were alloy. I would share the link but had my hand slapped

The following errors occurred with your submission

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albrt 

That's actually a pretty sweet setup - much nicer than the steel stuff from the Collegiate. I'll take them off your hands for $10 plus shipping if retlaw doesn't need them and you don't want them.

retlaw53 

I don't need them. What I located today at the non-profit where I volunteer is what the Continental was equipped from Schwinn.

SurferRosa

Only twice as much as the bike will be worth after he finishes the "restoration."

sd5782 

Those would be a nice fit on a paramount elite.

albrt 

The Paramount Elite now has 40cm Cinelli bars and Campy levers, which I'm pretty happy with. I would probably save these in case I ever come across a nice fillet-brazed frame from the 70s or something like that.

Vintage Schwinn

Yall do realize that a Contintental is nothing but a VARSITY except that the Conti has the Tubular front fork, and an alloy (S) stem, aluminum handlebars and centerpull brakes!

The SUBURBAN 10 speed is EXACTLY the same as the Continental EXCEPT IT HAS the VARSITY's L.S. 2.4 Weinmann sidepulls and tourist 7881 steel handlebars and the steel stem that is common to the Varsity, Collegiate...etc ......Yeah, the Suburban has the great tourist style German made bow pedals, painted fenders front and rear and the great black deluxe matttress spring tourist saddle with those additional long horizontal springs underneath the padding that sort of resemble the tremelo springs of a Fender Stratocaster.

The CONTINENTAL, the VARSITY, and the 10 speed SUBURBAN, all have the same exact (14-28) model F freewheel and Huret rear derailleur.*
..... * UNLESS the Schwinn factory production line was out of Allvits at that moment......in that case they substituted the far superior SHIMANO (GT-100) during 1970 -1973 (GT-120) during 1974-1978 , from the 5 speed Collegiate and 5 speed Suburban which received the far superior SHIMANO rear derailleur as normal factory issue from 1970 model year onward.

**** YOU CAN MAKE THE CONTINENTAL A SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER BICYCLE BY upgrading the Rear Derailleur to a Japanese made rear deraileur (SHIMANO or Maeda SUN TOUR) and by upgrading to the Shimano built Model J (14-32) freewheel as seen on the 1970 - 1977 COLLEGIATE and 1970 - 1976 SUBURBAN 5 speed.

Here is the FREEWHEEL as seen on all CONTINENTALS, VARSITIES, and SUBURBAN 10 speeds of that era:...14......16......20......24......28

Here is the FREEWHEEL as seen on the 5 speed SUBURBAN '70-'76 and the 5speed 1970 -1977 COLLEGIATE..14......17......21......26......32



*****As heavy as the CONTINENTAL, VARSITY, and SUBURBAN models of Schwinn electroforged bikes are, you would be smart to have the HILL CLIMBING ability from the wider range (14-32) freewheel. The LARGE 32 cog 1st gear WILL SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE YOUR ABILITY TO RIDE ANYWHERE.
The Shimano, JAPANESE built model J freewheel is better built than the FRENCH built model F. Don't get me wrong the Model F is a great durable unit, that is a fine unit.......The Shimano model J was an industry advancement when introduced on the '70 Collegiate and '70 Suburban 5 speed as it featured Shimano's then new patented seal design, and superior Japanese quality control and workmanship.

Hey, millions of those 1970 - 1977 era Collegiates and 1970 -1976 Suburban 5 speeds are still around for you to scavenge or pirate these (14-32) freewheels.
----YES, both Shimano and Maeda SUNTOUR sold thousands of several models outstanding aftermarket replacement part (14-32) and (14-34) five cog freewheels during the years 1972 - 1978 especially. They are easy to find used and their build quality is outstanding that if they appear to be in good shape, you can likely get another 3000 to possibly 4000+ miles of use from them. Their build quality is that good.
IF YOU HAVE NO NEED TO GO LARGER THAN 28 cog at the rear, THEN THE French made (14-28) model F freewheel WILL BE FINE.
Nothing is wrong with an ALLVIT, as it is the most durable and most reliable of all of the European made rear derailleurs.
If it still works well and is properly adjusted, it will do the job fine for (14-28) if it is perfectly set up and isn't worn out.
Remember though that as a rule, European rear derailleurs do a terrible job on anything 30 cog or larger and there are none that are as good as Japanese models.
You may want to consider UPGRADING that CONTINENTAL/VARSITY/10 speed SUBURBAN to either the 32 cog equipped model J from Seventies Collegiates & 5 speed Suburbans before FFS models appeared in '77-'78 ---OR--- some other Japanese made freewheel with a biggie 34 cog or just the large 32 cog, as that will do wonders in transforming your heavier electroforged Schwinn into a much more enjoyable rider, especially if you mostly ride bicycles that weigh between 22 pounds and 29 pounds, or even lighter bicycles. Unless you are in Chuck Norris, total gym--walker texas ranger shape, really physically fit, rather than just a typical Pilsbury dough boy, average American, of the I can ride a bike three miles, plump shape like Lumpy Rutherford from Leave It To Beaver..........may have been considered fat and pudgy in the forties, 1950's, 1960's and 1970's but is considered normal American "fit" today as everything is wide-load and heavy today, though bicycles are now lightweight, average Americans are probably beyond fat, although one cannot ever say that anywhere today. Hey, all joking aside, you have to respect each and everybody that does make an effort to get into better shape. I see a lot of people that run regularly, swim regularly or ride bikes regularly, or play tennis four times a week, that were big, as in really big--huge, and way outta shape when they set out to change things..................they all slimmed down and got into pretty good shape........it seems to me that women are by far much more dedicated at sticking with their program and achieving success......I don't know why that is.
................Hey those ancient old super-strong, unbreakable, though 35+ pound SCHWINNS can stand up to most anyone that might be close to William "Refridgerator" Perry size. As they say about walking......put on foot in front of the other and soon you'll be walkin out the door, beyond just going as far as the mailbox......you gotta get started and little by little, you get a little stronger and doing a lot better and capable of a little more...................certainly it takes time........but stick with a regular program of doing what you can do, and improving and building upon that progress.....
Nothing is wrong with an ancient Schwinn as you don't need to go really fast and you don't really need to ride really far................just ride, rest/recovery day, ride again, rest/recovery day, ride again.................repeat regularly.................perhaps you can soon reach the point where you can ride some every day if weather permits....you don't have to ride any particular distance or at any particular speedy pace .....the important thing for everyone to remember is that you should get some type of exercise daily in order to maintain a decent level of fitness because if you just plant yourself on the sofa watching tv, you are likely gonna become a couch potato............because in the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's most folks did not have remote control channel clickers on their television sets and they had to get up from the sofa or chair every time that they wanted to change channels! ( Yeah, remote clickers did exist in the late fifties but they remained expensive and televisions in general were relatively expensive such that 95% of American households didn't bother buying the most expensive tv sets, etc that did feature remote controls, at least until the end of the seventies.)

Make the old Schwinn or whatever old bike that you currently have roadworthy and comfortable enough for you to ride it.
Heck if you're old or if you haven't ridden a bike in years, you might want to convert that ancient 10 speed from racing handlebars(a.k.a. Drop Bars) to tourist handlebars (a.k.a. Typical Traditional Beach Cruiserbike handlebars).
You have a huge number of choices there from anything used from the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, 1980's with the standard 25.4 stem clamp mount size.
New handlebars are made by Wald and others, although the Chromium plating on such handlebars will be very poor relative to anything made in the Seventies, early eighties, sixties, or the fifties.
I recommend that anyone looking to convert to tourist style any old bicycle that requires standard 25.4 clamp mount handlebars TO LOOK AT AND CONSIDER the 7881 Schwinn handlebars that were seen on millions of Schwinn models between 1967 and about 1977........models so equipped woulld be BREEZE, COLLEGIATE, SUBURBAN to name just a few models.
7881-67 would be stamped on the handlebars from for example from a 1967 Schwinn Breeze....
7881-xx , WHERE xx INDICATES THE YEAR THE HANDLEBARS WERE PRODUCED.........there is NO difference between these 7881 Schwinn handlebars, so that none are any better than any other year 7881 handlebars, ...........Obviously, you want the cleanest, nicest ones without dents, and without any rust damaged chrome, etc. NOBODY WILL SEE THE 7881-xx DATE CODE ANYWAY BECAUSE IT IS STAMPED IN THE PORTION OF THE HANDLEBARS WHICH IS NOT VISIBLE WHEN THE BARS ARE MOUNTED.......THE PORTION WILL BE BENEATH THE STEM CLAMP.

Those are great handlebars. In my opinion, they are the best shape, size, and rise that anyone ever produced then or now. They came out in 1967. I believe Schwinn engineers learned a great deal about what worked best in their approximately seventy years prior to the mid 1960's that they knew something why the new for 1967, 7881 handlebars would be so great.. Anyway, its just this one idiot's opinion about the 7881 handlebars.......you may prefer something else.......you literally have at least thirty five to fifty different well known other examples that you can choose from. There is nothing magical about Schwinn handlebars other than the Chrome quality on Schwinn handlebars during the Chicago factory era of 1955 to 1980 is the best in the world.

The Weinmann & DiaCompe tourist brake 22.2mm levers of the same exact alloy design from about the 1963 to at least about the 1980-1982 era are outstanding choices for the 22.2mm (7/8") outer diameter of the handbar where they mount above the handlebar bar grips.
Easiest way is to find a pair of these on an ancient 1963 to 1982 SCHWINN. Red dot eyepoker, red dot ball end, gold dot, orange dot, black dot....who gives a $#it.....they are all functionally the same..........millions were made.......yeah you might be able to sell a perfect spotless red dot eyepoker set from the early to mid sixties on the bay to someone restoring something like a Sting-Ray where they want a perfect exact year set, but still they don't sell for much......
The $12 BELL PITCREW 600 replacement cable set INCLUDES the aluminum ferrules that attach to these brake levers(you know the aluminum ferrules where the brake cable exits from the brake levers.......SO YOU DON'T NECESSARILLY NEED TO LOCATE A PAIR OF THESE OLD weinmann / diacompe TOURIST LEVERS WITH THOSE FERRULES INCLUDED...
.........Those ancient weinmann / diacompe levers look really good, and are lightweight and are easily installed and removed with a standard flathead screwdriver.
Those old ancient Raleighs, and other ancient British 3 speeds, and Sears, Western Auto Bikes, and many other ancient French and some ancient Italian bikes have those horrible looking steel and/or aluminum brake levers with awful looking heavy bolt clamps that look worse than some 1949 studebaker factory radiator hose clamp.
Can you say POS looking? Well on those really ancient 3 speeds, that was all that existed in 1950 or whatever year it was made.
.................One important tip for those of you that are new to the DIY world of Schwinns, one piece cranks or any bike so equipped from anybody with derailleur gears:
*****YOU NEED TO PURCHASE A $17 bicycle brake cable cutter...........hell no, you don't need the PARK'S or PEDRO's labeled model......they are all functionally the same and unless you're gonna replace cables on 95 to 100 bikes, just buy the RED colored NO-NAME VERSION that Bike-Smiths sells for $17 on ebay and their website......other ebay vendors sell this exact same RED colored NO-NAME VERSION for within fifty cents to a dollar of that price. The PEDRO's version looks exactly the same except it is a different color and says PEDRO's and costs closer to $30...........The PARK version is of very similar design, though the PARK version could be much more durable but unless you've got 125 bicycles to replace the cables on, I don't see the benefit in purchasing a $45 PARK version.
That $17 red NO-NAME brake cable cutter will make clean cuts in the brake cable, and it will also cleanly cut the brake cable housing(sheath portion).....you absolutely need it..................some folks go with their Dremel and a cut off wheel....that works too but.......a high speed cut off wheel on a Dremel can hurt you if you don't know what the hell you are doing.......wear eye protection and don't work while you are tired, or fatigued or after drinking any adult beverages.....that is a recipe for disaster when working with something like a Dremel that everybody thinks it is so simple, so it has to be harmless where you cannot hurt yourself............Be smart and safe....eye protection and be alert at all times.......wear eye protection EVERY TIME you cut any BRAKE or SHIFT cables with either a brake cable cutter, a Dremel, or electrical lineman's pliers, or whatever the heck you are using......................take the ten seconds to put on the safety glasses or goggles.
*******You will also NEED a 12" (300mm) CRESCENT WRENCH if YOU HAVE ANY BICYCLE with a ONE PIECE Ashtabula - American style crank
Why the 12 inch, 300 millimeter sized crescent wrench?? BECAUSE THE JAWS ON THOSE WILL OPEN WIDE ENOUGH TO LOOSEN THE NUT ON THE ONE PIECE CRANK!!! Both HARBOR FREIGHT & Wallyworld sell cheapo forrged steel 12" CRESCENT WRENCH that will be perfect......the least expensive one is the one that you want........slightly below $10 at Harbor Freight stores, and around $10 to $11 at wal-mart stores. Don't guess, make certain that the wal-mart crescent wrench jaws open wide enough to do the job before you buy them, because you don't want to buy the too small version because the store is out of stock of the size crescent wrench that you need to fit the nut on the crank.
Heck, you absolutely do not need CRAFTSMAN or SNAP-ON tools quality for use like this on a bicycle.
If you've got great tools already, then great, but for use on just a bicycle, you will never break or wear out one of those New Chinese elcheapo steel forged no-name
crescent wrenches. Yeah the tool might rust if you leave it out in the rain, but you aren't gonna do that...
Save your dough, and buy the $10 cheapo cheapest functional new chinese harbor freight , wallyworld twelve inch crescent wrench.
Do buy good specific tools called for doing specific jobs, when you do really need them. Here on a one piece crank nut, you don't need anything but the cheapest twelve inch crescent wrench.









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albrt 

retlaw, I just noticed you're in Arizona. What co-op do you volunteer with? I'm at the Rusty Spoke in Phoenix.

retlaw53 

Bob's Free Bikes in Fountain Hills. We are in the the old Four Peaks Elementary School. bobsfreebikes.org.

We are a 501c3 non-profit that reconditions donated bikes and gives them to children in need primarily within Maricopa County. Our clients include the surrounding school districts, CASA, AZ National Guard, Luke Air Force Base, The Boys and Girls Club and other community service organizations. Last year we gave away 1085 bikes and this year we are on target to give away over 1100 bikes. The labor is all volunteer.

52telecaster

No disrespect to Schwinn or anyone who loves them. I understand completely, but the name continental is so cool, why couldn't they have used it for a touring version of the paramount?

retlaw53 

I am looking for a Schwinn head badge for a 1974 Continental. The spacing between the rivet/screw holes is 2-9/16".