Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - A very old, new single speed.

I picked up what I *thought was an old schwinn 3-speed, but as it turns out the it was altered at some time and the rear wheel has a single speed hub with "Sachs Jet 36p" on it (gearing is 46x16). Is this a decent single speed to start on, is there anything I should change?

*This (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/thaticktockman/Bikes/schwinnhub.jpg) is a single speed hub right?

Essentially. Looks like a coaster brake. Single speed, yes, and lots of fun

Sweet, thanks! :D

right

coaster brake yes, but it looks like an internal three speed hub.

Huh, that's odd. What would change the internal gears? There's nothing on either side of the bolt, like in schwinn 3-speeds I've seen... And after looking at it again, I can't see anything that could be connecting the internals to a cable. I just noticed it says 'torpedo' on the brake lever and found a post on the forums about these.

"Torpedo" was a name used by several hubs made by the old Sachs company. This included single speed coaster brakes, two speed kickback and automatic, and three speed hubs.

sachs also produced the torpedo boy 2spd auto hub.
Since there's nothing that connects to the interior I don't think it's a 3 speed (are there auto 3 speeds?), which leaves a 2 speed auto, 2 speed kickdown, and single speed. Since it only has sachs torpedo on the brake lever (not torpedo boy) it seems like it's a single speed or two speed kickdown?

whoa, that's more than i know. i'm just guessing based on what looks like a cable running down your picture and the fact you originally thought it was a three speed. no matter how it turns out the bike will ride like a single speed coaster brake and be fine (i rode internal three-speeds all over europe) but the hub might be much heavier than it has to be.

Cable? Do you mean the cap that goes over my digitkam lense? ;)
Whle we're still on the subject, you wouldn't happen to know what a kick down hub is?

the folks in classic/vintage would know a lot more than us in here.

This is my '54 Schwinn single speed. I bought the frame, crank, fork, stem, and bars as a unit. The bars have no marks where a shifter, or breaks would have been. I sanded the frame, flipped the bars on a new stem, and applied some 26" coaster wheels I'd had. I hope you enjoy this quiet and simple way to go. Best of luck on your project. Enjoy yourself. Joe

The rear reflector does not match the bicycle, sorry.

every internal 3 speed hub i've ever seen has a cable system to change the gears, obviously inside the hub. the cable mechanism usually comes out the end of the hub, so if there is no cable going back to the hub (or any braze-ons indicating there might have been a cable) then it's probably just a single speed

On a two-speed kickback hub, you change gears by pedaling backward; i.e., applying the brake.

http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_i-k.html#kickback

They are cool hubs, and collectors are starting to appreciate them.

Ohhh... pretty Schwinn. I wish my chrome wasn't rusted to hell, but I can always sand and paint over. Thanks for the info on the two speed kickdown, btw. :)