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1975 Sky Blue Schwinn Sports Tourer

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Good advice, but it kind of ruins the best looking crankset ever thing. Those guards are what makes it.

i agree, I absolutely love the look (and function) of the chainguard rings on both the Nervar and TA cranksets used by Schwinn on the Sports Tourer. I was disappointed when they removed the outer guard from the crankset on the Superior.

In addition I believe that the inner guard (between the inner and outer chainrings) was not just there for looks but also to act as a ramp to enhance shifting, especially when they were introduced in '71 with 54-36T wide-range rings. However even with the inner ramp ring Schwinn cited shifting problems across that large a gap when it replaced the 36T inner chainrings with 40T rings on the Sports Tourer late in '71.

'71 Sports Tourer TA 54--36T crankset w/inner guard "shift ramp" ring:
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'71 Sports Tourer TA 54-36T crankset w/inner guard ring removed (replaced with spacers:(
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These cranksets definitely look bare without the inner guard ring. It is interesting to note that the picture of the Sports Tourer in the 1971 catalog shows it without the inner guard ring. That pic was taken in Sept. 1970 and would have been a prototype built before the inner guard ring had been added.
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I think most people would consider TA Pro 5 vis cranks with Cyclotouriste rings to be one of the most iconic vintage cranksets out there. However over the years the Nervar crankset has grown on me as well. The TA does have the advantage of a much greater selection of chainrings and one can much more easily make them into a triple than you can the Nervar.

When Schwinn introduced the Sports Tourer I believe they originally intended on using only TA cranks, however due to potential supply/demand problems they quickly added Nervar as an alternative.

From Schwinn Service Clinic Bulletin 10, March 1971:

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In 1971 it was rare to see a Nervar crankset on a Sports Tourer, but from '72 through '74 it seemed that both were used relatively equally. In 1974 the TA crankset was discontinued and only Nervar cranks were used on the Sports Tourer and Superior from '75 though '78.
 
Those 90mm BCD holes were used to mount the 36T inner sprocket on that crankset for the 1971 Sports Tourer. Even after changing the ST from a 36T to a 40T inner sprocket in late '71 Schwinn continued to use up the Nervar 54T sprockets with those holes until inventory ran out well into 1972. You could use those holes to make it a triple, but good luck finding a 90mm BCD ring to match!

Unfortunately the 42T replacement ring doesn't match up well with the inner guard/ramp designed for a 40T ring.
 
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Had this bike for a while now and never touched it. Forgot I even posted this thread. Finally got the new shop setup and have space and time to work on a bike for myself. Will hopefully get this project wrapped up tonight.

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Your bikes are always in such nice condition. You just don't see them like that in my area.
That one looks to be darn near a museum piece.
The Sky Blue seems to a rather rare color on the Sports Tourer...I love it!
 
Your bikes are always in such nice condition. You just don't see them like that in my area.
That one looks to be darn near a museum piece.
The Sky Blue seems to a rather rare color on the Sports Tourer...I love it!
I've been weeding through the crusty ones the last decade or more, I find plenty of beaters, just get lucky sometimes I guess. I had to re-spoke the wheels on this one, they were beyond bringing back. All fun stuff for me, having them turn out so nice is just the icing on the cake. Been cranking out projects to sell the last couple months. Nice to work on a keeper for myself.
 
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