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My first "vintage" Schwinn; 1963 Superior

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My first "vintage" Schwinn; 1963 Superior

Old 02-23-12, 12:28 PM
  #26  
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Thanks Sierra; do you know/think that it has enough "travel" to cover all 3 chainrings?
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Old 02-23-12, 06:39 PM
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I think so, but I don't claim any expertise in these.

AFAIK, there was no difference in the derailleurs used on doubles and triples.

That said I ran into an interesting situation this past summer. I put a TA Pro 5 vis triple crankset on a '62 Superior. I have the original f. der. on the bike and it takes nearly all the shifter travel to shift across the 3 rings. I have another '62 Superior with the stock Ashtabula triple on it, and the shifter uses less than 3/4 of it's travel to shift across the rings. It's got me scratching my head. I'll figure it out eventually, but I'm not too worried about it as it least will make the shifts. I'm more worried about the rear derailleur's inability to reliably drop the chain onto the smallest cog of the freewheel.
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Old 02-24-12, 07:22 AM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by Sierra
I'm more worried about the rear derailleur's inability to reliably drop the chain onto the smallest cog of the freewheel.
I'm having this same trouble with my '71 Paramount. I'm running a Suntour 6 speed ultra spaced freewheel. Originally it was a problem with the Rally RD. So after cleaning last week and upon reassemply I decided to mount a Sachs-Huret Eco Duopar RD. Same problem (at least on the stand). I can manually tug on the RD, pulling it outward, and the chain drops to the smallest cog and stays. But only about 10-20% of the time would it shift to the smallest cog without me intervening.

Any ideas?
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Old 02-24-12, 07:43 AM
  #29  
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The only idea I have so far is the design of the freewheel.

On my Superior, the original Atom freewheel was flush across the back. The newer Suntour freewheel that I'm attemping to use has a flange of the body protruding about the width of a cog extending out from the largest cog. This would seem to shift all the cogs over to the right by about a cogwidth. Seems odd that the r. der. wouldn't have enough adjustment for this.

I think I checked the dropout alignment, I haven't had the derailleur hanger alignment checked yet. That's probably the next step.

I've already removed all the washers from the left side of the axle, moved them to right side to shift the wheel to the left, and redished the wheel. It helped, but didn't completely cure the problem.

More head scratching to do. Probably should check overall frame alignment also.
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Old 03-09-12, 10:50 PM
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Originally Posted by Sierra View Post
I have another '62 Superior with the stock Ashtabula triple on it, and the shifter uses less than 3/4 of it's travel to shift across the rings. It's got me scratching my head. I'll figure it out eventually, but I'm not too worried about it as it least will make the shifts.
Could this possibly be due to the elasticity of one bike's cable vs. the other's?
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Old 03-10-12, 08:23 AM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by pastorbobnlnh View Post
I'm having this same trouble with my '71 Paramount. I'm running a Suntour 6 speed ultra spaced freewheel. Originally it was a problem with the Rally RD. So after cleaning last week and upon reassemply I decided to mount a Sachs-Huret Eco Duopar RD. Same problem (at least on the stand). I can manually tug on the RD, pulling it outward, and the chain drops to the smallest cog and stays. But only about 10-20% of the time would it shift to the smallest cog without me intervening.

Any ideas?
All straight-parallelogram RDs are prone to this. I've resorted to backing off the low limit stop on these RD's just enough so that the derailer has an opportunity to overshift onto the lowest cog - but not enough so that it overshifts into the gap between the dropout and the cog.

-Kurt
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Old 03-10-12, 08:38 AM
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Originally Posted by cudak888 View Post
All straight-parallelogram RDs are prone to this. I've resorted to backing off the low limit stop on these RD's just enough so that the derailer has an opportunity to overshift onto the lowest cog - but not enough so that it overshifts into the gap between the dropout and the cog.

-Kurt
Kurt,

Interesting. I did run the high limit screw out further than the RD needed in order to reach the smallest cog. I'm curious to try a 5 speed normal spaced freewheel when I return home next week.
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Old 03-10-12, 09:55 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by skydog6653 View Post
Could this possibly be due to the elasticity of one bike's cable vs. the other's?
I suppose it's possible, but generally I don't think the cables have much elasticity to them. They do have some initial stretch when new.
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Old 03-10-12, 02:58 PM
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Originally Posted by pastorbobnlnh View Post
Interesting. I did run the high limit screw out further than the RD needed in order to reach the smallest cog. I'm curious to try a 5 speed normal spaced freewheel when I return home next week.
Straight parallelograms and ultra spacing don't play well with each other - unless the freewheel is ramped.

Just today, I took the Superior out for a pre-spin for our get together; sure enough, it's giving similar trouble. That and I believe I wore out the Cyclo-Pans freewheel already - I'm probably going to swap it to a Suntour 5-speed before the day is out.

-Kurt
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Old 05-19-21, 05:44 PM
  #35  
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My 1963 Superior

Time ti kick start this thread. Just wanted to post pics of my 24 inch Schwinn Superior 15 speed road bike. It appears to be original but for the seat and tires. The shifters have been relocated to the stem but everything else seems to be all there. I want to try and sell it but am not sure how much the paint, or lack of, affects what I can ask for it? Any comments or criticism's are welcome. Thanks. Not sure why pics are inverted.




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Old 05-19-21, 06:06 PM
  #36  
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thanks for posting

good to see an example in red; usually see the blue ones for some reason

a collector would want to return it to the original shift levers & saddle

the correct cast aluminum threaded dustcap which is missing for the Atom 440 pedal was last current in 1970; for 1971 Maillard changed it to the smooth chrome press-in dustcap

scratched up original paint is certainly preferable to a poor respray for the person with an historical interest


-----

Last edited by juvela; 05-19-21 at 06:09 PM. Reason: punctuation
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Old 05-19-21, 06:55 PM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by juvela View Post
-----

thanks for posting

good to see an example in red; usually see the blue ones for some reason

a collector would want to return it to the original shift levers & saddle

the correct cast aluminum threaded dustcap which is missing for the Atom 440 pedal was last current in 1970; for 1971 Maillard changed it to the smooth chrome press-in dustcap

scratched up original paint is certainly preferable to a poor respray for the person with an historical interest


-----
So are the bars and stem, Schwinn specced Titan or just an obscure version we don't normally see?
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Old 05-19-21, 07:12 PM
  #38  
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Pantopallooza

Originally Posted by merziac View Post
So are the bars and stem, Schwinn specced Titan or just an obscure version we don't normally see?
My 1964 Schwinn Sport Super Sport, essentially a renamed Superior, has the same stem with the same inscription, but the sleeve is inscribed in the same script, "Sport" on both sides of the stem, leading me to call it the "Sport Super Sport." It was the first thing I looked for when I picked up the otherwise unadorned bike, (save for the serial number and head badge).

Most examples of the early Superiors have the "Super" inscription on the stem. Most '64 Sport Super Sports feature the same stem and bars.

I don't know for certain it was intended by Schwinn, but I suspect it was?

Schwinn didn't seem to be big on marking their frames?
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Old 05-19-21, 07:15 PM
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My 1963 Superior

I bought the bike from the son of the original owner and the only modification was the seat and shifters. The bars and stem I think are original. The stem is embossed " Super" on the top center. Color is terra cotta.


Last edited by Millhouse56; 05-19-21 at 07:19 PM. Reason: add info
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Old 05-19-21, 07:40 PM
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one thing unique regarding Titan stem and bar stock is a clamp/bar centre size of 27.0mm

cycle's fork crown is NERVEX pattern Nr. 6

design of Weinmann centrepull brake calipers changed about on year later

original saddle was Brooks B15 (IIRC! )

original shift levers were Huret braze-on downtube controls

Schwinn Superior model history -

https://bikehistory.org/bikes/superior/

catalogue entry for 1963 model year:




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Old 12-03-22, 06:47 PM
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Mine now.


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Old 12-03-22, 07:18 PM
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Originally Posted by skydog6653 View Post
Mine now.


Nice! That red is spectacular.

Is your user name an homage to Duane Allman?
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Old 12-03-22, 07:35 PM
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Originally Posted by beicster View Post
Nice! That red is spectacular.

Is your user name an homage to Duane Allman?
Thanks, I believe Schwinn only used terra cotta for a couple years.
it is! Brother Duane has been an inspiration to me since the 60’s.
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Old 12-03-22, 07:56 PM
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Originally Posted by skydog6653 View Post
Thanks, I believe Schwinn only used terra cotta for a couple years.
it is! Brother Duane has been an inspiration to me since the 60’s.
Awesome. I spent the day reading a new book called “Play All Night-Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East”. I had to listen to the album as well. I have been a fan since the mid 80’s.
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Old 12-04-22, 03:31 PM
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1963 Schwinn Dealer Catalogue pages for the Superior model -




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Old 12-04-22, 04:17 PM
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Fillet-brazed Superiors

I have a 1977 Schwinn Superior. It’s a bit on the heavy side but it has a great ride.

I found a pair of 27” cyclocross tires on eBay, and I use my Superior for gravel rides-on level ground…🙄
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Old 12-04-22, 05:05 PM
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Ok so at the price of the Paramount in the catalogue, I will take one in gold and one in blue!
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