Classic & Vintage - New Rear Derailleur for Schwinn Sprint

Hey all,

Just put my rear derailleur into my spokes. Everything else is fine (me included) and I've got a jankity single-speed setup for the time being, but is it wise to put a new derailleur on an older bike?

A Schwinn Sprint is no prize, but I'm not even sure if a modern derailleur would work in a "grind 'em to find 'em" application.

Thoughts?

Which Sprint do you have? The 1974-76 curved seat tube or the later 1980s version? My answer would depend on the one you have. Roger

If it's the late 80s version, just pick up any old 80s Suntour derailleur and you should be good to go.

+1 Pick up a nice vintage Suntour RD and you will be ready to go.

Definitely the late 80's version. Serial # is on the right rear dropout. That sounds good.... but its a matter of finding one, eh? They're everywhere, I know (in fact, my Miyata has one that's almost identical) but short of buying a whole bike I can't seem to find one near me.

I guess the question is, would a derailleur built for an indexed application work?

I guess the question is, would a derailleur built for an indexed application work?
Derailleurs don't know whether the shifter is friction or indexed.

A problem you might encounter, though, with a newer derailleur built to travel across 9 or 10 cogs is that you may not be able to set the limit screws for the relatively short travel of 5 or 6 cogs. You might have to modify the limit screws by using longer ones.

Derailleurs don't know whether the shifter is friction or indexed.

Couldn't have said it better myself.:thumb:

What FD does it have on it? Try to put a contemporary RD to go with it would be my choice.

You might want to check to alignment of the RD hanger too, just in case. I bet you could score a good model suntour RD for 20 or less on ebay.

Thanks for the suggestions. Scooper: just finding out that "indexed" just means the shifters have intervals. Funny how such a simple thing (make it click) had such a big impact.

The original derailleur was a Suntour Hero. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these were actually riveted to the hanger. I suspect this was bent.... my bike had issues balancing on its kick stand, and the RD likely broke the bike's fall more than once. The tragedy here is that I knew there was some kind of problem, and I put the RD into the spokes in a lame attempt to find out just how bad it was. Friggin idiot.....

What would be the equivalent of the Hero, if not the next step up? I'm new to the biz of swapping parts... and this seems like such a subjective thing that trying to look it up would be pointless.

Hero is low end Suntour. This is a good chance to upgrade. The Vx, ARX, Cyclone, BL (blue line), are all really good and routinely available on ebay. The GT versions of these models have longer cages and are a good choice as well. I just took a set of AR (one step below ARX) off a donor bike this AM to put on another project. Nothing wrong with the AR either.

Do a search, someone has posted the levels on Suntour. I have Suntour on almost every bike I own right now.

I really like donor bikes, off this current donor road bike so far I have used the crankset and bottom bracket, both brake calipers, freewheel, front and rear derailleurs, stem, and a couple of other misc parts.

The Sun Tour Hero had an integrated hanger that used the rear hub axle bolt to mount the derailleur to the frame dropout. It's a pretty low end derailleur, so just about any mid-eighties derailleur with an integrated hanger should work fine.

There's a Hero on eBay now (not mine) with a "Buy-it-Now" price of $14, and that might be your best bet. To prevent the chain from going into the spokes or between the stays and the small cog, adjust the low and high limit screws carefully as shown in THIS VIDEO CLIP ( http://bicycletutor.com/adjust-rear-derailleur/).

Here's the link to the Sun Tour Hero on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390066701022

Find out why your derailler went into your spokes. Either it was maladjusted or the hanger was bent. If the hanger was bent, your next derailler will also go into your spokes.

Find out why your derailler went into your spokes. Either it was maladjusted or the hanger was bent. If the hanger was bent, your next derailler will also go into your spokes.
His frame doesn't have a hanger, so if he changes his derailleur he'll also be changing the hanger (of course, it could be bent too).

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7/k4drd/Bicycles/SprintSunTourHeroRD.jpg