So this is the time of year when all the property management companies start dumping EVERYTHING left in the rental houses around campus (Colorado State) onto the curbs. Yesterday on my ride home from work, I saw a couple of big piles with the usual broken shelves, toaster ovens, futons, etc. sitting on the side of the road waiting for the trucks to come haul them off to the dump. Figuring it merited a little extra time on the saddle, I rode around the neighborhood looking for a score. After about a half an hour of wandering around, I was about to give up when I saw the saddle!

Sweet! It looks like it might be old. Moving a couple of bags of not-too-smelly trash, I discovered a big 'Schwinn Approved' on the back of a big leather saddle that was in excellent condition. The saddle was connected to a Chestnut-brown frame that was stripped of everything except the fork and the handlebars, and that had Schwinn Suburban written on the side of it. Underneath I found the wheels, and a trashbag that seemed to contain many of the stripped parts.

I dragged the whole thing home by setting the frame on the saddle of the bike I was on and hooking a tire on each side of my bars, I was able to push it home 6 or 7 blocks with minimal effort. The bag contained just about everything the bike was missing except a few nuts and bolts. The derailleur, shifter, front and back brake calipers, a chainguard, and the front fender. Just the back fender was missing. I decided to go rummage through the pile and make sure I didn't miss anything, and sure enough, sitting under yet another bag was the rear fender!

It's a fixer-upper, but not bad for a free bike! The serial number is KK, which dates it to Oct. 1974. It's actually a five-speed, so it just has a rear derailleur. The OEM tires have been replaced, I believe, and while the ones on there are not in AWFUL shape, they're not in great shape, either. They'll definately get replaced. I'm going to repack all the bearings after I get off work today, and I believe the only piece I'm missing that may be hard to find is the outside piece of the "Twin-stik(tm) Gear Control" seems to be missing, so I'm going to have to figure out if I can find a replacement for it. The "Mattress-style" saddle is in excellent shape, though. I put some leather conditioner on it and it cleaned up nicely.

Here's a crummy picture taken with a camcorder.



Am I going to have a problem finding the missing piece of the shifter?
Who made the "Schwinn Approved" Saddle and Derailleur?
Someone peeled a sticker off the bottom and did a lousy job. Best way to remove it?
Is this thing going to look cool on the back of Shaka, my 1974 VW Bus, or WHAT?

nice find
wish I had fenders for mine Schwinn
it either had Shimano parts or SunTour
you can check https://www.sheldonbrown.com/ to find out for sure which

That's a sweet find...

That baby rides like a dream too, it's like cruising down the road in a continental...

Anything free is great! Score!

Well, I got it up and running today. Still need to repack the freewheel (didn't have the right socket) and the bottom bracket, but I did find that 30 year old grease turns into something resembling a VERY STICKY jam of some sort.

I will say this, if ever a company deserved to be sued for false advertising, Schwinn did for calling this thing a 'lightweight.' It is a BEAST. I've already dubbed it 'The Brown Bomber.'

It's all relative. You should see the "heavy" bikes! Yikes

Yeah. I suppose that's true. By today's standards my 520 is a 'heavy' bike, but compared to this Schwinn, it doesn't weigh anything.

Can someone help me out with a little problem? I have an extra hole in the derailleur, and I'm not sure what it's for...



It doesn't line up with the only hole in the wheel bracket, which is for the fenders. I also have a mystery widget that I first though was part of the shifter, but I now believe it may be a cable guide related to this hole?



I just hung the derailleur on there to hold tension on the chain so I could 'test ride' it around the block. I'm not really sure the correct manner in which to hang it is, though. This is the first derailleur I've ever messed with like this...

The derailleur hole is for a threaded screw that would thread into a "plate" to help secure the derailleur to the dropout.

The plate (I forget the proper term) would be inside the dropout (wheel side) and slot into the DO. The screw would go through the der. and thread into the plate thus giving the derailleur a more solid connection to the DO.

They can be done without. Any cheap replacement der. that has a hanger should have the missing hardware.



edit: https://loosescrews.com/index.cgi?d=s...d=282920330532 is a description of the entire hanger, unfortunately no picture.

That little widget belongs on the chainstay; bare cable routes from the front of the bike back to the widget, and cable inside housing between the widget and the derailleur.

Mate, you make my heart sing by "saving" this American bike
from the landfill. More people need to understand the
"value" of these old steel bikes for everyday use.

NICE SAVE!!!!!!!!

Figured it all out. I'll have to find the plate for the derailleur, but I put the 'widget' where it belonged, on the back bolt of the chainguard. I 'rigged' a temporary solution for the shifter and got it to work. if I can't find the outside piece of it on the net, I've got a plan to make a more permanent hack. I've commuted 8 blocks to work and back in it for the last couple of days. It's a fun, old school ride.

I've noticed that a) I don't have to use a bike stand, because the bike weighs more than any of the stands on campus, and b) when I pull up over one of the traffic sensors the city has put in the bike lanes here, it actually detects the bike and trips the light.

I salute you for riding a trash bike, finding old bikes is how i ended up with the mess i have now, for old bikes like that u should lube everything up real nice after each ride for about a month, on my old Raleigh Sprite i did the same and now it rides just like my newer mtn bike

I love it , my wife makes me get rid of the worst of my collection now & again , I just take it to work & store it & gradualy import it back home over time , it drives her nuts !!!!

Fantastic! Finally got a little money, and the guy at the bike shop sold me 70 dollars of Specialized Nimbus Armidillo 27x1 1/4 tires for 40 bucks! Got the plate for the drop-out, the freewheel socket so I can repack the bearings, and new brakes all around.