frommfromm

I don't know anything about bikes so don't take a **** on me for this. I currently have a 1976 Schwinn varsity with an electro forged frame. I was originally planning on converting this to a ss/fg but after doing some research decided not to waste my time. My question is what are some road bikes or vintage road bikes that could be found in the $50-$150 price range and would be good/easier to convert to a fixie. Also, how much would it about cost me to do a basic conversion?

cc700

fixie? rear wheel, 100. sliding dropout bike with normal 68mm bb: whatever is on craigslist.

but honestly i think you're better off finding a 250 dollar bike that is already in great shape and forgetting fixies were ever considered cool.

frommfromm

Didn't even know it was a term for a specific bike (said I didn't know anything). And the original reason I wanted to take on a project like this was so that I wouldn't have to spend $250 (and boredom), but will it cost more then that to convert an old bike?

cc700

i found a converted road bike in okay shape for sale with no brakes for 70 dollars at a used shop. that was in 2006. i honestly don't think you'll be able to find a bike that's in rideable condition for less than 100, and you won't be able to make it fixed gear without a new hub at least. you could make it singlespeed, but by then you're just spending money to spend money.

how old are you and what do you do with your time? 250 isn't that much money nowadays in philly. or suburbs. if you're super young, prove to your parents that you care about bicycling and try to get funding for a kilo tt. it's 300 and a much better bike than anything you'll find on craigslist for less than 250.

frommfromm

I'm 20 and soon to be going to school in philly. I also currently go to school and work. Maybe I will just drop $300. I've just wanted one for a while now after riding a friends for a while (all city?). I was just seeing if a cheap conversion was possible. And yeah idk how it is in Seattle but for me $250 is definitely a good amount of money for me to spend especially when my car is more important (just cammed it) and I've just taken a recent side interest in bikes. I just thought that the conversion idea would be a fun side project and I wasn't really sure if there was a lot involved or not. One bike I was looking at to possibly convert was a Legrande 10 Speed that I found for $50? lol@ my parents giving me any money for anything, that will never happen.
And alright i'll check the kilo tt out. Any other suggestions for the $250-300 price range?

Furyus

What's wrong with the Schwinn? Find some aluminum rims, a cheapie freewheel, rip off the derailleurs and related junk, strip off the outer chainring and you've got a single speed that's pretty indestructible. If you just "cammed" your car certainly you can convert the old Schwinn into something cool. You buy a fifty dollar bike instead and you'll still have to do all of the above except maybe buy rims (but count on the needing truing/etc at that price).

furyus

FakeFuji

Prolly has cottered cranks

cc700

yeah some old schwinns are ****ing diamonds and others have one peice cranks that are bent all out of round and not worth turning a bolt on.

no real way to tell without more info. the all-city is a great bike. all of them. i ride an all city sometimes.

frommfromm

The reason I am hesitant of trying to convert the Schwinn is because after reading a few different threads on the topic of converting a Schwinn varsity into a single speed I got the idea that it was not worth it. I got the impression that the varsity was harder to convert than other bikes of the same era/style. However after some more researching (seeing some people that have actually done it) I am now thinking about it. The bike is very heavy though. It has a one piece steel crank so idk if that's good or bad. Just started riding the bike a month ago and to the best of my knowledge it is in pretty good condition. I probably should have done a lot more research before I posted this thread because I have know idea what I am talking about and I don't even know the names for most of the parts on the bike. My bad for sounding like an idiot.

frommfromm

And yeah the all city was nice and I loved riding it for the time that I borrowed it.

Soo__Fuego

I dont see why you would have issues with your Schiwinn. I got a 70s Schiwinn Le Tour off craigslist for around $100 and converted that with no issues.

All I got was a new Sram S100 crankset with BB and new DP18 wheelset with a freewheel.

Furyus

You don't sound like an idiot, man.

There are a lot of folks who'll tell you not to bother with the Schwinn because it's heavy and has a one-piece crank and steel wheels. They definitely are tanks. Personally, I dig 'em. You can lose a bunch of weight by switching to some lighter rims, and improve the ride significantly. You could even switch to a 700 wheel set, but then you may need to buy brakes, too. There are plenty of tire options out there for the 27" wheel. The one-piece crank (Ashtabula) is heavy, but it's also bullet-proof and extremely easy/inexpensive to maintain - no special ($) tools required. Old-school BMX sprockets are made for Ashtabula cranks, so a gearing change is easy and cheap.

I have a '75 Sprint that is about to be stripped and converted to SS. Yeah, it's heavy and cheap, compared to what some folks have. But I dig old Schwinns, so I don't really care. Here's an opinion: forget about cams in your car when the speed limit is 65 max around Philly (and gas is four bucks), and spend a few more bucks on the bike. Just sayin'.

Hope you figure it out and go ride.

furyus

hollowmen

I converted a 70s Schwinn Varsity, and love it. It's heavy, but a blast to ride.

Just saying that they can be enjoyable conversions.

nuhtowel

Keep houndin' the philly craigslist, decent old bikes show up on there from time to time. My schwinn world sport was 50 bucks, and I rode that for 8 months before anything broke. My beater mountain bike cost 30 bucks, and with 40 dollars in parts it became a nice SS mtb.

You could always buy a road bike too, I got a $400 specialized allez or a $600 caad9 off of craigslist.

nuhtowel

and don't be afraid to check out the lancaster or south jersey craigslists also, I've seen a lot of good stuff on there also

frommfromm

Thank you everyone for the advice. I think I'm going to do it. I will post up pictures when it is done.

Philasteve

Yeah man i'm from philly too, good **** pops up on the philadelphia and surrounding areas Cl. So keep an eye out, a lot of conversions too but there way over priced.

nuhtowel

we need to start a philly bike crew, seems like a lot of people are from around the city

Philasteve

I'm always down to ride and meet new people bro.

frommfromm

Yeah, there is a lot of weekly rides like the pretzel ride etc. but i'd be down to meet some other people and ride and **** too.

nuhtowel

I'm at school right now, but perhaps we can cruise when i'm at home.. although over spring break the only bike I'll have is my shanty cruiser bike haha

dontpassthefenc

the bike boom\10speed schwinn bikes are way easy to convert, speaking from experience. I love my le tour. :3

KtownScott

There's nothing wrong with the schwinn.


And like someone said eariler..

osiris419

Your Schwinn would be fine to convert. The old electroforged frames are pretty much indestructible. I have one right now that I'm working on. You can keep the old one piece crank or they make different adapters for the bottom bracket to install a square taper.