cuda2k

My wife and I are in the process of adopting the cutest Corgi, and in the process mentioned to the couple who is currently fostering her that our very own Corgi celebrity rides around in the back of a schwinn trike. She liked the idea so much, she went out and bought a 1975 Schwinn Town & Country off CL. As a token of appreciation for all the care they've given our soon to be pup I've offered to help her restore the trike to good working order.





The good news is that the bottom bracket feels smooth, the rear wheels turn with relative ease so just a good cleaning, remove the surface rust, and reassembly should be needed back there. The 3sp hub appears to work, but needs a new cable and housing.

Front wheel is not original, and is a bit too wide to work well with the front brake, in addition there is significant play in the front hub, like it needs to be tightened down another 1/4" or so kind of play. Sounds like they are completely open to the idea of replacing the front wheel completely with something more fitting and functional. Its a 26" (or is it the odd Schwinn 26"?) so options should be plenty.

Rear tires are about shot. They are 24 x 1 1/4", the Schwinn catalog says "Tubular rim" - now please tell me that's not a "tubular" tubular rim! I have to imagine that Schwinn wouldn't put a tubular tire on a 65lb trike!

As you can see, there's a lot of surface rust, and the decals are about gone. Looks like this one is going to be headed for the powder coat shop. Likely returning in a similar yellow hue, and going to be working with VeloCals on a set of decals.

Lastly, the rear fenders are a bit beat up. Not sure if they plan to try to beat them back into better shape, or if there's options out there for replacements that don't cost a ton.



Penny says thank you in advance for helping out the folks who have taken care of her since Christmas!

dbruening80

Should be a fun project, something different.

The Golden Boy 

Penny looks like a sweetheart!

I was thinking about getting my father in law a Town & Country trike.

cuda2k

2manybikes has informed me that the front wheel is supposed to be a 24". Posting a close up of the current front wheel for comparison sake:

2manybikes

It needs a 24" front rim, not the 26..

Tubular rims.........
When Schwinn made those rims they were called tubular because on each side near the bead there is a hollow section all around the rim, a tube. That was a selling point and was different. The dealers had small sections of a cut rim, maybe 6" or so, on display at the counter.
It makes them very stong. They are almost bomb proof.

2manybikes

Now that I'm looking, of course you are correct about that one being 26".
Make me a parts list for what you need

EDIT: Just for fun measure the cranks, They are 140's .....one four zero. That's why I could get mine up to 200 rpm. Can't do it on all my 170's.

Hoss Cartright

I've got one of these. Same color and model except single speed. (1971) It's weird how it wants to tip over when you turn. You have to really lean into the turns. On cambered streets you have to fight it to keep it going straight. My wife is afraid to ride it. She thinks it's a "death trap"... Just a part of my huge collection of Schwinns. Takes up some serious space in the garage.

ilikebikes

Wald makes pretty decent fenders for a fair prie, check them out as they may have what your looking for. I love those trikes! Good luck.

2manybikes

With high pressure tires they go flat and straight, unless something is wrong with it. Some riders try to balance it like a bike, and can't even get 50 feet. One needs to let it tip as ther terrain tips and just keep your body straight. Mine and all the others that I have ridden go straight.
Higher pressure tires keep the side to side swaying down, as compared to big soft tires possibly on that one. I have thin 70 psi tires on mine. I had it up to 20 mph once 19 once and 16 quite a few times. It is not dangerous, if you know not to turn too sharp. It's just different.
I only did my speed runs on a completely emtpy long section of a bike path with no intersections. I typically go about 10 mph. Mine is about 100 lbs. when loaded to ride.

Jeff Wills

The Schwinn Town & Country trikes I'm familiar with used the Schwinn-size 24 x 1 1/4 S-5 steel rims and appropriate tires. These are 547mm bead seat diameter, so I'm not surprised a mountain bike rim and tire (559mm BSD) fit.

I'm halfway certain that Schwinn used a 26" bicycle frame and fork for lower step-through height and compensated for the low BB with the very short cranks.

The rear end is unique in the adult trike world, AFAIK. The primary chain drives a Shimano 3-speed hub, which drives both rear wheels through a true differential. You can test this by raising both rear wheels in the air and spinning one rear wheel. The opposite wheel will spin the opposite direction.

In addition to the front fender, it's missing the removable basket. I'd say you need to put in a platform for the Corgi, anyway.

2manybikes

They are made with a differential and without one. Just one wheel drive. They come with a three speed or as a single speed. Most of the different brand upright tikes I have seen, or researched on line are available with a three speed driven in the same way. The one posted looks like the one wheel drive. The ones I Have seen with a differental, one could see that it was a differrential and did not have the same sprocket cover like this one.

cuda2k

They have the basket, it was removed when I got there and forgot to take a close look at it to see what condition it was in. You're right about the short cranks, 2manybikes mentioned to me that it's something in the order of 140mm! I'm going to be making up a parts list for them, and waiting on a quote for the powder coat and then to see what VeloCals can do with the decals. Should be a great ride when it's done, I may have to give it a spin around the neighborhood "just to make sure everything is right" before letting Kam have at it with her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in the basket. I'll keep the photos and updates posted as things develop.

Also, for those wondering what's happening with my other Schwinn project (the green Crosscut), the powder coat wasn't right on the fork when I went to pick it up Friday. It has been overcast and Jacob didn't see the orange peel effect on one side of the fork. So he's redoing the job again, should have it for me tomorrow for me to start the reassembly. At least then my bike room can be cleaned up a little bit and I can get reorganized some.

pastorbobnlnh 

Is that with or without Bailey and his 35lbs of cute corginess?

BTW, last summer, we taught our younger corgi, Biscuit, to follow us on the local rail trail. She could cover 2-3 miles at a good corgi clip of about 6mph, before needing a break. A friend suggested we needed a basket for her rest stops, so we could keep riding.

The next week the friend brought over a large wicker basket for the handle bars. It was designed to carry your >12lb miniature/toy dog. But Biscuit's 22lbs of tailless corginess could fit, with her paws hanging over the edge of the basket. I added some additional bracing to keep it secure.

So for the rest of the summer and into the fall Biscuit would go for our rail trail rides. After the initial 2-3 mile trot, she would rest for about a mile in the basket, bark to get down, and run about a mile, before another mile rest. Normally we would go about 15 miles so she would run about 7-8 of the total.

She only jumped out of the basket once. It was in the fall when a black bear crossed the trail about 20-30 feet in front of us. She jumped out and went into defensive herding mode, placing herself between us and the bear, as she barked the bear into the forest! It was quite impressive to see 22lbs going up against a 300+lbs bear!

2manybikes

It's great Bisquit fits in the basket.
The trike from the dealer is 60 lbs.Bailey is 30, half gallon of water about 4, plenty of tools, wooden ramp, baskets added under the basket, insulated water cooler, small things, leash, bike bag with lights etc. Over 10.
About 104 lbs.

I would pay good money to see a Corgi chase away a bear !! Wow !!


I think because they are bred to herd cattle, they have no fear of big animals.
They are popular around here with horse owners.
Bailey likes to herd the big dogs. Sometimes he just ignores small dogs.

pastorbobnlnh 

The funny thing is, Biscuit is usually afraid of every other dog she encounters, except Maggie, her corgi step sister. We were amazed she perceived the bear as not being a big dog. Maybe she sensed my wife's fear.

I'll try to get a picture up of Biscuit in her basket.

cuda2k

So looks like the short list of needed parts so far for this thing is:

1) Front wheel
2) 3 new tires / tubes
3) Chain / Cables / Housings / bearings - I have most of this, need to find what size bearings I'm needing after disassembly.
4) Shimano 3sp shifter (if possible, the existing works as far as we've been able to test, but a bit the worse for wear) - will an SA shifter work?
5) Front fender (possible rears as well) - Wald fenders should work here.
6) Brake pads - going to source them some good KoolStop salmon pads.

Once the Schwinn Crosscut is complete I'll be able to focus on helping Richard get this thing disassembled and a better idea of what's what. Some of the hardware on the bike looked pretty rusty, but hopefully a soak in oxlyic acid with the rear rims will make those salvageable.

The existing rims are 547mm S-5/S-6. 2manybikes may be able to get me a new front wheel or rim, but as a secondary option, what's the next closest size that's commonly available?

Jeff Wills

I've seen the one-wheel-drive trikes, and I'm kind-of sure they were earlier than the two-wheel-driven (with differential) Schwinn trikes. The Schwinn shop where I worked had a couple trike rear ends (single-wheel drive) sitting in the back in the "we'll never sell this stuff" pile.

The Schwinn catalogs I've seen only show one model trike (1-speed or 3-speed) for each year. I could be mus-remembering, but the 1975 catalog I posted above only had the one.

What other trikes had differentials? I've seen others that drove both rear wheels, but they used freewheels on each axle, not a true differential.

Jeff Wills

They have a plastic cover, and usually took a beating. The Shimano 3-speed shifters were one-size-fitzall for 25 years (I think), so you should be able to find a replacement pretty easily:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Shimano-3-sp...-/270899064696

2manybikes

My 1973 is one wheel drive, I see another guy with an Identical trike, (and it is a three speed) I still see on the bike path, ride, and assemble for a bike shop, new trikes of many brands. They are one wheel drive. They are offered today as a single speed or a three speed, the frame will accept either way. It turns out that on pavement a differential for a human powered trike is just more weight. And on a slippery surface, (just like a car without a limited slip differential) the power goes to the wheel with less traction. At least with one wheel drive you can try and shift the weight to that side. There is one brand on the internet that I have studdied that does use two freewheels, that works great in slippery stuff.
I have studdied all the different brand trike I can find on the internet.
There is still a brand that advertises it has a full differential, and sells it as a benefit.
It's useless. Somone posted it a few years ago and I read about it here. Can't remember the brand.

Grand Bois

After lifting one of those into the back of my truck, I decided that an aluminum frame is probably a better idea for a trike.

2manybikes

The Torker trike comes in aluminum, I think it's only about 5 lbs lighter than there steel version. Still heavy.

cuda2k

The powder coat guy quoted around "$105 - $110 or so" for the powder coat on this thing (solid color), emails off to jrrestore for decal quote thanks to 2manybike's photos of his trike. In other news, we've got a firm date set for when Penny is coming to live with us, a week from tomorrow!

Debating if I want to fight with the Crosscut assembly any tonight or just veg on the couch till 7pm when the Farktography contest goes live (weekly photography contest on popular random news site Fark.com that I've started participating in as a diversion between bike projects)

PHT

I briefly had one of these- until it was stolen. It was a lot of fun. I could have sworn my version had a 2 speed kickback setup.

Yellow is obviously the best of the Scwhinn colors.

I would think any swap meet would have you covered for a cheap front wheel. For fenders you're probably better off ordering from Niagara- as others have said, Wald is def the way to go!

I think a big ole headlight would look great mounted to the stem.

skydog6653

I can never remember how to tell; are these pembrokes or cardigans?

2manybikes

2 speed kickback was one of the options. SA still offers them for sale now too!

Trike makers often offer fenders as an option. There are different types that attach differently. Do a search on line for fenders that are made to go onto that wheel/frame type. Try "adult trike tricycle".

Torker has them I don't know about the colors or chrome.
I think worksman offers them as an option too. One can see by the photos on some of the trike web sites how the fenders attach.