treebound 

I've had this Schwinn for, oh, I don't know, over ten years at least. I keep thinking about selling it, but then hang it in the garage and decide to keep it, I guess I kind of like it. The old skinny spokes are a little spooky to ride on with my current weight, and most of the spoke nipples are probably stuck so it will be a laborous task to tension up the spokes some day.

The non-drive side chainstay appears to be bent where the coaster brake arm is attached, and I've been told this is somewhat common on bikes that were braked heavily ( or had skid contests performed with them [ not that I ever did that as a kid ] ) .

Anyway, just thought I'd share it. The 2-speed hub used to work but appears to be stiff again. I'll probably lube it up with some Tec-9 or something once the weather warms up again.

This bike always sort of makes me think of an old open wheeled hotrod/ratrod for some reason.

Comments welcomed. And, no, I don't really feel like getting it painted. And, yes, I'll probably begin to think again about selling it but will probably decide to keep it again when I do come to that point. Pics were taken back in September 2011 when it was still warm outside.

pastorbobnlnh 

Radiant Coppertone! What's not to like!

bradtx

treebound, Just turn the handle bars upside down and it's a new bike.

As far as the chainstay goes, I think this happened when these bikes were used as mountain bikes (as in the early mountain bikes were often a 26" Schwinn). Might be able to straighten it with a rubber mallet?

Brad

treebound 

A guy at the shop said he had a frame tool he used in the past to straighten these out. My concern would be if the tube is rusted internally then it might crack. Rides okay as is so I'll probably leave it as is until I get around to stripping it down for a re-grease and check the tubes and squirt in some framesaver. I'll probably get around to that eventually.

I remember trying to find some gold metalflake grips for it once, but all that was available was the silver ones on it so I went with those.

David Newton

That's the way me and my buddies used to ride them.

Amesja

I picked up a Bendix hub just like that one for a project bike -paid $40 for it and drove all way from the North side of Chicago to scary Gary to pick it up.

The hub went into a Chiorda Mixte that I built into a 2-speed city bike.

It wasn't until I had the hub all apart, cleaned, and ready to assemble that I realized that the driver and cog were a one-piece unit and I couldn't simply replace the 50% wore out cog. Bummer, it's a proprietary Bendix part that isn't made any more. Cost is prohibitive to source

So that there is a sweet kickback coaster hub you have in that bike that is worth something at least. I wouldn't ride it much without rebuilding it. Mine was a hot mess inside. Riding yours without re-building/re-greasing might be hard on it if it is making any noise. 40+ year old grease isn't grease anymore -in a coaster hub it is cutting compound.

I'm not a Schwinn guy so I don't know much about the chainstay bend but it looks fine to me. Isn't going to hurt anything as long as the bike rides straight. If it bothers you I'd just carefully press it back with a jig made out of a 1/2" gaspipe cut down the middle with a sawzall and put into a vise. That will keep if from collapsing when it is straightened. Either that or just junk the frame -it's only a Schwinn. The hub is the only thing on that bike that is interesting to me.

As far as the spokes are concerned it's not a big deal to re-lace a set of wheels. $35 in spokes and it's done.

treebound 

When I lived out in California I bought this bike. At the time I took the wheel into a bike shop to have them go through the rear hub, so at one point it was again in good condition. Then, foolish me, I loaned the bike to a friend who it turns out let it sit outside in the rains over a winter. Took the bike back, live and learn. Brought it with me when I moved here to Wisconsin. Might be time for me to learn the necessary methods of overhauling one of these hubs.

jeepr

Hhhmmmmm.... I need to look into this. I have a pile of NOS one piece cog/driver units that I keep meaning to research.

Cool bike. I really like the lines of those frames.

Amesja

Stripping and rebuilding the hub isn't very hard if you have the special tool.

Here is a site with a bunch of information and 'sploded drawings.

Making the tool isn't too hard either out of a bit of 3/8" gas pipe and cut so that it has two notches to fit into the weird locking nut inside the hub. I can't seem to find link to a DIY tool right now. I should take a photo of the one I made. Cost about $4 in parts and took all of 15 minutes to make with a hack saw and file.

Doohickie 

I can totally see that.

jbkirby

Beautiful bike! Before I got my Varsity in 1970, I rode one of these belonging to a friend, and thought I had found the Roll-Royce of bicycles. Alas, my home town had no Schwinn dealer.

kingsting

I made a couple tools out of nuts (7/16", I think). Cut and file to fit. The nut is nice because you can get a wrench on it. You can do about 10 overhauls until they break - then just make another.

Edit: Here is a fuzzy pict of it:



I made a Suntour freewheel tool the same way but that only lasted long enough for one use...

JohnDThompson 

I made mine out of a cracked "peanut butter" wrench and a bit of 1/4" steel rod:

Amesja

OK, here is mine -made out of galvanized 3/8" pipe nipples and a 90-degree fitting:

noglider 

I think the uglier it is, the more points you get.

oldroads

Yeah and I'm seeing some high scores.

Amesja

It did the job -the hub is purring like a kitten again.

Did you see my dish gauge I posted the other day?

kingsting

This thing is beautiful!!!

dddd

You guys are the real deal, what a collection of tools! Reminds me of tools I've fashioned for VW strut replacement and MC fork overhaul. Never thought I'd see so many variants of that tool in one place.

I've overhauled Bendix 2-sp hubs (red and blue band) using only needle-nose plier tips to secure the nut. I always figured that the axle nut would compress and secure the assembly sufficiently when I installed the wheel.
I wonder now if there could be a consequence of that?
Bikes have come to me, strangely enough, with the rear 2sp hub almost falling apart, and I had one hub develop cracks around the left-side hubshell bearing race during the years that I owned and overhauled it.
So, with that in mind, I have a question: Would the hub bearings loosen, or tighten themselves (possibly cracking the hubshell) if the nut wasn't secured fully enough within/against the hub's inner hub/driver thing that's also threaded onto the axle?
In other words, was the cracked hubshell (45+ years ago, LOL) the fault of my riding, or wrenching?

I'm now riding an original in-between-green(?) 1961 Schwinn Traveler, with a Brooks saddle and red-band hub on it.
The hub works well after lubing, but does seem to "un-stick" audibly whenever I stop pedaling in low gear, before and after thoroughly lubing it.
I ride it hard. Shifting is very reliable, and the ratios are about perfect for around here. I'm able to stay in direct drive (high) most of the time, yet it has enough reduction when needed to get over most of the steeper hills. The braking action is also very good if a little abrupt at higher speeds and under sudden braking.

Amesja

I put mine into a Chiorda mixte on 27" wheels. I wasn't super-happy with the braking at first pre-rebuild. I was unused to riding a coaster and with the 27x1" tires it really isn't exactly the intended set-up for that hub.

Nearly killed myself locking it up in traffic the first ride before I rebuilt the hub. After rebuilding it the brakes were just as strong but a lot less touchy. Still, locking up the rear end doesn't take a lot of effort.

brianinc-ville

Amesja

Un chapeau de couleur dorée?