Bicycle Mechanics - Schwinn 70's Varsity wheel question.

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.



PDA
krowfeather
08-02-10, 08:31 PM
I am trying to rebuild (not restore) a 70's schwinn varsity frame into a single speed bike. I was going to use an old 700c track wheelset on the bike for starters. To my dismay, the axle on the wheelset has a wider diameter and will not fit into the frame's dropouts. If anyone has done this conversion before, I was was wondering what were the solutions around this problem. I was thinking of maybe taking the axles from the schwinn wheelset and transplanting into the track wheelset. Or, I could also cut the dropouts on the bike to make them wider (But, I really don't want to do that). This is my first conversion, so any info/advice would be much appreciated. Thanks :)

FBinNY
08-02-10, 09:32 PM
The easy fix is a file. You have two choices.

You can file flats on both sides of the axles (like an oval track) so they fit the dropouts, or file the dropouts so they fit the axle. Note that it's important to maintain symmetry especially on the fork, so file from one side only preserving the other as a good reference.

On forks, don't file the top of the slot unless you're doing it by design to center the wheel at the top of the fork. On rear dropouts, widen them by filing the bottom surface, leaving the top edge unchanged (again unless you need to change how wheels fit).
ScottNotBombs
08-02-10, 09:34 PM
I've switched front axles on a couple wheelsets before. On one I had to widen the hole in the dust cover to fit the cone.
Never thought about filling flat spots on the axle.