Schwinn Collegiate Project

[hozn]

I am interested to see what others recommend. While I rode a similar-looking road bike to school in junior high, I know nothing about restoring older bikes. My instinct would be to put a new groupset on it with brifters, convert to 1″ thread less stem, put Ritchey Classic stem, bars, and seatpost on it. Maybe silver Shimano 105 group (current). Brifters have to be one of the best upgrades. Then I would build wheels — maybe Archetype silver rims. I suppose those are 27″ wheels?

I suppose one question worth considering is how “classic” you want to keep it. For example, you might want to replace the saddle (and you could potentially save a fair bit of weight doing so), but word you want to replace it with a leather (e.g. Brooks) saddle or something more modern (like a Specialized).

Oh, and probably exchange the horn for a bell.

[Phatboing]

Mmmm orange.

Since I spent a lot of time (and money) restoring an old Trek 420 last year, I’m going to pretend I’m an expert.

Essentials
1. If the bike hasn’t been ridden in a while, get new brake pads – for me, they were the difference between pure terror and considerably less terror.
2. Brake levers. At the very least, toss the suicide levers. Depending on your budget, you could also get some basic Tektro Aero Levers and continue with the current shifters. Of course, if you can, get brifters.

Dropping the weight
As hozn says, wheels. If what you have are 27-inch wheels, I believe you can convert to 700c (which are slightly smaller), but you’ll need long reach brakes to make up for the difference in wheel size. There is other silliness you can indulge in (drilled crankset, anyone?), but wheels ought to make the most difference.

Appearance
Velo Orange. Look at things, want things, buy things, repeat, lose hours of time gawking at things, wonder when you became so obsessive about the shinies, buy more things, etc. You’ll lose hours and dollars and love it.

@hozn 76538 wrote:

Oh, and probably exchange the horn for a bell.

Madness. But if you do want to get rid of the horn, I may want it.

[dcv]

Or you could go fixed gear (surprised?). I’d get new wheels, crankset, bars, saddle.

[jrenaut]

@slebo3213 76534 wrote:

I know a lot of people will say the bike is not worth the time/money but it used to be my dad’s bike, so it has some sentimental value.

It’s only not worth the time and money if time and money are the only concerns. It absolutely is worth the time and money if it’s meaningful to you. I have my dad’s bike, too, that I plan to bring home and restore as soon as i have the space.

I don’t know anything about the actual process (you’ve already gotten some good advice and will likely get more), but I think you need to first decide if you want to restore to something like original, or if you just want to keep the frame and upgrade the components. Both can be good options, but the differences are largely personal preference. If you can give more guidance on which direction you want to go, people can give you more specific advice.

For example, my dad’s bike is a beautiful old Falcon touring bike. I had originally thought about going fixed gear because I already have a good steel geared bike. But after talking to a friend who knows a lot more about bikes than I do, I decided it would be silly to convert the Falcon to fixed. It just wasn’t ever meant to be a fixed gear bike.

Anyway, it’s a pretty bike. Good luck with your project.

[peterw_diy]

Change only what’s needed — tubes, tires, brake pads, cables, that terrible brake cable housing. Repack/replace bearings. Take everything apart if only to ensure it’s not corroded together. Apply Weigle Frame Saver. Wax that frame. Keep the brake levers, just realize those extenders are good for slight speed decreases, and not so great for panic stops.

Consider how you’ll secure this bike. Most will see it as an old clunker. While it won’t be a huge theft target, it also won’t get much respect locked outside.

Wheels: I would probably set them aside and ride another wheelset if these are in bad shape or if the rims are steel (== poor braking performance). You might get away with 700c with your existing brakes, don’t write them off yet. Note that frame is probably 120mm in the rear, but I expect it’ll take a modern 130mm rear hub OK.

From the looks of it, I definitely would not try hozn’s suggestion of modernizing the drivetrain. The bottom bracket alone might drive you crazy (see http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/opc.html#opc) and if you replaced that fork with some modern threadless fork, you should be incarcerated for violating some sort of historic preservation rule.

[dkel]

I don’t have any advice to give; I just thought I’d chime in and say this thread is making me tremendously happy right now, for many reasons.

[timo96]

First check to make certain the seat post is not stuck in the frame. If that’s the case, you’ll need to address this first.
As for upgrades –>
Minimally: new brake pads, new tires and tubes, new cables and housing, true the wheels. In this order.

Highly recommended: replace the hub bearings on both wheels and re-grease, grease the chain (or replace), get some grease down into the freewheel or replace, clean out and re-grease the headset and bottom bracket, re-grease the pedals. Basically anything that rotates has bearings and 40 year old grease that needs to be replaced. The internet will tell you how to do this and what tools you will need.

Recommended: replace the (most likely steel) wheels with a new (or used) alloy set. You’ll stop faster (particularly in wet weather) and your bike will be 3 pounds lighter. If you have some sentimental attachment to old Schwinn wheels, then by all means keep them.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@slebo3213 76534 wrote:

I know a lot of people will say the bike is not worth the time/money

These people are idiots.

[slebo3213]

Great responses. Much appreciated, and now I have some items to research!

I’m not hung up on preserving. I’d like to keep the frame as is, and it’s got a headlight and taillight that run off kinetic energy. I definitely want to keep all of that. And I’m not interested in going fixed gear. I need to sleep on the horn!

I should be pulling the bike out of the old garage in a few weeks – once it gets warm enough to clean it off a bit in the front yard. It’s pretty dirty from sitting.

[jabberwocky]

I’d replace the essential bits (brake pads, saddle, cables) and take everything apart for a cleaning/lube/grease/inspection, but beyond that replace only what is absolutely necessary to get it running and ergonomically correct to ride. Its a cool old bike, I’d personally keep it classic. If you want a modern bike, you’d probably save time and money just buying a modern bike.

[mstone]

@slebo3213 76577 wrote:

I’m not hung up on preserving. I’d like to keep the frame as is, and it’s got a headlight and taillight that run off kinetic energy.

FWIW, a bike that old will have an incandescent bulbs which are vastly inferior (dimmer, higher power consumption) to a modern LED system. If you just like the looks, ok, but if you’re planning to ride in the dark that’s something you should definitely look at upgrading. You can probably keep the existing generator and wires if they are working and just replace the light units.

[slebo3213]

@mstone 76585 wrote:

FWIW, a bike that old will have an incandescent bulbs which are vastly inferior (dimmer, higher power consumption) to a modern LED system. If you just like the looks, ok, but if you’re planning to ride in the dark that’s something you should definitely look at upgrading. You can probably keep the existing generator and wires if they are working and just replace the light units.

I’m sure an upgrade to an LED light would be worth, but I think the wiring might be tough. Definitely something I’ll look into.

[Steve]

Just my $.02, if you want to speak to a professional about it, might I recommend The Old Bike Shop in Clarendon. They, as a matter of business, restore old bikes to rideability. From what I have seen there, they do not overbuild the bike back up, moreso just try to put good working used parts back on it and make sure it is good to use. They might have good advice and thoughts for you, as they have a good eye for fixing these things up. I’d think they would help more than a more traditional shop in the area.

[slebo3213]

@Steve 76637 wrote:

Just my $.02, if you want to speak to a professional about it, might I recommend The Old Bike Shop in Clarendon. They, as a matter of business, restore old bikes to rideability. From what I have seen there, they do not overbuild the bike back up, moreso just try to put good working used parts back on it and make sure it is good to use. They might have good advice and thoughts for you, as they have a good eye for fixing these things up. I’d think they would help more than a more traditional shop in the area.

Thanks for the referral. That was likely to be one of my next questions.

[DismalScientist]

As an aficionado of old bikes, I would worry about putting in too much money in the bike. I have three old bikes, each of which had better frames and components than the Collegiate. One, a Fuji S-10-S, I converted into a fixed gear. The second, a Mizutani Super Seraphe, I upgraded the wheelset to 700 C alloys and upgraded the rear derailleur to a period appropriate SunTour Cyclone. The last, a Trek 620, I somewhat modernized the wheelset to 700s and added bar end shifters.

The standard Schwinn bikes of the ’70s are built like tanks, with heavy welded steel frames, one piece cranks, and steel wheelsets. The frames are not sufficiently valuable that you would want invest in any particular new components. (I would want, at least a better frame [i.e. an imported Le Tour from Japan] before considering an upgrade.) If you replace the crank, you would need to get a new bottom bracket, crank and pedals. (The one piece crank has different pedal threading than three piece cranks.) Because you have likely 120 spacing in the rear, you probably don’t want to go wider than a 126mm rear hub (i.e. wheels with 6-7 speed freewheels) so modern multispeed wheelsets are likely out of the question.

What I would do is replace the brake pads and all the cables and housing and grease and rebuild the bottom bracket. Converting to alloy wheels would be nice and I would be looking out for used wheelsets on Craigslist. If I had long reach brakes, I would look at both 27″ and 700C wheels, but not with wider than 126 spacing. (I have a set of 27″ touring wheels (Mavic sealed bearing hubs/MA40 rims) off the Trek 620 that you might be interested in–they would be significant upgrade.) If you need replacement derailleurs, I would check out the parts bin at Phoenix, the Bike Club in Falls Church, the Old Bike Shop, Papillion on Columbia Pike, and/or Craigslist.

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