Chicago Schwinn mountain bike?
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I found a blue Sierra for $15 last autumn and took the Ukais from it for a klunker project. My frame dated to Nov 1982, but the headbadge number dated to March 1983
Before anyone gets too cranky about parting an old bike, it had been outside next to a shed for 20 years; apparently the shed was painted at some point and the bike got some, too. I DO have all of the parts, except the saddle and tires (destroyed by the elements) and rims. Chrome parts are what you'd expect in that situation. My stem also says "Schwinn" and the stem and bars are straight 7/8" BMX size, no bump up 1" center section.
I imagine at some point I would get around to listing them for sale, but if someone wants something I'm open to offers.
I will keep the "alpine" suntour freewheel; everyone collects something and I only have one of that variety.
Before anyone gets too cranky about parting an old bike, it had been outside next to a shed for 20 years; apparently the shed was painted at some point and the bike got some, too. I DO have all of the parts, except the saddle and tires (destroyed by the elements) and rims. Chrome parts are what you'd expect in that situation. My stem also says "Schwinn" and the stem and bars are straight 7/8" BMX size, no bump up 1" center section.
I imagine at some point I would get around to listing them for sale, but if someone wants something I'm open to offers.
I will keep the "alpine" suntour freewheel; everyone collects something and I only have one of that variety.
Last winter, converted 3 Varsities into 26" knobby tire beach cruisers. There is just enough room for 1.95 tires. Add a coaster brake rear hub and you can recycle-can the the lousy gears & brakes the Varsities came with. Add aluminum rims and the ride improves a ton, better than the Varsity with 27" steel wheels or any of those early Schwinn mountain bike tanks with those horrible cantis.
I pretty much would want the frame/fork/headset, and the stem/bars sound promising, too. You got any pictures?
The allure of this frame is, it's a Chicago Schwinn that will take fat knobbies and has canti posts brazed on. That's the dream. I'd probably run it singlespeed freewheel with either v-brakes or some nice cantilever brakes. I've done the Schwinn Varsity/other "lw"-to-26" build before, and i agree it's a lot of fun.... but I think some 2.3" knobbies and some v-brakes would be even more fun.
I've had a couple of those aqua blue Sierras. Horrible mountain bike on single track but a what a street cruiser! Very long wheel base with a laid back head tube. Those were made before the industry learned how to make trail bikes. Rolls along great as long as you don't want to take sharp corners.
No fenders. It took several tries on the tires. Not all 1.95 tires are the same actual width. I wanted the fattest I could fit without rubbing the stays.
No fenders. It took several tries on the tires. Not all 1.95 tires are the same actual width. I wanted the fattest I could fit without rubbing the stays.
I'd say it was worth the effort; that bike looks sweet and is probably a blast to ride.
Did it originally have 700c tires on it? (I haven't dealt with Varsities at all). I know the guys at my LBS always used to warn me against converting from 700c to 26" because the bottom bracket would move too close to the ground and I'd end up with issues with the crank arms hitting the pavement.
Most Varsities were 27", a few 26"x skinny and some 24" for kids. They ended production of 'real' Varsities before 700c got popular in the USA. The Varsity was probably Schwinn's all time best selling model so there are plenty out there for really cheap. Pacific has recently renewed the Varsity name on a variant of the Denali. About 8-10 years ago, there was a "Carbon Fiber" Varsity. Welded aluminum frame with a partial wrap that sold for $595.
Yeah, putting on smaller rims will lower the bike. But putting on fatter tires raises the bike. And the bb drop varies considerably among bikes and frame sizes. Some bikes just sit so high to start with, especially <21" roadie frames, track bikes and mtb bikes. Shorter cranks or narrower pedals can reduce pedal scrape. A narrower bb axle can too. The biggest problem going from 27/700c to 26" is brake arm reach. You would certainly need longer brake arm and cantis/v-brakes would be out of the question. Going coaster eliminates the brake reach problem and helps simplify the bike.
You don't get cranks hitting the ground, you get pedals hitting when you corner because the pedals stick out farther. Our local coop has a 27" road bike with 16" wheels on it. It has 3" crank arms that just clear the pavement. The pedals do hit if the bike isn't exactly upright.
The most extreme are unrideable lowrider show bikes like this:
rick
I pretty much would want the frame/fork/headset, and the stem/bars sound promising, too. You got any pictures?
The fork is gone; headset is serviceable (OEM Schwinn, same as on thousands of other bikes) Stem would clean up well, bars rusty, but sound. I will take pics next weekend...take me a while to get things "un-stored", LOL.
No rush at all.... I gotta figure out what fork I'm gonna run..... Keep me posted!
Thanks....
I've run a 22" Varsity frame with Kenda K80s, which are s'posed to be 26x2.125", but they're definitely narrower than that. Fit'm in there on some Weinmann AS7X rims with a coaster brake and a worksman fork (steerer tube is the perfect length, and the Worksman fork actually had a longer ATC measurement than a stock Varsity fork.) I ran the axle pretty far back in the dropouts, and had no problems with rubbing...
Might seem counter-intuitive, but you might find more clearance with one of the 26x1 3/8" Schwinn lightweights (Racer, Collegiate, Speedster, etc) as hey have longer chainstays and slacker angles....
Might seem counter-intuitive, but you might find more clearance with one of the 26x1 3/8" Schwinn lightweights (Racer, Collegiate, Speedster, etc) as hey have longer chainstays and slacker angles....
