Just got a Schwinn Super Sport--- looking for stylin' advice....

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OK, yeah, no pics yet so i suck, but many of you already knew that. I've been looking for the "right" Schwinn SS for a minute now, and I finally got it.... almost exactly what I was looking for. 24" frame, Opaque Blue in color, it's a 1972 so it has the stamped dropouts (earlier SS frames.... prior to 1971.5, had forged Huret drop-outs, which is what i really wanted....) I bought the whole thing, complete minus wheels, and the original Brooks B15 is in realllllly good shape. I'm pretty sure the rear derailer is a replacement, but most other stuff is original. My whole plan is to strip all the parts off of it (already done, except for cups), polish up all the chrome bits, and put most all of them in a box for safe-keeping while I rebuild the bike with 700c wheels and a singlespeed coaster-only set-up. I'm going to use the saddle, the seatpost clamp, the kickstand, and that might be it. Here's some of the weird/noteworthy stuff about my bike:

-This SS came with the "Deluxe" headset, which has the top cup inverted, where the cone is pressed into the frame, and the cup is adjustable under the topnut. (I'm pretty sure all Super Sports came with the Deluxe headset; someone correct me if I'm wrong.) At some point, someone replaced the bearings, but they clearly used the wrong retainer. When I picked up the bike, the headset didn't feel particularly tight, but it made some really interesting popping sounds when i turned the bars. I'd never heard anything like it before. When I pulled it apart, some of the balls had worked theirselves loose from the cage, and a few of the balls were actually, like, broken into bits. Pretty weird. I'm pretty sure the headset is brinelled but I'm not positive. My plan is to clean up the headset, try it with some loose balls, but for the time being, I think i'm going to run a Tioga Beartrap II on the bike.

- There was a frozen/broken padlock on the saddle's rails, with a nice cable fed thru it. The cable is noteworthy only because a PO had matched the color of the cable's vinyl coating almost exactly to the frame's Opaque Blue. The guy I bought it from reported that his father-in-law had been the only PO, and had put the lock on. I cut the cable off, but I think I'll leave the padlock on. It kinda adds character.

Actually, that's all that can be described as "interesting" about this one, and it's kind of a stretch to call an old lock interesting, although I don't recall ever seeing 5/32" balls cleaved in half before. That was kinda weird. Here's the "fashion" questions I'm looking for input on:

-Bars and Stem. The drop bars still have the original blue plastic tape on them. I kinda like the bend of the bars; there's nothing wrong with them, except they're a bit narrow for me, I kinda want to run them out of stinginess, but I kinda wanna run some track drops or maybe some Lauterwasser bars. The bigger problem is the stem. The original stem is exactly what I want to run; it's of course the required 21.1mm diameter, and it's got the perfect "7" angle, and it's loooooong compared to most every other 21.1mm stem I own or see for sale on ebay. So, I want to run it, but I kinda wanna keep the original tape/bars/levers/stem in a box so I can return almost everything to original if/when I'm done with the bike. Does anyone have a nice, long-extension 21.1mm road stem from a SS or a LeTour or anything they'd like to sell? I'm thinking I want to buy a stem as similar to the stock one as I can find, and run some bars that fit me better, and just rewrap them fresh with some tape that'll compliment the saddle. Or, any other bright ideas?

-Cranks. These bikes came set-up with a OPC with a double chainring. I love the cranks, but I want to go single with this whole thing, and I'm thinking the best bet is to clean/polish the original cranks really well, and put them in a box, complete with the rings and pedals, and start over from scratch. So, here's where I'm really conflicted. I'm going to replace the cranks and will obviously need a different sprocket. The options i'm considering:
-One Piece Crank with a silver or chrome 5-bolt spider and a "normal" roadie-type chainring (I have, probably, all of these parts on hand... I don't know exactly what size 110mm rings i have on hand, but worst case scenario, I'll buy a new one in 48t or whatever....)
-One Piece Crank with a 46t Schwinn "clover" sprocket (I already have these parts, too.)
-Chrome BMX tubular-style 3piece cranks (eg, Redline Flight or similar) with a silver Profile 5-bolt spider (Thanks, Smoop) and a 48t chainring
-Chrome BMX 3-piece cranks with a hat washer and the 46t clover sprocket.

The last two options would require me buying a crankset, as I don't have a spare one on-hand, but I'm thinking the last option there would be the "classiest" move, and I also kinda wanna find a good spot to use my Profile spider. I'm open to other ideas, but I find the idea of a bsc adaptor and a typical roadie-type 3 piece crank to be utterly unappealing for this build.

So, what do y'all think? If it matters, I'm keeping the original paint/decals, and I'm probably going to be running either cream or gumwall Schwalbes, or maybe these white Vittorias I've been sittin' on for a minute, on some silver hoops.

Thanks in advance. Dang, that's a long post.
-Rob
 
I just found a one owner Super Sport. Wondering what should I offer as reasonable. Bike is a 5 out of 10


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Pics? Year? What're they asking? And, where is the bike located? Super Sports are expensive around me, but cheap elsewhere....
 

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