lostforawhile

I'm rebuilding a 72 Schwinn supersport, the bike is an original survivor, unfortunately some idiot before me tried to fix it, and I'm unfixing what he did, the headset was a mess of wrong parts, even a bearing missing replaced with washers, I found a set from a 68 Schwinn middleweight bike, the parts fit, but are the ones for the cheaper bike, I would like to restore this bike as close as possible mechanically, I need help pointing me in the right direction as far as parts. If this was going to be a casually ridden bike, I would stick with what I have, but I plan on putting serious miles on this one when finished,so I would like to go back to the original high quality stuff

pastorbobnlnh 

Can you put up detailed pictures of what you have. I have quite a few spare pieces for Super Sports and could help but need to know what you need. Your post is not very specific about what is missing or is incorrect.

Metacortex

Schwinn used two different styles of headsets on '70s Chicago-built lightweight bikes, called the Standard and Deluxe headsets. They are shown in the attached catalog pic as #3 (Standard) and #10 (Deluxe). Your Super Sport used the Deluxe headset. Both headsets used the same lower parts (fork crown race, bearing and frame cup), however they differed in the upper cup/race/bearing components. In particular the chrome knurled adjustable cup (part #11) on the top of the Deluxe headset was nicer looking than what came on the Standard headset. If you want something original, these occasionally turn up on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/251182805011

If you don't care about originality and want something new that fits perfectly, then you want a headset with the dimensions shown in the BMX/OPC (top) row in Sheldon Brown's headset cribsheet: https://sheldonbrown.com/cribsheet-headsets.html

The Tioga MX-2 is one of the better new headsets with those dimensions that might not look 100% original, but it still looks pretty nice and will fit and work perfectly: https://www.ebay.com/itm/180994593919

Note that the keyed washer (part #4) shown in the parts catalog pic was not used on the Super Sport as that space is taken up by the front center-pull brake cable hanger and/or the Twin-Stik shifter mounting bracket.

Jeff Wills

Metacortex has all the details covered. The original headset will last many thousands of miles (it's heavy-duty chromed steel), but if you want to "upgrade", you can do like I did many years ago with my Superior: install a Chris King headset. As MC pointed out, you need to be a "BMX"-dimensioned headset.

lostforawhile

my camera is broke, basically everything that was supposed to be in the headset was trashed or missing, I got a mid weight 68 Schwinn set, the bottom bearing cup is the same, the bearings appear to be the same, it fits but it appears to be missing many pieces that are on the super sport originally, let me look at the diagram and I will tell you what I do have as of now, nothing that was on the bike when I got it is reusable

lostforawhile

this is what I ended up getting on ebay, it fits but is a little different then the original super sport parts,

another member found this diagram for me I cant get the pic to work but here's the link

https://www.os2.dhs.org/~john/american-headset.jpg

triathloner

I have a mid 70's supersport with a bent fork, just sitting there. If you still are looking for a headset, pm me if you are interested. It is all original. Thanks, Al.