Wheels
 

Hi,
I just picked up two Schwinn Varsitys today and on both of them the wheels are in really poor shape but the hubs are in decent shape , but my question is should I cut the hubs out and take them to my LBS so that they could help me order up some new rims and spokes or should I just buy new wheels.

I'd find a dumpster to toss the whole mess in and start with something decent.Varsities are not worth the price of wheel builds or new wheels.There is plenty of stuff worth messing with at thrift stores or garage sales for $20 or less that don't even need wheels, just a little TLC.

If you want to find out, take the whole wheel to the LBS, so they know what spoke length is necessary.

What they'll probably tell you is that it'll cost more to rebuild the wheels than the whole bike is worth. But it doesn't cost anything to ask. I remember the Varsity from college days - a real tank.

Depending on what kind of riding you are wanting to do, the Varsitys might be just what you need. If you really like them, for whatever reason, just go to a local thrift store and find some bikes with 27" wheels. You might find some bikes that are totally trashed except for the wheels. You could end up picking up two bikes (4 wheels) for like $5!
Good Luck!

Trash pick or thrift store something w/ better wheels and transfer them, if you want to use the Varsities. The original hubs are probably far better than those on cheapie replacement wheels, but the cost of building is prohibitive. You might even find a better bike and hold on to Varsities. Their biggest merit is that they are pretty indestructible when maintained, but they are otherwise pretty unremarkable.

I had some free time yesterday so I spent it working on the bike. After looking at both of the bikes and picking the better of the two here is what I did. The parts bike had a halfway decent front wheel so I cleaned it up and trued it up the best I could. Then from there I pulled off the five speed freewheel from the project bike and used some spokes from the back wheel of the parts bike to replace the spokes that were missing on the project bike’s rear wheel and then trued it up. Then I cleaned and repacked all the bearings then put on a BMX 16t freewheel. The paint is shot on the project bike but I don’t care its just going to be used as a beater bike.