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Alternative for vintage Schwinn quill stem

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Alternative for vintage Schwinn quill stem

Old 03-06-22, 11:32 AM
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sortieavelo
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Alternative for vintage Schwinn quill stem

Hi,

quill stem diameter is 20mm on my Schwinn Collegiate 5-speed. Nothing in my parts bin fits. Anyone know of a source for a replacement?

thanks!






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Old 03-06-22, 11:52 AM
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Schwinn and some BMX size

Look for .833 (21.1mm) stems

Wald, sunlite are some makers

Ebay as well.

https://www.ebay.com/b/Schwinn-Quill...827/bn_5916614
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Old 03-06-22, 12:22 PM
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You might also consider getting an adapter so you can use stems made for threadless headsets. Then changing stem or handlbars will be much easier than risking scratching your handlebar as you snake it through the clamp hole and have to remove everything just to change the stem.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/32129612441...BoCRVkQAvD_BwE

They are a little harder to find for your small quill size though.

Is the 20 mm printed on the stem or just what you measured?
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Old 03-06-22, 03:55 PM
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Thank you. It seems like 21.1mm is the smallest of the stem standards. My inner diameter was 20.8, but it’s probably 21.1.



Originally Posted by dedhed
Schwinn and some BMX size

Look for .833 (21.1mm) stems

Wald, sunlite are some makers

Ebay as well.

https://www.ebay.com/b/Schwinn-Quill...827/bn_5916614
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Old 03-06-22, 10:00 PM
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The OD (outer dimension) of stems and seatposts are always going to be a few mils smaller, because the intended diameter is where the ID and OD meet in the middle.

So that means caliper measurements only help you guess to what it could be, but ultimately you have to get the piece to see if it fits.

When I buy bikes with missing or incorrect seatposts, I don't bother with measuring tubes since it's so unreliable and inconclusive.

Instead, I take my collection of seatposts, and eventually one fits.

And there are some really rare sizes out there.

For example, if a tube can't fit a 27.2mm yet accept a 26.8mm, many incorrectly conclude that's the one, when in reality it's 27.0mm, and I had to actually have that seatpost just so I was able to try and verify.
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Old 03-07-22, 06:55 AM
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Originally Posted by soyabean
So that means caliper measurements only help you guess to what it could be, but ultimately you have to get the piece to see if it fits
It's an electroforged Schwinn. They made millions over decades. The quill stem will be a .833 and the seatpost is 13/16" (20.6)


The OP is in Boston. I'm sure there has to be a co op there that has a stem for $10 or less.
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Old 03-07-22, 07:14 AM
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Originally Posted by dedhed
It's an electroforged Schwinn. They made millions over decades. The quill stem will be a .833 and the seatpost is 13/16" (20.6)


The OP is in Boston. I'm sure there has to be a co op there that has a stem for $10 or less.
agree. there is no shortage of used parts for these bikes.
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Old 03-09-22, 10:15 PM
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Originally Posted by dedhed
It's an electroforged Schwinn. They made millions over decades. The quill stem will be a .833 and the seatpost is 13/16" (20.6)


The OP is in Boston. I'm sure there has to be a co op there that has a stem for $10 or less.
Ditto. During my tenure in a Schwinn shop I probably added a few thousand to those millions. They were standardized to an extreme degree- the same stem was used on Pixies, Sting-Rays, and Collegiates.

If you need something really different, there are adapters for mounting "threadless" stems on 0.833" ID forks. I used one to put a titanium stem on my resto-mod Superior:

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Old 03-10-22, 07:37 AM
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Gerry Burgess ("GB") made the Schwinn Approved 0.833" aluminum stems used on the Sports Tourer and other higher-end frames. Sakae Ringyo ("SR") also made a 0.833" version of their "Custom" stem.
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Old 03-15-22, 09:20 PM
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All the 1966 & later chicago Schwinns are 21.1mm diameter stem. 1965 & prior are the "industry standard common size" for most all american bike makers from pre WWII to about the end of 20th Century, when they all went out of business.

Your ORANGE Collegiate looks to around a 1975 model as it has the GT-120 rear derailleur that came in 1974, replacing the GT-100 by about Feb '74. Your beautiful Orange Schwinn also has the Schwinn stem there in your picture which began in the mid seventies, NOTICE THAT IT IS SCALLOPED ON THE SIDES, A STEM FROM 1973, or at least part of '74 would be more bulbulous and rounded like a baseball bat on the sides..........though that to the novice, both appear the same when viewed from the normal riding position as it is only when someone squats down on the ground like a catcher on a baseball team and views the kickstanded & parked bike' front end from either side....you have to get low to see it....thats why I suggested crouching/squating in a catcher's stance to see it.
Your beautiful ORANGE Collegiate also has the mid seventies Chainguard which has more metal coming down just behind the chainwheel, as 1973, 1972, 1971, all the way back thru 1964 Collegiate had an even-yardstick like-parallel metal just behind the chainwheel. I don't know why that Schwinn began using this more metal Chainguard on all Collegiates from 1975 onwards, as this chainguard style had been in use on other Schwinn models for a long period since the at least the late 1950's.....why Schwinn went to a heavier, more metal, chainguard in 1975 at the same time they were using less metal on stems can probably be explained that they probably consolidated some metal stamping operations, or who knows but I always found that really odd, since BELL BOTTOM pants and jeans became really in vogue for teens and twenty something women and men beginning in 1969 and were out of style by mid 1977. The women's hip hugger wide bells were the rage about Summer of 1969 and squaresville middle america saw them become popular in 1971-1972, as before that squaresville saw them as too hippy.
Anyway, my guess is the metal stamping tooling for this more metal chainguard probably was in better shape, or some doofus at Schwinn thought it looked snappy or better protected the bells and flares. To see what typical American college age and high school girls were wearing while riding their Collegiates in 1971 in comfortable Spring temperatures, just look at Evie Sands 1969 A&M Records 45 release of "Any Way That You Want Me" the picture sleeve has the talented and beautiful, Sands riding her bike.......the follow up album cover of the Any Way That You Want Me has a nearly identical cover picture taken at the same photo shoot. Just curious, anyone out there recognize the make/model bicycle that Evie is seen riding in those cover photos? Hint: it is not a Schwinn...
In the Deep South , it gets hot in late Spring, from April through the first week in October, so you had college girls riding in hotpants and halter tops back in circa 1971.
Anyway, the Evie Sands record jacket is indicative of what they would be wearing on cooler pleasant fall, early spring, and warm winter days.

As for the 21.1mm stems, MILLIONS were produced.....so there is no shortage of them. Some of the asian makes that produced bikes for Schwinn....e.g. PANASONIC, GIANT etc did employ 21.1mm stems for a period of time. There isn't as much aftermkt for the 21.1mm stem size as there is for the 22.2mm stem size that all the US bike makers employed and Schwinn employed through 1965. 22.2mm is the common industry standard for ordinary old bicycles made in USA by everybody else (schwinn too , but SCHWINN changed in 1966 AS Schwinn engineering developed the Industry's strongest fork- innerheadtube portion that featured thickerwall tubing that was less likely to bend or break as it was considerably stronger.....well THIS NECESSITATED THE SWITCH TO THE THINNER DIAMETER 21.1mm stem size. It is possible to swap front fork to one which will accomodate the 22.2mm stem but this is rarely ever done, as all Schwinn forks were superb quality for general purpose bicycles. This happens mainly only when somebody assembles an old Chicago Schwinn from a pile of various parts bikes of various years...some pre 1966 and some 1966 & later.........as long as the diy builder from the parts pile, uses the proper stem size to fit the particular year fork then it works fine, assuming the fork length and the frame headtube are sized proportionate for that particular frame size........though many old timer cabers are known to cut down certain forks to fit..

Any 1966 and later Schwinn bicycle stem through the end of the Chicago factory in 1982, will fit your Orange Collegiate.
I'm not an expert on the minutia on exactly when the changeover fully took place in the 1966 model year. Metacortex would know.
My guess is that very late 1965 and very early 1966 stems might possibly be either or depending on when supply of existing parts was fully exhausted, but I don't have a clue and really do not know.

You should be able to find plenty of seventies and eighties aftmkt stems in the 21.1mm stem size that you need in most any length that you might desire, BUT I DO NOT THINK THAT YOU WILL FIND ANY "modern looking" Allen key bolt stems in a variety of sizes and shapes. You might but I doubt it, as most everything is gonna look ordinary and like it is from a time warp from 1976.
You are wasting your time, changing for the sake of just changing the looks, IF THE DESIRED REPLACEMENTdoes not practically change the handlebar height/and-or/placement of the bars & hands relative to your body positioning on the bicycle.........
................BECAUSE IF IT IS JUST WEIGHT SAVINGS THAT YOU DESIRE, HECK, JUST GET THE ALUMINUM ( S ) stamped STEM from something like a 1972 through about a 1976 or 1977 Schwinn Continental. You don't want the Death Stem Like aluminum stem fitted to some late sixties Collegiates & Varsities etc..
You want the circa 1973, 1974, 1975 ( S ) aluminum stem that was on the '73/'74/'75 Continental. Just say NO to the earlier late Sixties era aluminum one.
They are easily distinguishable because they look different.
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