Schwinn Continental II

[wheelbender6]

Brought home this 1979 Conti II. I am very unfamiliar with these Schwinns. Its a low spec bike, but virtually every component is stamped Schwinn or Schwinn Approved. That crankset is as big as a satellite dish.
I may add upright bars and a 3 spd coaster hub.

 

[Wildcat]

The Continental was a step up from the Varsity. I had a 65 frame and forks that I made into a cruiser.

 

[wheelbender6]

Great color. Looks like you added some wider beach cruiser wheels, too.

-My favorite thing about my Continental is that nice little French made fork, and it looks like yours has it too.

-By the way, the date in my original post was a typo. it's a 1979 Conti, verified by SN. Sorry.

 

[Wildcat]

Coppertone was available back in the 60's. My favorite Schwinn color.
I put 26" wheels on, but the bike was made for 27". The hand brakes wouldn't reach, so coaster brakes was what I went with on a Sachs 3 speed and also standard cranks from a Schwinn cruiser to make up for the lower height.

 

[wheelbender6]

Here is a quick mock up for my Conti. Bars, front brake and 3 speed coaster were scavenged from a 1977 Breeze.

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

IMO, the Varsity and Continental frames make great upright "touring" style bikes for townie use, such as the Varsity Tourist models were.

 

[rickpaulos]

I have done scores of single speed conversions many using Schwinn ef frames. The original brakes and gears were pretty lousy. The Schwinn rims are so heavy. Lots of room for improvement. I use aluminum 26" mtb rims. There is room for wider tires depending on which fork. The flat blade forks have more room and can take up to aboujt 2" tires. The tubular forks only have room for about 1.5" tires. The converted bikes can ride pretty well with the right tires.
See many of them in this album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rickpaulos/albums/72157713235563153

 

[Walter Zoomie]

I have done scores of single speed conversions many using Schwinn ef frames. The original brakes and gears were pretty lousy. The Schwinn rims are so heavy. Lots of room for improvement. I use aluminum 26" mtb rims. There is room for wider tires depending on which fork. The flat blade forks have more room and can take up to aboujt 2" tires. The tubular forks only have room for about 1.5" tires. The converted bikes can ride pretty well with the right tires.
See many of them in this album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rickpaulos/albums/72157713235563153

I like the way you think, and how you make what many consider junk way cool. I have a pile of dept. store bikes like that I'd like to convert, but I'm having a helluva time finding coaster brake rear wheels.

 

[rickpaulos]

I like the way you think, and how you make what many consider junk way cool. I have a pile of dept. store bikes like that I'd like to convert, but I'm having a helluva time finding coaster brake rear wheels.

There is no shortage of bso mountain bikes with aluminum rims. They usually range from $5 to free for the whole bike. They have rear hub flanges that are pretty close to the same size as coaster brake hubs so the spokes will transfer over. Yeah, 36h hubs are the factor. So many of the 20" kids bikes have 28h hubs. I'm always looking for those with 36h. Next issue is the kids bikes tend to have pretty short axles so you can either replace the axle and add some spacers to match the frame width or cold set the frame to match. Despite being made in China where metric axles rule in freewheel and cassette hubs, the coasters need a 3/8" axle. I cleaned out my lbs of their old stock years ago. Many of the old 10 speed bikes just work better as single speeders. Simple and reliable bikes that are often 10 pounds lighter.

 

[Walter Zoomie]

There is no shortage of bso mountain bikes with aluminum rims. They usually range from $5 to free for the whole bike. They have rear hub flanges that are pretty close to the same size as coaster brake hubs so the spokes will transfer over. Yeah, 36h hubs are the factor. So many of the 20" kids bikes have 28h hubs. I'm always looking for those with 36h. Next issue is the kids bikes tend to have pretty short axles so you can either replace the axle and add some spacers to match the frame width or cold set the frame to match. Despite being made in China where metric axles rule in freewheel and cassette hubs, the coasters need a 3/8" axle. I cleaned out my lbs of their old stock years ago. Many of the old 10 speed bikes just work better as single speeders. Simple and reliable bikes that are often 10 pounds lighter.

Pardon my ignorance, but let me get this straight...

You're buying 36 hole coaster brake hubs and lacing them into old 26" 10-speed/MTB wheels using the existing spokes?

 

[rickpaulos]

Buying? Hum not buying, I manage a local bike coop/recycling shop [501c(3) non-profit charity]. We receive about 500 bikes donated to the coop each year. Many aren't worth fixing up so they get dismantled for spare parts and scrap metal recycling. Keeping bikes out of landfills is one of our missions. But yeah, I rebuild wheels for the single speed conversion projects (and other bikes as needed). New wheels just cost way to much for low budget projects. I give about 200 bikes away each year to various charities so cost is an issue. There is literally a mountain of wheels (1000+?) in our basement, plenty of good wheels to choose from for rims and spokes. One wheel type we don't get is cruiser wheels. Just not enough of those around. The vast majority of new bikes are bso mtbs so those are the main source of parts.