Old Schwinn- Weird gearing set-up
 

Making some more scrap and saving potentially useful pieces.

Found a Schwinn 10 speed where the FRONT sprockets ratcheted and the rear gear set was fixed.

What was that all about? Obviously it didnt catch on.

-SP

Shimano FFS system. Donate it away. Heavy, balky, and lots of bearings fall out if you ever want to overhaul it.

oddjob2 speaks the truth. FFS was an evolutionary dead end which died a rapid, merciful death.

Wow, what a blast from the past. I wonder if it also has the Positron shifter and deraileurs? In the thread,
http://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-me...ear-cable.html
someone suggested chucking such a bike into a river when no one was there to witness.

Seems to me like this would be collectible for the sheer quirkiness of it.

Shift while coasting/freewheeling...

When was this produced?

Sheldon Brown's SHIMANO page has it listed in 1982.

1982 Shimano Catalogue Page 35

Cheers

Front Freewheeling System FFS, as others said. The racheting is in the bottom bracket axle. The chain's always moving with the bike in motion. Likely a development during the 1970's bike boom. Often sold to less serious bikers. Scared of dee-railers,, drop bars, Etc. Schwinn might have built the most of them, I don't think the technology was a Schwinn exclusive though. Chris

Thanx, this is my first time hearing of it.

Widely available on Panasonic, Villagers IIRC

Question. Do these front freewheeling bikes have a "standard" bottom bracket that would allow conversion to the "normal" type bottom bracket that can be used with normal rear wheels?

No, it is threadless.

I remember those from when I "worked" (I was underaged and the owner called me an apprentice) in a Schwinn shop sometime around 1979 or so. Definitely a bike boom "innovation" that didn't last. Schwinn imported alot of Panasonics when they realized the Varsity/Continental was way outdated and I'm sure this drivetrain was on Panasonics that had their own label as opposed to a Schwinn name.

The Shimano FFS was used on certain Schwinn bikes from 1977 through 1985, and had the freewheel on the crank. This allowed you to shift even while not pedaling since the chain and rear sprockets would always be turning whether you were pedaling or not. When combined with the Positron rear derailleur it was also one of the first indexed shifting systems.

The first Schwinn with the Shimano FFS was the 1977 Suburban: Schwinn catalogs, 1971 - 1980 (344 of 579)

FFS combined with a "Positron" rear derailleur came on the Caliente in 1978 and '79: Schwinn catalogs, 1971 - 1980 (386 of 579)

FFS/Positron was added to the Varsity in 1980: Schwinn catalogs, 1971 - 1980 (520 of 579)

In 1982 it was also used on the World Tourist: Schwinn catalogs, 1981 - 1990 (78 of 456)

The last Schwinn with FFS/Positron system was the 1985 Varsity.

Yes. Schwinn bikes with one-piece FFS cranks such as the Suburban, Caliente, Collegiate, and Varsity had the same OPC bottom bracket as the non-FFS models. Likewise those with 3-piece FFS cranks like the World Tourist had the same 68mm English threaded bottom bracket as used by non-FFS 3-piece crank models.

Note that converting a FFS to a standard crankset would require changing both the crankset and the freewheel.

There's a Miyata mixte out in the barn that is so equipped.

Top

Truth. Also, as Meta pointed out, most of the FFS bikes came with Shimano Positron index shifting. None of the parts of the Positron system interchange with standard derailleurs. Conversion is possible, but not practical. I worked on a few in my bike shop days (1979-1984).

Thanks guys for all the wealth of info about this strange setup.

-SP

There are competition trials bikes that have the freewheel mechanism on the front.. very different quality and price from the FFS stuff though. They use ultra fine ratcheting.

I've a collected a few FFS sets for screwing around with on tandems. They were available for more than one BB type.

I picked up a 1980 Suburban with this setup, back in late November, for $20 & change at the local sally. It was interesting, and the bike is very clean, but I mostly wanted the tires it was wearing. Someone had put on some awesome brand new 27" Kendas, with a knobby tread pattern, which rubbed the fenders a bit. Apparently, they just gave up before they started, on the clearance, and donated it. :) Score on the tires, for my old Trek 330 winter bike.

Hi looking for a shimano FFS. Has anyone got one?

I had heard about FFS but never actually seen one until someone brought an old Ross women's bike into my shop earlier this spring. The grease in the bottom bracket had turned to tar, and the front freewheel mechanism was so gummed up that it no longer worked. Someone had replaced the original FFS freewheel with a conventional one to allow the bike to freewheel.

After I overhauled everything, the FFS worked again, but was defeated by the conventional freewheel. The only remaining FFS attribute was that when you rotated the pedals backward, the chain didn't move. I had to explain that I hadn't broken anything--that it was designed to work that way.

It hasn't been made in 33-ish years. Your best bet is to find a bike with all the parts intact.

From 1982: 1982 Shimano Catalogue Page 35

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/shimano1982/images/35.jpg

There seems to be a virtually unlimited supply of FFS freewheels on eBay: shimano freewheel ff | eBay

I know--I told the owner that we could restore the "shift while coasting" feature--which she vaguely remembered from when the bike was new--but she didn't think it was worth bothering with, given the $ that an original-type freewheel would cost.