Darth Lefty 

I am tearing into my '71 Super Sport. I remarked in another thread that it was heavy; I have determined that it's all reflector weight. It has:

• A 3" clear square front reflector
• Two 2" red round rear reflectors
• Four 1x3" amber reflectors, on either side of both head and seat tube
• Four amber reflectors in the pedals
• Two red reflectors in the rear wheel
• I guess if it still had its front wheel that would be two more

Fifteen reflectors! Was all this original or was it someone's midnight commuter?

Metacortex

I don't think any of those were original. In '71 the bike would have come with a single Gulco (Bright Star) No. 2222 2-1/4" red rear reflector (attached via a bracket on the rear caliper bolt) and no front, pedal or wheel reflectors. In '72 the pedal reflectors were standard and by '73 you had clear front and red/amber wheel reflectors as well. By '76 due to the CPSC regs. they all had to be wide angle reflectors.

Roopull

I reckon that if you took off all those reflectors, replaced them with a roll of reflective tape, you'd be twice as bright and half the weight!

Metacortex

Oh wait, your '71 Super Sport is actually a '72 since it is Opaque Green (frames were built well in advance of the actual bikes). In that case it would have also come with pedal reflectors. In your case the pedals are KKT RT SF with integral reflectors, which were the substitute option on your bike that year (standard were Atom 440 pedals with Cibie TPP-11 reflectors).

Darth Lefty 

Thanks Metacortex. Can always rely on you to have the answers on fillet Schwinns. Is all this written down somewhere or is it only in your head?

Metacortex

Thanks, I've been documenting and making notes on these bikes for a couple of years now and I do have quite a bit written down!

The Golden Boy 

I'm one of those people that don't mind tasteful reflectors.

John E

It depends on the bike. My Peugeot and my Schwinn are loaded w/ reflectors and lights, because each of them sees occasional night duty. I have no reflectors on the other bikes.

ofgit

Removed the reflectors on the frame/spokes and taped over the ones on the pedals, of my Fuji S10-S, for more 'stealth' while riding home from work at midnight in the mid '70s when I was in A&P school. Made it easier to avoid/escape harrassment from late night drunks/troublemakers in cars. Usually rode 1 block off but parallel to the 'main' streets too. Kinda funny that I could look over and see the same cars stopped at the redlights on the main drag as I rode past. Could bike across town in Lake Charles, LA as fast as they could drive it!

Darth Lefty 

But is the description in my first post gauche? I think so.

Darth Lefty 

For lack of a better spot, I'm going to turn this into a vanity thread for my Super Sport. I feel a little rude about this, as it's not going to be anything really special by some of your standards. But I'm having fun.

Last week I picked up some wheels, a rear steelie to replace the taco that was in place, and a front alloy. The front isn't quite true but not too bad. The rear was nutted and not QR, I will be using the original QR axle on it.

A few days ago I got a claw derailleur hanger from LBS Patriot Bicycles. I intended to use an Acera RD that I had from my PDG fiasco. Turns out it was for BMX track ends and not horizontal, the notch faced the wrong way. I took it back and he didn't have the reverse one, but he dug through his bins and found me a Shimano RD-Z501-GS, a big chrome steel blunt object complete with claw. Apparently this was the last non-indexing group that Shimano made. The parallelogram is level but not slanted, like the earlier 600 GS and "deerhead" Deore. He also had a Suntour U, which I'd like to have tried, but it was short cage and missing a pulley. He offered to let me sort through the bins and build what I needed, but I'd just dropped in for the claw, and the wife was waiting with the baby.

I'm restringing the cables with the $7 Bell set from Wal-Mart, which is working fine.

The Golden Boy 

What do you mean "rude?" Heck, I'd start a "1971 Super Sport Upgrade Project" thread in addition to this one.

Super Sports are cool bikes, and it's always cool to see how people approach different problems. I've taken so many ideas from all these threads, and it's flattering when someone asks you a question or takes one of your ideas because they liked what you did.

As an aside- the Z-series stuff is kind of like a 3rd tier ATB group for ATBs and "sport" bikes- below XT and Deore (MT-60/62 before Deore became Deore LX *shudder*). Some of the Z stuff DOES index- I think the Z525 RDs are the Light Action indexing guys.

Darth Lefty 

I need to keep looking for wheels. The front might be tolerable but neither of the rears has turned out to be anything I want to use. I put in the rear wheel of my Paramount, with a 32c Panaracer Pasela, to get some work done on other pieces that need it.

The Shimano RD mentioned above looks right at home on the bike.



It mounted ok but did not seem to have any B-tension. So I took it apart at the upper pivot, and indeed the spring was not caught in its little hole as it should be. Likely this is the reason it wound up in the bin at the bike store. This was a pain to put back together while loading the spring without it popping out. I think there must have been a trick to it that I was missing, but I got it after a dozen attempts. The cage does not look especially straight so the claw is also probably a bit bent. But it shifts ok for this phase.

Plenty of adjustment in the brakes for 700c wheels...



and possibly enough clearance at the chain stays for 38 mm tires. The FD is probably boogered, it seems to be bent in several directions.



I think it's pretty interesting that the FD rides inside the pie plate. This along with the huge pedals seems like a great design for an everyday bike. The pie plate and outer chain ring are held on to the inner with bolts, not rivets, at about 4.5" BCD. This being a part built to prewar American standards, it seems unlikely it will mount to anything else. Does anyone know?

Metacortex

Those chainrings and guard were patented by Schwinn: Patent US3477303 - Double plateau sprocket assembly - Google Patents

I always liked the chainring guard as it meant you didn't have to worry about catching your pants or shoelaces on the chainring. I also liked that the assembly was bolted together with no washers or spacers. Schwinn actually did produce a riveted version of that setup in the late '70s on low-end bikes like the Runabout/Sportabout. I don't believe any of those chainring components interchange with other chainring sets, at least not any 3-piece units.

Darth Lefty 

This post contains no actual Super Sport content.

I strung the rear brake last night. My Ace Hardware cable cutter is really bad at the one thing it's supposed to do. I ought to bin it and get a different one.

I picked up some more rims this morning. The rear, Araya, is another nutted one. I can't win! But it's in far better shape than the other two I have, it's clean and alloy and true. It's a wide one. At first glance it looks like I will be able to put the other QR into it. The front is a Weinmann hoop and a Maillard hub with a "Schwinn Approved" QR, and also better than the one I had. It has a silly plastic wingnut on the drive side and those snap-on retainers. Must have come from the Eighties!

Money in this project so far:
Incomplete bike cadaver: $50
Tubes and cables: $22
RD and rim strips: $10
Wheels: $20
More wheels: $25

I think all I need is an FD and I'll be on the road. Maybe that Suntour thing from my PDG fiasco would work.

Darth Lefty 

Getting close to being roadworthy. The latest front wheel is on. I'm not fully pleased with it, it seems rough despite all the bearings and races looking ok. The brakes are strung. Still need the FD.

Since the Brooks saddle needs attention (as the classified-ad euphemism goes), I swapped it, for the moment, for a fish-out-of-water Romin Evo because it is the only other thing I have lying around. Are you ready for the picture? This makes me guffaw.

Darth Lefty 

With the original FD trashed, I slapped on this Suntour unit. It does thankfully have a housing stop. However it takes its housing behind and right of the seat tube, like most road bikes. The Huret unit took the cable on the left side of the tube and that's where the downtube braze-on is. Any opinions how I should route the housing?

First idea shown.



The original routing can be seen in this photo

Metacortex

I'd route it like the original, above the bottom bracket.

Darth Lefty 

I rode it around the cul-de-sac briefly a few days ago and the BB squeaked. But the baby's been colicky and that's taking all our attention. Finally got back to it last night and took it apart. It looks like it hasn't been greased since it left Chicago. I'll be buying a rebuild kid. In the meantime, I noticed it really was very heavy. Someone mentioned in another thread that it was five pounds, but I'd thought it was an exaggeration. I put it on the kitchen scale... crankset, pedals, and misc hardware come to 5 lb 8 oz.

Follow-on... the pedals are 12 oz apiece which means the crankset is 4 lb. Compare to about half that or less for current hardware.

Darth Lefty 

The original freewheel came out of the carburetor dip looking fabulous. It's heavy, too... 1 lb 5.3 oz. These things add up!

Darth Lefty 

Finished cleaning, regreasing, readjusting BB and pedals. Figured I'd put off the rebuild kit until I know the original is unsalvageable, and I want to keep it, AND I'm not going to put an English adapter into it. Considered riding it to work on the Paramount wheels but chickened out until I have some miles on it and nothing breaks.

pastorbobnlnh 

Don't trash the freewheel. Let me know if you want to trade it for something lighter weight.

Darth Lefty 

I was able to ride it around the neighborhood this afternoon, using the rear wheel from the Paramount. I really like it! The geometry, the handlebar, and the saddle all work really well for me. I think it's a keeper.
@pastorbobnlnh watch your email

Shp4man

Nice thread, nice bike. Very entertaining. There's hardly nothing as cool as an electroforged mint green frame.

Metacortex

They now seem to be *very* desirable: Schwinn Sports Tourer Bicycle 10 Speed 1971 23 039 Frame Green Vintage | eBay

I know I want one!