I am the new owner of a Varsity, I love it and need some Ideas. Let me See yours.

Heres Mine




I can't find the exact build Date, but it was built sometime in December of 1968




What do you Have?

Continentals, Travelers,Sportabouts, Worlds, and other similar 60's and 70's Schwinn's are good too!

If you have some dollars to spend, and don't care about the occasional sneer along with many compliments, you can do something similar to your '68 Varsity that I did to my '62 Continental. Convert the BB with an adapter to use a standard 3-piece crankset, relace the Normandy hubs to aluminum rims (if you haven't already, and update the derailleurs. In the case of your Varsity I'd also add barend shifters, and a Brooks B-17. Best of luck!

It's not as old, and is crappy, but a Varsity nonetheless. Has the FFW:






geek

This frame/fork and some bits traveled from Pastor Bob's chilly dump to warm south Texas.

Here is my '63 Varsity with its former (and original) owner. I picked it up on eBay out of Atlanta for $31. I couldn't tell from the photos that it was sporting the cool Ambrosio adjustable stem. That was a nice surprise ...




Bob

Here is one of mine. It's a '62 model. I have several others from '60 to '66

Nice one Sierra!

I use my Varsity exclusively for when I'll be locking up a bike outside for any length of time, like downtown or the library, relying on it's low Q-factor for ripped-offedness.

It's a very solid fifty dollar bike.

Here it is. Needs a little work.

That's one of my favorite model years -- early enough for standard 3 bolt / 6 bolt European chainrings, leather saddle, downtube shifters, etc., but late enough for 27" rims.

I am surprised that stem would fit. Did early Varsities use standard diameters?

Here's my Ambrosio stem, which was OEM on this particular bike.

Early '71 Continental.

-Kurt

My mid-70s Varsity. It's way too small for me and I never ride it, but it was pretty I couldn't pass it up!

Ok here is my 71 Varsity and 72 Continental.

JJPistols, they make a pretty badass fixie too, apparently.

dunno - I've never ridden a fixie makes a great SS though


that one has a coaster wheelset from a newer Schwinn cruiser - it has become my favorite bike since I put it all together a few weeks ago, but I keep bending the seatposts - gonna try reinforcing one, I guess, I can't find a 13/16" with a 7/8" top anywhere (except for the cheap WALD ones I keep hurting) - I wish someone would make a good modern alloy 13/16" seatpost, with a rail clamp no less

Actually John, the '62 model came with 26" wheels. The Varsity didn't get 27" until the next year.
Mine has the 27" alloy wheel set from an '84 Schwinn World Sport that I parted out. The freewheel is 6 speed and it took some fanagling to get the old Huret Allvit rear der. to span it but I managed to get it working.

Attached are a couple pics of a really nice '63 model that sold on ebay a few years ago.
King of Kadence, was this your bike?
I remember it was owned by a guy named Larry who I used to communicate with, but lost track of over the years.

Thanks, now I see the coaster arm. About the seatposts, I wonder if a piece of electrical conduit driven into the cheapo Wald seatpost would help matters? If you could get an interference fit it just might give it the necessary strength.

Sierra, I'm a Larry, but I didn't buy that Varsity. BUT if you thin out any other bikes in your collection, you know I'm interested.


The schwinn exerciser has a great seat post, strong enough to hold up the chubbies that used them. Find one of those. It's 13/16 with the 7/8 top. The ones I've seen are graduated with inch marks.
You should really seek out a larger frame, a 26" would fit you better and you wouldn't create so much leverage on the post.

Here's a '71 I just picked up at a thrift store last week for 35 bucks.
All original down to the tires and pretty much mint. I kept the lights/generator off it and doubled my money two days later on CL. :

yeah - as soon as the new post comes in I'll be at the hardware store fitting a tube for inside the post, then it'll be JBWeld time!

just tried a quick google and looks like those posts will be hard to find


I'm sure a larger frame would work well, but this bike was the right price - free - all the parts are from old projects - the seat is a bit high but the top tube stretch feels incredibly comfortable to me for around town riding

the only money I've put out on this thing besides the seatpost is the B-17, my first - I likes it a lot

My first vintage find ... $25. Dusty, and all the grease had turned to clay, but a little TLC brought it back to life. The generator lights even work!

I always seem to find them.

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/bik/814585485.html

Yes, I knew you were a Larry from your posts on the Schwinnbike forums.
He was the seller of the bike, not the buyer.
I thought maybe you were him because he also was into the same bikes that I am, and from what I have seen, you are also(Love your '65 coppertone Super Sport!).
He used to sell on ebay under the user name of Larry2000 or Larry2002, or something like that. Haven't seen him around for quite a while now, and I forgot his last name. He always had really nice bikes though.