1962 Schwinn Continental specs.
 

I bought a 1962 Schwinn continental sport from California in February 2017. The bike is in very nice condition, but when UPS delivered it they bent the fork ( Full chromed) I had trouble finding a chrome fork that would except my handlebar stem which has a 7/8 inch or 22.22 Millimeters diameter. they were all too small. a worker at the bike store had one that fit, but one of the legs has a spot on the chrome that is not that nice. Their are many chromed forks out there, but I do not know if the inside diameter is large enough to fit my stem. Does anybody know what forks were used on early 1960's Schwinn Continentals. I almost bought one but the inside diameter was 21.79 millimeters which was too small. Other wise is their any product out their that restores the chrome finish.
Thank John.

Schwinn forks measured about 22.2mm (7/8") ID until 1966 when they changed to about 21.1mm (aka 13/16" or 0.833").

Are most of the Chromed forks for sale on E-Bay and other sources the later 21.1 millimeter diameters. Does anybody know where I can buy a chromed fork that has ID of 22.2 Millimeters for my 1962 Schwinn Continental sport.
John.

The best answer to that is probably to wait patiently until one appears on Ebay, as it inevitably will.

Does the fork have to be from a Schwinn? There were tons of 22.2mm replacement chromed forks with similar fork crown for 27" wheels produced over the years and still found as NOS.

I would think that a suitable replacement fork for an electro-forged bike would best have a generous fork offset or "rake" to play nice with the 69-70-degree headtube angle.
The headtube angle on the Continentals change about 1-degree steeper right around that time, perhaps in 1963, but that was a small change to what Schwinn described as a "more upright geometry".

There are very good stems available to fit in a 21.1mm steerer, and imo the painted Continental forks look better than bare chrome if one should turn up in the right color for your bike.

I used this 9cm .833" stem in my 1975 Varsity and it worked out fine both in form and function:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6f4cfcbaff.jpg


My mostly-original, late 1962 Continental has a 22.2mm stem, 2cm longer than stock iir:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a2c8c41105.jpg

Thanks to all who responded. Their is an E-Bay auction for Chromed fork with all the right measurements steerer 22..2 millimeters,.cro moly tubular chrome plated fork for 27 inch wheels. The steerer is 10 inches long (Ineed 6 5/8 inches) but I am sure ant good bike shop can cut it down and rethread it. Nice Varsity.
John.

Interesting that your 1962 Conti still had wingnuts. When did Schwinn adopt QR on the Conti?

I like the older Contis., with downtube shift and standard 6-bolt chainrings, better than the later ones. Yours looks like a superbly preserved specimen.

Wingnuts were not from the factory. The Continental got quick-release hubs in 1963.

Now I am sure that my Coppertone 1962 Schwinn Continental has all the original parts. Mine has center pull Weinmann brakes and full chromed fork, (most in 1962 had side pull brakes and chromed tip ends) Mine is late 1962 date (August 6th 1962). Serial # H223528. Nice blue Continental.
John.

John and John, Thanks, good eye, and yes, I think John Gialanella's Continental could have left the factory in the same truck as mine (another early 8/62 example).

And good call, Metacortex. I did indeed add the Huret wingnuts myself, and it is the most commented-on feature of the bike on the spirited rides that I do with the local foothills club here.

The bike turned up at the local Goodwill thrift store, marked @$100. I waited another day and finally sprung for it after realizing it's total originality (also came with a tubular German-made cargo rack, generator lights and hub shiners). This was my first of many electroforged acquisitions, after decades of riding mostly lugged steel.

I was wondering when someone might ask where the heck did I get clipless 1/2" pedals from, they are out there but were only produced for a very short time as the one-piece cranks apparently left the high-end BMX scene just as clipless BMX pedals came into vogue.
The VDO wind-up clock on the stem bolt was another addition, it is dated 1962 and so I took it out of it's NOS box for this bike. It was described as missing parts, I guessed that the seller thought that the wind-up knob was a connector for wire gone missing(?). A continental (European) collector of such things offered me about a hundred bucks for it.

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John,

does your Continental exhibit the Centrix brand handlebar stem?

the very earliest Continentals came with them but Centrix went out of business in 1962 so your bicycle may have received something else.

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If that is the one with the long v shaped arrow pointing to the AVA which is in sort of a triangle. Plus the handle bar stem is aluminum alloy, not steel.
John.

Sorry I should have said that it is the one on my bike.
John.

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Thank you.

Centrix was a french manufacturer of stems and bars, both steel and alloy. They operated from 1925 to 1962.

Schwinn employed them for the Continental model for the first year and one half or so.

Some of their road stem models featured a distinctive double binder.

http://i63.tinypic.com/2nunaqw.jpg

https://c3.staticflickr.com/2/1634/2...b3f8b4bc_k.jpg

http://forum.tontonvelo.com/download...7221&mode=view

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I just signed up two weeks ago, and was wondering if you can sell bike parts on this Forum. I have NOS in boxes Normandy Luxe Competition hubs (they look exactly like the Campy nouvo Record hubs) and also NOS in Boxes Weinmann Caliper brake kits side pull (says 500 or 600 ? it is hard to read) You can see these are top quality. Two boxes include calipers, brake handles, cables, and Weinmann hoods all NOS.
John.

You may have to have more posts and you need to upgrade your membership.

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The NOS Weinmann brake sets are probably model 500 as there is no model 600. Although there is a model 605.

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Juvela.
Thanks. Probably 600. Is that one of their top quality brakes. Juvela is their a member called Van. He sent private message but it was blocked because I do not have 10 or more posts. I wanted to let him know I am not ignoring him. I just cannot reply.
John.

No worries John, get your post count up, go say hi or comment on any post that you like.

Van

Does anyone know how I can get my Campagnolo Nouvo Record high flange hubs which are in good shape to look real shiny. I have seen Paramount (P-13"s) from the 1960' & 70's with beautiful shiny Campy hubs. I use to own a 1974 Schwinn Paramount P-13-9 in mint condition, but the campy hubs did not shine. I sold the bike 3 years ago because it was in such nice condition that I was afraid to ride it on our crummy roads in New Jersey.
John.

It depends on what you want to accomplish. If all that they need is to clean off some superficial oxidation, Simichrome metal polish, Barkeeper's friend or Brasso might do the trick. If you really want to smooth out surface irregularities, then there's this thread:
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ng-thread.html


It's fairly old, but it's very comprehensive.


To look for stuff on this site, type keywords into Google, and finish with site:bikeforums.net. The forum software's searching is rather useless, in my experience.

Thanks.
They are in nice shape, no pitting, cuts or anything like that. I just wanted to shine them up. You see this guy on U-Tube who restores bikes and they look better then new. I do not know how he does it. He must be very talented.
John.

I know this is a long shot but I bought another nicer pair of pedals for my 1962 Schwinn Continental on E-Bay. The ones on the bike are nice, but wanted pair in better shape. The only problem is one of the dust covers is missing. It screws into pedal and has slot across it. I tried to find one on E-Bay, but you have to buy the pedals. Does anybody have any of these dust caps.
John.

I have a new Bottom bracket Teledyne 70-8-122. I want to sell it, but just wanted to know if it is a quality bottom bracket and was this size used on many bikes.
John.

Go to a auto parts store & get Blue Magic metal polish cream. It takes some elbow grease, but it does an incredible job. It will clean up anodized parts but it makes raw aluminum parts look like they were chrome plated.