Classic & Vintage - '70s Schwinn SS

Hi all, I recently just purchased a 70's Schwinn SS, and I am currently working on making it my long distance ride worthy bike. I bought the bike in decent condition for $120 off of CL. Done some work to it in the past week or so and now I feel I am getting it dialed in for my liking.

Anyways, my new thing is: I want to replace the cassette and I am not 100% on what will fit. It currently has a 5 sprocket cassette on the rear. I believe 14-30 is the difference. BUT I want to put a different cassette on it to get maybe another couple of gears out of it. Everything on it appears to be stock, when I bought it the bike still had the original seat on it. the FD and RD both appear to be stock as well. If I do replace the cassette I am pretty sure I will need to replace the RD at the very least.

Any and all help/advice is MUCH appreciated.

Post some pictures of the bike.

It has a 5 speed freewheel on it. Measure the space between the dropouts. 120 was for 5 speeds and 126 was for 6 to 7 speeds.

I'd keep it as is for a while. Folks used 5 speed freewheels for years and had no issues.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/upgrade.html

+1 It does not have a cassette, it has a five speed freewheel. Changing to something else = new rear wheel.

Post some pictures of the bike.

Well lets see if this works. There are 2 pics one is the day I bought the bike, with the yellow handle bar tape and tires. If you look closely it appears to still have the original seat on it as well. When I brought the bike home my brother, who is MUCH smaller than I am, sat on it and the seat cracked and then proceeded to disintegrate, so I replaced it with one I found at a local bike shop for about $35. The other is how the bike is now. Just replaced the wheels, tires, handle bar tape, and seat. I had to replace the rims due to on one trip I broke 2 spokes on the rear wheel. I replaced the spokes and trued the wheel then another 2 spokes broke. So I just decided to replace the wheels entirely. The bike seems to fit me very well, I am 6'4" and about 300lbs. Currently waiting on an academy date for California department of Corrections, so I decided to do this and run for the time being. I will be honest though, since getting the bike I have not done much running if any because riding this bike is too much fun now.

Cool Super Sport! What's the rear derailleur on there now? If that stock freewheel is 30 tooth max cog, it's fairly likely that the RD could handle a 32-t max cog, but no more than that. Another alternative is to swap out the boat-anchor crankset, use a Truvativ adapter and run a cotterless alloy crankset with something smaller than you have on there now. I did that with my Super Sport (though I'm running it as 1 x 5):

http://web.mit.edu/nlerner/Public/Bikes/SuperSport5_8.jpg

Neal

found something online here (http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_502049_-1_201521_10000_202430) and was wondering if this would be compatible? What should I be looking for? What weight range? I can always replace the pedals if I don't like them. Also what BB should I get to install it with?

^ I'm not sure that will work. Neal was referring to this (http://harriscyclery.net/product/truvativ-bottom-bracket-conversion-american-to-euro-adapter-1335.htm) adapter. I dunno, maybe with that adapter and the correct BB for that Nashbar crankset, it would work.

Yup, with the Truvativ adapter and an ISIS bottom bracket (http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_175234_-1___) (plus the tool (http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_183850_-1___) you need to install the cups for that BB), that crankset should probably work.

Neal

Evan, there is lots of love here for sixties/seventies Schwinns with fillet brazed frames (Superiors, Sport Tourers, and Super Sports). Just a word of caution, though: it's easy to get carried away with upgrades (not that there's anything wrong with that :D).

Here are a couple of seventies Super Sport project threads you might enjoy.

Pastor Bob's "Sporty" (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/423860-quot-Sporty-quot-Has-Left-the-Building!)

My "Sporty Due" (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/569262-1973-Schwinn-Super-Sport-Project)

There are lots of other great projects here like Neal's you can find by searching on Super Sport.

There are lots of other great projects here like Neal's you can find by searching on Super Sport.

Yes I did get to look at Sporty before I decided to join this wonderful forum. Heck it was probably a contributing factor.
I will have to check with my pops to see if he has that tool for the cups, as he has been working on bikes and cars longer than I have been around.
It looks like the crank will be the next thing to go. Not sure if I want to throw it out or not after I take it out. Probably wont trash it because I don't trash much of anything I take off my car let alone this bike.

What do you guys think of this (http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_167465_-1_201521_10000_202434)? Should I replace the stock one if I replace the crank? Do I need to? I figured if I stick with the same brand for FD and Crank they should work well together.

Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge guys. Much appreciated.