I love my Schwinn varsity. Its my pack mule. I take it on mostly short jaunts to pick things up and put them down. Its been built in its current configuration for 2 years now and its time for a tune-up.

I'm gonna be servicing the BB and I've been thinking instead about converting it to use a Cartridge. I dunno why. Its certainly not for weight savings.
anyone care to talk some sense into me?

here she is as is right now.

The wheelset is indestructible. Sun Rhyno Lite rims, a Sturmey XFDD front hub, Shimano FHD 7speed rear freehub. Drum brakes all around.
Deore XT Derailleurs, light action index shifters.
and a big Wald basket

I might put on some fenders this spring.




Not gonna lie though....I think this is a pretty sweet wheelset and drivetrain (minus the one piece crank) and part of me wonders if perhaps I should rethink the tune-up and try some of this stuff on a nicer frame.

We were discussing the conversion of Varsinentals yesterday at my LBS. There was a group of us and we all agreed a Varsinental Monster Truck is a valid build. I've seen one posted by JJ Pistols and a handful of others. I dig your ride and certainly if I do a Monster Truck build it'll have 26" wheels and (at least) a front hub brake.

If I had a crankset lying around in mind I'd probably do it. Cartridge BBs can be had pretty cheap and I don't think those conversion kits are very expensive either.

What size are those tires? Where is the tightest spot for 26" tires? If I built one I'd like Fat Franks.

IMO those cranks were specified to move tonnage-why put a weaker one on it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

You're suggesting a forged aluminum crank is going to fail? I'd guess that the use of Ashtabula cranks was not because they were stronger than aluminum alternatives, but rather because they were much cheaper.

I converted my Super Sport with the goal of dropping weight, and that Ashtabula boat anchor sure is heavy. But that doesn't seem like the overall goal for you, and, of course, if you do the conversion, you'll have to fitz with figuring out the correct spindle length and spindle/crank compatibility and JIS and ISO and YMMV. In other words, it'll take a great deal of activation energy, and I'm getting tired out just trying to describe the process.

Neal

I''ve never understood why that crank would be heavier than one with (much thicker) aluminum ones. I'm guessing all the surplus tonnage is in the chain rings and chain guard. Would it be possible to change the chain rings to aluminum but keep the rest of the crank as is?

Col. Those are 26 x 2.25" and the tight spots are at the front fork blades and at the chainstays. Its tight, i certainly couldn't go any bigger.
When I initially started building this bike I had Fat Franks in mind, but they won't fit. Maybe with a Narrower rim you'd have a shot but I'd be skeptical.


weight savings is not a concern. Just lookin good and possibly adding a little range for hill climbing. the Derailleurs can handle it.
No need to describe the process, I know how it goes

Nice tank!

I would leave it like that. Just doesn't seem like the cost and effort is worth the 3 piece crank. What you have will work forever.

Agreed ^ . The Varsity BB bearings and Ashtabula cranks will last another 40 years with fresh grease. Don't mess with perfection...

There is some kind of magic in weight of rolling wheels and weight of heavy crank - Both are in motion but it seams that the weight of heavy wheels is less than the weight of heavy crank - The physics of this corollary does not play out - But the magic of a light weight crank is real...

This just settled in and made sense to me. That's an interesting question.

Sure, why not? I just ordered a BMX chain ring that's basically an aluminum disk with teeth around the outside, a biggish central hole, and a smaller drive hole. I'm planning to modify it into a custom ring for a 50.4 mm BCD cranks, but other options are available. I'm sure it would be easy enough to drill it to hold another chain ring.

BMX rings are for 1/8" chain, which may complicate matters somewhat. But you have a Dremel, right?

You can get - or used to, anyway - a 5-pin spider for one-piece cranks to take 5-pin 110mm chainrings. They're intended for a single-ring BMX setup, but a double should be easy to arrange.

I've got an Ashtabula triple off of an old MTB you can have

Did they really make those??

That's kind cool.

OK you guys have convinced me to keep the crankset (or take sailorben's triple ), but I'm still thinking about trying the wheelset and drivetrain out on a different frame.

this bad girl is just begging to get built up

That Voyageur looks great. Will the wheels fit?

I used to look down my nose at Ashabula cranks, because they came on low end bikes. Now that I've worked on a ton of them (pun intended), I realize that the ONLY bad thing about them is their weight. They are durable and reliable if made well. I wouldn't mess with it. I think the aluminum chainrings are worth a try. I wouldn't change the spindle or arms, though. Schwinn made the best, by far. Check out the bearing surfaces. They are hard and precisely ground. Same for the threads of the races.

I dunno! I can think of a simple way to find out though, considering the wheels will be off the Varsity for its tune-up

Isn't one piece constuction stronger than 3 piece? Easier to service for sure.

quite possibly stronger, but I find a 3 piece easier to service mainly because I hate having to remove the non-drive-side pedal to remove the One-Piece crank. Yes you can service it without completely removing the crank but I find it much easier to work on with the crank off.


not that its a consideration in this case though....for the abuse this bike sees, Once every 2 years is a perfectly acceptable service interval as far as i'm concerned.

Saves about 1lb of weigh, easy to service, what's the point?

Oooooooo..... I like that Voyageur frame!

I converted an old one piece cruiser to a three piece about a year ago. I first had to do about three hours of filing to give the three screws that hold the new cups together room because some of the tubes stuck through a little bit. Then, because the new cups aren't labeled as to which should go on the left and which should go on the right, I had to just guess. I guessed wrong, which shouldn't have been a problem, but all three of the screws that were used to keep it together stripped when I tried to remove them. They were very soft, for some reason. I ended up with a fixed gear cruiser with the crank on the wrong side for a while.

Well, those frilly chrome lugs are really pretty but the Astabula isn't going to fit.

There is no way you're going to get the ashtabula crank to mount up in that bottom bracket, Zaphod.

EDIT: Dang it, Ben!l