DsmBerg

The "Before"
With much assistance from the vast resources on this forum I built up my first vintage project this spring. About 15 years ago I spent a lot of time riding a custom classic steel SR frame built with Shimano 600 but now I have been pretty much a modern road bike guy. I wanted a project and I found one.

The bike came to me from a sometimes bike flipper who works with my wife. He saw this biggish Schwinn that seemed like a decent frame and he called me. I wish I had a pic of the pile of crap that greeted me in his garage. The bike was torn down, sort of, with one pedal ominously still attached to the one piece crank. That pedal was not fun to remove, to say the least.

He offered me as many wheels as I wanted, and I got one decent front alloy rim. The paint was rough sanded for some reason, so maintaining any originality was not an option.

With all the races off, here are the first shots as I completed the teardown.







The saving grace in this bike is that most of the chrome was salvageable. Here's the before of the crank.



Original Brooks was there, but completely shot. I will probably never do anything with it, but I like how it looks.



These things are a pain in the butt if you don't have the right tool. Stacking two box end wrenches, sliding them over the kickstand and levering against the retainer did the trick.



These bullet seat stays are pretty cool.

DsmBerg

The "Middle"

So I was bad at taking photos during this part. I ordered some parts including a rear wheel with a flip flop hub for yes, a single speed conversion. My rationale here is that I have all the parts to bring it back to a geared bike, but this simplifies the project quite a bit. I also don't have a fixed/single speed bike so I thought it would be fun. Here's a throw together when the wheel and new tires showed up. I threw the crank and stem in there for fun.



The next part was stripping the frame. awesome. I have done my share of prep and paint work, but this sucked.



The paint just fell off of the frame, but the red primer is really a pain. Lots of wet sanding. Yipee. If you are thinking about doing this, please do yourself a favor and pay someone to media blast it unless you are as bored as I was this winter/spring.





Naked. Filets looking all braizey.




So here's where I stopped taking photos because the priming and painting was pretty straightforward. Did a decent rattle can job which can be done provided you like to do prep work. I would have sprayed this with real paint if I could have built a booth in my garage at this house - which I can't because its the size of a closet. Spray paint is soft no matter what you do, but I allowed both base and clear to cure for 7 days at a temp above 60 degrees without touching them. That helps. You can do the clear at the same time as the base, but I don't like that in case you have thin spots you didn't catch. Waiting lets you overspray or sand if you need to.

Before throwing back together I bought a deeply discounted Brooks, some matching charge bar tape, some brakes, shined up all the chrome and sorted through all the bearings and races - which were all pretty much fine. Got rid of the original levers with those wingy things and found some NOS weinmann plain levers at the bike collective here in Des Moines. I have no clue where these came from, but I was glad to find them in the bottom of a parts bin. The DMBC lets you root around in their store room which is a great time. Also found a sleeker Schwinn stem in the parts bins there - probably from an 80s Japanese model - and some new baskets.

DsmBerg

The "After"


So here it is. Tried to go for a British racing green and tan thing... I think it's more like John Deere green with a nice pair of Allen Edmonds. Ordered some decals from Velocals which have not arrived. May or may not put them on when they get here. I sort of like it clean.



Installed the new levers, hoods, tape, etc. Dia Compe side pulls in front to replace the fatally screwed up centerpulls that came with it. I think this pic is a little gained up, or I smudged the head tube with greasy fingers. The patina on the Schwinn head tube decal makes the bike. As you can see, the headset and chrome shined up well. The frame needs to be rubbed and waxed and I think it will look pretty good for a rattle can job.



Of course, I figured out that the Dia Compes don't reach in back so I may order some super long reach Tektros in the future. For now I obtained some Mafac racers, which I have always liked for some reason, for basically nothing at the bike collective. Note the sweet non-alignment of the pads.



So, I know you all like pics so as thanks for all the bike wisdom I give you these posts. This is about the simplest bike known to man, but it was fun and its a great ride. Too small for me but it's close enough for short rides, which is why I got it in the first place.

Now for that Fuji frame that magically transported from a craigslist ad to my basement......

anixi

40 lbs of pure fun! Looks great just as it sits. I really like the color, close enough to British racing green for me...

jjhabbs 

Looks great. Im a big fan. Just finished mine also. Love the green and tan!!!!

Scooper

I'd be willing to bet it weighs less than 25 pounds and probably closer to 20. My '73 Super Sport with Campy Comp triple and 10-s Ergo shifters is a hair over 26 pounds.

Very nice.

Mos6502

I think you can buy automotive clear coat with a hardener in a spray can - if you want to give that spray paint finish a bit more durability. It's pretty expensive stuff though.

zukahn1 

Yes you can add a nice clear coat that is tough with hardener by using a spray can.

https://www.spraymax.com/index.php?id=2&L=1

pastorbobnlnh 

Stan, thanks for setting anixi straight on the Super Sports. While still heavy at 32-33lbs., a stock SS does not even weigh 40+. My recent Sports Tourer build with fenders, front & rear racks, bar bags, generator and lights, only weighs 30 (sans kickstand).

DsmBerg, you did a fantastic job on your restoration. Too bad it is too small for you. Despite the weight, the fillet brazed Schwinns provide an excellent riding experience. Not racy, but all day comfortable.

Chrome Molly

Looks great. I like how the charge bar tape matched so well. The paint turned out nicely too. I did a schwinn sierra (mid 70's version) as a single speed and liked it, so sure you'll be happy. Somebody offered me more than I could refuse for it. Someday another super sport will follow me home and be a single speed project. I dig the Allen Edmonds reference, I'm from near Port Washington originally.

DsmBerg

Thanks all for the kind words. I am quite happy with how it turned out. The charge tape was chosen solely because of this forum, along with the cane creek hoods. I think both were great and inexpensive additions. The charge tape far exceeded my expectations for "pleather".

Pastor Bob it is a very comfortable rider, I think your description is perfect. I have spent some time looking at your photos of "sporty" and that's a pretty incredible bench mark to strive for. I intended this bike for casual rides, and it is great for that. Very stable when you push it a little also. After a handful of brief rides I think my biggest problem with the size may be hand position on top of the narrow bars, but for now they are fine.

As to the weight, I am pleasantly surprised by it. With alloy rims and no gears, derailers, kick stand (2 lbs at least), or shift levers it doesn't seem very heavy at all, particularly on the move. The Mafac brake and the Dia Compe both seem light in comparison to the Schwinn/Dia Compe/Weinmann/Whatever center pulls that came with it. Also lost a little weight losing the extension levers and upgrading to a newer stem. It could shed a few more ounces here and there, but I'm certainly not focused on that. I might end up putting gears back on it and getting a rack and or a fender, which would take it significantly in the other direction.

I am going to take it to my dad's shop to weigh it when I get a chance.

rhenning

I bought a SS last summer at a garage sale for $20 and about the only thing good on it was the frame. I have 6 other SSs so I made this my go to the post office bike with parts from the basement. Mostly things from other projects or that were given to me. It is a nice rider and looks better in the pictures than it does close up but did end up similar to yours. Mine is a June 1970 frame. Roger

anixi

Well, I sit corrected. I'm just saying that with the Ashtabula crankset, it sure looked like a Varsity with different decals. Sorry to offend you SS lovers...

DsmBerg

Roger, nice build. What kind of rear brake did you use?

Scooper

I agree about the heavy one-piece crank. At first glance I thought he had replaced it with a 3-piece alloy single chainring crankset using something like the TruVativ BB adapter which would knock off another couple of pounds. The Ashtabula with two chainrings weighs a little over 4 lbs.



I didn't weigh the Campy Comp triple and TruVativ adapter before installing them, but the final total for the 24" frame Super Sport was 26.36 lbs.

Here's the Comp Triple installed.

anixi

My thought exactly. I've never seriously considered the adapter, since it costs so much. I would consider a used one at half the price though. I have a Schwinn that I'd love to use the adapter on. On the other hand, I already have an Ashtabula that I could use for free on the frame.

Scooper

The adapter is $12.93.

https://www.outsideoutfitters.com/p-1...ariantID=34829

anixi

At Harris Cyclery: https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/opc.html#opc
they cost twice as much, about $25, that's a great deal!

rhenning

DsmBerg the brakes are Weinmann side pulls from ??? They work surprising well and I had saved them and the Matthauser pads from a frame I junked. Levers a Shimno 600s. Ashtabula crank, BMX sprocket adapter and pedals. 40 tooth front cog to right now a 17 tooth rear. Nitto bars and stem with Benetto blue tape. Wheels are a set of 700 wheels I bought at a swap meet for $25 for the Dura Ace rear hub. The front hub runs smooth but no name. The wheels needed truing but were not bad. Tires are 700 x 32 Bontagers that I bought up at the Madison swap meet from a guy who had like 100 of them. They cost $10 for 2 tires and tubes and I bought 4 and should have bought more. It weights in the picture a bit over 27 pounds with the kick stand on it.

rhenning

I just weighed another crank I had with a 40 tooth steel sprocket and it was right about 2.5 pounds. So mine with aluminum probably is in the 2.3 or 2.4 pound range. I weighed to chain rings like in Stans picture and on my scale they are over 1.6 pounds. I really do not care and for the $50 to $75 I have in the bike it does everything I want it to.