1973 Schwinn Speedster

I just finished freshening up the 1973 Schwinn Speedster three speed that I picked up last week.

It was kind of crusty when I brought it home, but still wears its original paint and tires. The tires are pretty dry, but they still hold air. They have Schwinn Stingray Fastback molded right into the sidewall.

The seat was definitely replaced at some point. I'm not sure about the grips. That grip style was just starting to appear around that time and these are clearly very old. The whole color scheme was a bit of a puzzle to me. A white seat and grips would seem like the obvious original setup, but the brake levers were black and look like they always have been. So maybe the seat replaced an original black seat. It's hard to say after 40 years.

It's been really hot and humid here for a few weeks, so I brought it down to the basement, hung it from the ceiling and took it all apart.

I made a fork-like fixture to hold the wheels while I cleaned them up with a wire brush on the Dremel. One of those Thule wheel racks would have been perfect for the job, but I couldn't find a used one around here and I made this for about six bucks.

Various wire wheels were instrumental in this little project.

I removed the crank and cleaned up the bearing races.

The bearings were cleaned and repacked.

I took the brakes apart and polished everything.

There was something funky about the rear brake assembly. It was mounted behind the frame when I got the bike, but one side was twisted and I couldn't get the new pads to make good contact with the rim. I imagine that most of these bikes were assembled by a 16 year old in the back of a hardware store, so it may have been mounted wrong from the start. I decided to move the brake assembly to the front of the bracket. It looks better in back, but it works better in front. Safety first-ish...

It also cleaned up the cable routing a bit.

The Shimano 3 Speed Click Stick didn't need much attention.

I removed the shift rod and linkage from the rear hub an cleaned it up.

I added oil to the rear hub, probably for the first time in 40 years. When I was trying to figure out how to get oil into the tiny filler, I decided that something like a Hoppe's Gun Oil bottle would be best. I looked online to try to determine what type of oil to use and the only definitive info I could find was "Not Grease", so I just used Hoppe's Gun Oil, since it was already in the bottle.

I also decided that the black paint had to go.

I went to eBay and found a set of vintage white Schwinn grips with just the right amount of patina and a used white reproduction Schwinn seat. The seat looks too new, but it suits the bike much better than the old one.

I still need to true up the wheels and one of the pedals is kind of tweaked, but it rides smoother and quieter, looks a lot better and shifts about as well as any Shimano three speed did back in the 70's.

Next up is a badass Raleigh Fireball 5 Speed for my daughter.

With red band slicks and a speedometer!

I am going to have to show these to my boys. I think they would like a project. The have been modifying the skateboards, this would be a good next step.

have fun.

When I was a kid, I had a Raleigh (Made in England!), but I wanted a Schwinn. As an adult, when you see these bikes side by side, you don't even need to lay your hands on them to understand how much better the Raleigh is (a lot, not a little). Schwinns are worth all the money though.

As someone who has resurrected a few road bikes, this is a very cool project.

Amazing what a "softer" wire wheel will do for rusty brightwork.

Very nice! That thing looks great! Do you find these on Craigslist?

Yup.

Nice. I had a Schwinn Pea Picker--totally mint and original. I bet we sold it for $5.

I love working on old bikes. I have no use for them, but they are tons of fun to play with. Good show, sir. If you don't mind my asking, what did you have to pay for the Schwinn?

I hope you didn't toss the fenders...they kind of made the bike. Not many of those kinds of bikes had full fenders , most bikes had the Stingray style ones.

Neat project...

Although I have to say in 35 years of fiddling with bikes, I've never seen a side-pull brake like that mounted under the seat stays... I don't recall ever seeing pictures of old Schwinns with them mounted that way either... nor can I wrap my head around how they will work better with the wheel pulling them away from the stays vs. against them.

I built a singlespeed for a friend out of a '79 Raleigh Gran Prix last summer. We had to run the rear caliper upside down because the brazed-on cable guides were on the right side of the frame while the sidepull for the caliper was on the left. The ol' flipperoo solved that issue.

Bike brakes great, FWIW. Granted, lots of leverage out of those Tektro long-reach calipers paired with Cane Creek TT levers.

Ian F wrote: Neat project... Although I have to say in 35 years of fiddling with bikes, I've never seen a side-pull brake like that mounted under the seat stays... I don't recall ever seeing pictures of old Schwinns with them mounted that way either... nor can I wrap my head around how they will work better with the wheel pulling them away from the stays vs. against them.

I've never seen it either, but, trust me, the original setup was messed up. Crazy pad wear, bent caliper and even after I straightened it, there was no way to get the pads to grab the rim instead of the tire. And this was before I put the chain on.

I also considered how they would work in front of the wheel, but that's exactly how the fronts are set up on every bike.

stuart in mn wrote: I hope you didn't toss the fenders...they kind of made the bike. Not many of those kinds of bikes had full fenders , most bikes had the Stingray style ones.

I still have them, I just didn't like them.

sethmeister4 wrote: Very nice! That thing looks great! Do you find these on Craigslist?

I find the best deals in neighborhoods that have more barbed wire than mine.

Woody wrote: There was something funky about the rear brake assembly. It was mounted behind the frame when I got the bike, but one side was twisted and I couldn't get the new pads to make good contact with the rim. I imagine that most of these bikes were assembled by a 16 year old in the back of a hardware store, so it may have been mounted wrong from the start. I decided to move the brake assembly to the front of the bracket. It looks better in back, but it works better in front. Safety first-ish... It also cleaned up the cable routing a bit.

The first picture is factory correct - most every Schwinn I owned had one brake pad closer to the rim than the other - those side pulls sucked as the springy thing got worn.

I believe every Schwinn was sold at an authorized dealer. In the Chicago area these were dedicated dealers that did well until the mid-1980's.....

Wood man - I dug out my Schwinn owners manual from my 1974 bicycle. I never did get the "gentle touch" they recommend under the "one shoe touches rim" problem.

It wasn't an issue of one side being closer than the other. One side was all twisted out of shape and both pads were hitting the tire instead of the rim. I understand how they were supposed to be. This works better.

In 1973 (5th grade) I declared to my parents that they needed to buy me a new bicycle. They laughed and told me they would for my 8th grade graduation. As I saw that I was almost three years away from graduation I got a paper route, cut lawns ($4 a lawn), shoveled snow, and even baby sat.

One year later I walked into my local Schwinn and ordered a blue Collegiate Sport, placed a $20 deposit, and waited for the factory to send it out. It seems like I road a 100,000 miles on that bicycle but in reality it was my main transportation for the next 5 years. Schwinn taught me a lot about mechanics.

That's really cool.

My older brother got a new Schwinn Varsity in Campus Green right around that time. It was stolen almost immediately. He replaced it with another in burnt orange and I think he still has it.

It's heavy.

Woody wrote: ......It's heavy.

I then bought an aluminum frame Schwinn LeTour used, almost new in 1983. It took me a while to get my confidence up to go fast as compared to my Collegiate steel tank.

You've motivated me to shop for a different brand of pads for the rear. Maybe I can make them work with the caliper behind the wheel.

Have to say, I like how even the cheap and undesirable Schwinns even into the late '80s look and a feel a bit more special than a lot of mid level bikes.

Last fall, I had my eye on a trashed '87 Sprint abandoned at a bus stop here for several weeks before I gave in and took it home. On with the Rigidas on Weinmann hubs from my '80 Peugeot A08 basket case, cheap flat bar setup/mtb levers/cables from Nashbar(small frame, I don't fit in the drops), and new tires/tubes/rim strips, I'm having a freaking blast! May just get the wheels trued, get my hands on Kool Stop Continentals, and oil up the freehub and be done with it, I've already spent more than it's worth.

My supervisor at work still has the Campus Green '77 Varsity he got new for his 12th birthday, I may or may not have an open offer on it.

Anyway, it's looking good, Woody. Keep us up to date on the Raliegh, too!

Woody wrote: You've motivated me to shop for a different brand of pads for the rear. Maybe I can make them work with the caliper behind the wheel.

I should have a coffee can of Schwinn brake parts. I would part out bikes i found in the garbage.

I used to buy $5 garage sale Varsity bikes and beg folks to pay $8. There was a time NOBODY wanted these bikes.