# Picked this up free on the curb today



## Tour De Luxe

I was coming back from my daily ride on my Specialized Triathlon bike and spotted this 1973 Varsity on the curb a few doors down from my house. My wife had chores for me, so didn’t get back to the Varsity for several hours, but it was still there! Classic green deluxe model with original bar tape, tires, well, basically everything. Chain still in spec, so likely not ridden much. A bit of surface rust on the fenders and wheels, but I put 25 psi in the tires and rode it to the end of the street and back. Rear derailleur works fine, but front will need some work. But the weight! Had never lifted a Varsity before. This thing must weigh about 40 lbs!


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## Oilit

Tour De Luxe said:


> I was coming back from my daily ride on my Specialized Triathlon bike and spotted this 1973 Varsity on the curb a few doors down from my house. My wife had chores for me, so didn’t get back to the Varsity for several hours, but it was still there! Classic green deluxe model with original bar tape, tires, well, basically everything. Chain still in spec, so likely not ridden much. A bit of surface rust on the fenders and wheels, but I put 25 psi in the tires and rode it to the end of the street and back. Rear derailleur works fine, but front will need some work. But the weight! Had never lifted a Varsity before. This thing must weigh about 40 lbs!
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Now you know how Schwinn was able to offer a lifetime guarantee!
But that bike's in nice condition, you don't see many with the chrome fenders.


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## Arnold Ziffel

The Bikesmiths
					

=Each kit will contain: (2) tires, (2) tubes (2) rubber rim strips *If you want to replace the tires on both wheels you need just 1 Kit. Choose from: Gumwall or Blackwall with Presta or Schrader Valve tubes Size: 27x1-1/4" Tire Bead: Wire Width: 32mm ISO 630 2x 27" Schrader or Presta Valve Tubes...




					www.thebikesmiths.com
				












						The Bikesmiths
					

=Available in Gumwall or Blackwall. Choose from Single, 2-Pack, 4-Pack, 6-Pack or 10-Pack Size: 27x1-1/4" Bead: Wire Width: 32 ISO 630 Weight: 542g Choose from Blackwall or Gumwall tire The Kenda gumwall is a great high-pressure replacement road tire for your 27" wheels. Easy rolling tread...




					www.thebikesmiths.com
				




Bikesmiths 414-332-1330  has  two gumwalls/tubes/strips for 30.50,  two blackwalls/tubes/strips for 27.50

Those ancient 50 year old Schwinn PUFF tires look almost useable.
They are probably okay for short testing & adjustment, shake down rides.
If they show no cracking or sidewall degredation, you might get away with using them at below 15 mph speeds.
Do replace them, however at the the first sign that they are breaking up,  because remember that the human body hitting an asphalt paved roadway surface likely increases the probability that you will be on a first name basis with an orthopaedic surgeon.

You are fortunate that your beautiful campus green VARSITY has the shimano built for schwinn  GT-100 rear derailleur, which was standard equipment on the 5 speed Collegiates and 5 speed Suburbans from 1970 thru very early 1974.
The Chicago factory placed this superior quality rear derailleur on the Varsity when the production line was short of Huret Allvits.
The GT-100 is far superior to the Allvit,   as is the GT-120(shimano built, 1974 on the 5 speed Suburbans/Collegiates).
BOTH the shimano built GT-100 and  shimano built GT-120 rear derailleurs  do easily handle a  large 32 tooth 1st gear cog.
The  standard Huret Allvit cannot reliably handle anything beyond a 28 tooth 1st gear cog!
Obviously,  the  VARSITY   has  a  freewheel  with  28-24-20-16-14   and  52/39 up front.
Since your VARSITY appears to either have come out of the Chicago factory with the shimano GT-100,  or  it replaced the original Allvit.......many Schwinn dealers replaced broken-malfunctioning Allvit with GT-100 because it was significantly better and recognized as nearly indestructible.
Why is it fortunate that you have the GT-100, beyond just the GT-100 being better and nearly indestructible?
Well, because you have the option now of  sourcing  the  FREEWHEEL from the 1970 - 1976  five speed SUBURBAN or the 1970 - 1977 five speed COLLEGIATE  (obviously, you gotta have them from those models Before they got FFS in the late seventies, that is why that you must seek them from between 1970-1976 and 1970-1977 )

Why will the MODEL J  freewheel from the  1970-1976 5 speed Suburban and 1970-1977 5 speed Collegiate IMPROVE MY VARSITY?
      Because you WILL BENEFIT SIGNIFICANTLY from better HILL CLIMBING CAPABILTY!!   The Schwinn VARSITY weighs a ton, and add to that the chromed fenders, generator set, headlight, and possibly perhaps a rear rack,  and waterbottle & chain lock which you will definitely need.     You are talking about 42 1/2 pounds of Chicago's finest.
Certainly, nothing is really wrong with a two ton, smooth cruiser that rolls down the road with the ride of a 1965-1975 Cadillac Sedan de Ville which was really big but the Caddy had a 429, 472, or 500 cubic inch v-8 depending on what year model that had absolutely no problems with hills or cruising power/passing power,  as long as you could deal with the 7 or 8 mpg gas mileage and fill the tank as necessary.   Suddenly though, late 1973 and  you have gas lines and can now only get gas on even/odd days based on the license plate number.  (Remember back then, nearly all gas stations were full serve where an attendant pumped your gas).    It was suddenly a huge liability during that time if you had a gas guzzler and you were limited in the days and amount that you could buy.       Okay,  so for a brief period, that Caddy owner wasn't driving, or maybe carpooling or walking...
Now as a two ton Schwinn owner, you will not have the "gas" to crank that 42.5 pound beast up any hill in the Summertime sunshine.....you will be walking it up the hill,  or your legs will be burning/aching as you attempt to mash your way up it before you literally run outta gas and overheat.     Gatorade and/or water will keep you alive, but you'll likely be finding a use for your favorite four letter words as you get enough of a second wind  to continue your journey.
If you are gonna do a complete  greasing-servicing on that ancient '73 Varsity,  you are going to remove the existing freewheel to regrease it properly......why not INSTALL the 14-32 freewheel instead of re-installing your 14-28 freewheel?
Your rear derailleur will handle it perfectly.
The MODEL J freewheel 14-32 from the 5 speed Suburban/5 speed Collegiate of Seventies  is  a better quality freewheel than the freewheel that the VARSITY/CONTINENTAL/10spSUBURBAN has.
Now, certainly the Model F  14-28 freewheel is excellent quality but the shimano built MODEL J is even better.
THE 5 speed Suburban/5 speed  '70-'77 Collegiate's  model J  has 14-32 with  32-26-21-17-14.
The 1971 SUPER SPORT 10 speed also has the same 14-32 gearing  and it has the 52/39 one piece crank front.
****Something as heavy as that '73 VARSITY with all the fenders and lights etc  WILL LOOK GREAT, Once you clean it up and get it into tip top shape, BUT YOU WILL BE SADLY DISAPPOINTED IF YOU DON'T IMPROVE THE LOW GEAR (hill climbing) UNLESS IT IS AS FLAT AS A BILLIARD TABLE  IN  THE AREA WHERE YOU RIDE.
The bike will still ride like a huge mid sixties to mid seventies Cadillac.   You'll still be able to ride with No hands as we all used to do back in 1972 with VARSITIES/CONTINENTALS/SUBURBANS/COLLEGIATES etc,  but we were all younger and dumber then and emergency room visits didn't cost much back then.   Older persons' bones break more easily and older folks typically heal much more slowly, if at all compared to someone under 25.   Another reason to consider wearing a helmet.  It can only do you good,  because if you need it and you ain't got it on,  well then you are gonna be up  what is the name of that tv show that stars Eugene Levy's son and the other woman that was on SCTV forty years ago.
The BELL PITCREW 600 cable set is outstanding if you should need to replace any cables.  You also can use the BELL PITCREW 600 cable set IF you were to convert the VARSITY to tourist/Upright riding with for example 7881 Schwinn tourist handlebars & weinmann/diacompe tourist style brake levers.  
The other hugely important item that too many overlook before going on testing/shakedown rides with old newly acquired 10 speeds  is  the BRAKE PADS.         A  10 speed will go significantly faster, and more quickly accelerate than say a 62 Corvette (the schwinn, not the chevrolet...).    You are going to get into trouble riding anything with rock-hard brake pads which will not come close to stopping your bicycle.    Most people do understand this but they get so excited about riding the newly sorted out and adjusted 10 speed that they momentarily forget this and they ride it spiritedly as if the brakes were functional,  and sometimes they experience that Oh, you know what moment,  before they can't stop.
You also have even perhaps better options for improving LOW GEARING(hill climbing).
Maeda SUNTOUR  and SHIMANO  both built excellent 14-34  freewheels which you can possibly find.
You could also find 6 speed freewheels also with similar low gearing.
Maeda SUNTOUR also made some outstanding rear derailleurs in the 1970's that would handle a 34 gear cog.
It is my opinion that you would be absolutely wasting your time and money if you consider replacing the one piece crank on the VARSITY.    You wouldn't save enough weight for it to matter on such a heavy bicycle.  The One-Piece crank is unbreakable and simple to service, and is never problematic if the two caged #64 bearings are in good shape and you clean and re-grease with synthetic waterproof Green grease or something compareable synthetic waterproof from an autoparts store.  Heck even if you re-greased from a 1942 can of military spec grease, it will be great too, but you'll have to re-grease at far more frequent intervals, but still not an issue at all.      Keep the One Piece Crank,  and  spend your time and money  improving the Low gear(hill climbing) of that Varsity by going with a 32 first gear cog,  or perhaps even a freewheel that has a 34 first gear cog.
Installing a new chain and setting up any Shimano or SUNTOUR rear derailleur is SIMPLE.   The same is true for SHIMANO or SUNTOUR front derailleur,  or for the Huret front derailleurs that were fitted to the VARSITY between about '73 and later.
The later Huret front derailleurs as fitted to  VARSITY get progressively better as the seventies came to a close.
All of them are Excellent.   While the Huret rear derailleur wasn't anywhere near the quality of the Japanese rear derailleur, the Huret front derailleurs that Schwinn used in the Seventies were good.  Certainly, the Japanese did everything better but once the quality is as good as those were on the front of bike boom seventies VARSITIES and beyond,  it does not matter too much.
If it is highly reliable and durable, that is all that one really cares about on a Varsity anyway.     Now,  should you seek a front derailleur for your VARSITY,   I would recommend finding the stock front derailleur from a late Seventies Varsity, as it is slightly better.   You certainly do not want anything from an older sixties era Varsity.     
Whatever front derailleur that you consider,  do not consider anything made by Simplex or Campagnolo.  They might look cool but they are inferior and will be problematic.    The stock late Seventies VARSITY front derailleur, or Shimano or Suntour front derailleurs from the early Seventies through the very early eighties will be outstanding too.   YOU NEED TO find 25.4 Clamp on Front derailleur  so that it fits the Schwinn frame  tube's outer diameter.   Most of the Suntour 25.4mm front derailleurs of the Seventies that would work  on the Varsity  are reversed shifting for the left side lever that changes between front's small & big rings.    Most Shimano & SUNTOUR front derailleurs of that era are easy to set up and have excellent and precision adjustment screws.    Again, you should not seek the LIGHTEST WEIGHT front derailleur model for a bike such as the VARSITY,  as you want the Durable-Unbreakable-Workhorse models which are proven bulletproof and fitted to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of bicycles.      Anything from the very basic and very ancient Thunderbird or Spirt  front derailleurs would work well enough  or anything later from shimano or suntour  that would fit .        Just say NO to Campagnolo and Simplex unless you want problems.    Huret front derailleurs as fitted to seventies era Varsities are quality,  the later seventies versions are the best of those.      Schwinn issued a varsity clone in the late seventies (circa '77-'78) called the SPORTABOUT  & RUNABOUT  which essentially was an electroforged chicago varsity EXCEPT that this SPORTABOUT / RUNABOUT  featured SUNTOUR derailleurs .     It made this SPORTABOUT / RUNABOUT  a bicycle that was superior to the VARSITY  because it was the same bicycle with better quality Japanese derailleurs.      Rear derailleurs were where the Japanese superiority was huge.
That Varsity looks great in Campus Green with fenders.    It may be roadworthy in the year 2099.     
Bone stock it is still a fine bicycle.    I simply thought that you might want to know how/what other old Schwinn models had components(specifically 32 cog first gear freewheel)  that might assist you to make it better for tackling HILLS.
Another possible consideration is since you find that you need a front derailleur is possibly CONVERTING to 5 speed by getting the 14-32 model J freewheel from a Seventies era 5 speed SUBURBAN or seventies era Collegiate,  and  getting the 46T Clover or 46T Mag    style   SCHWINN chainwheel from either a sixties or seventies Collegiate or seventies Suburban five speed.
The only thing that you don't have on the VARSITY frame is the factory eyelet above the bottom bracket for the standard chainguard that the Five speeds & Three speeds & Single speeds  lightweights of the midsixties through the seventies.
You could easily affix an EYEBOLT of the same size.......drill and screw in and Epoxy into place....and presto,  you can then utilize any Collegiate, seventies era Speedster, Breeze,  Suburban chainguard.
Converting in this way to 5 speed configuration WILL NOT IMPROVE hill climbing as your Low gear would then be 39 GEAR with 46T &  14-32 freewheel and 27 inch(630mm) wheels   VERSUS  the  39T(small ring of Varsity) & 14-28 freewheel and 27 inch (630mm) wheels which produces a 38 GEAR.     Yes,  the Seventies era (1970-77) COLLEGIATE does have superior hill climbing than the VARSITY does, because  46 T  &  14-32  and 26 inch (597mm) wheels  which produces a 37 GEAR.
The lower the number in GEAR number indicates better hill climbing capability.
You cannot simply just convert a stock Varsity with 14-28 freewheel to 46 T  single front BECAUSE YOUR LOW GEAR WOULD BE EVEN WORSE THAN THE RELATIVELY CRUMMY LOW GEARING OF THE 1964-1969 COLLEGIATE, which has the same french made 14-28 freewheel as the Varsity has.    It would be worse than the sixties Collegiate because of the 27 inch wheels versus 26 inch (597mm) wheels.    The sixties Collegiate is AWFUL in comparison to the 1970 and later COLLEGIATE  in regards to hill climbing ability.    Do the calculation if you don't believe it!     The Collegiate was a nice enough, decent bicycle in the sixties but it became a great bicycle in 1970 with the superb shimano derailleur and the new shimano freewheel with a 32 teeth low gear cog.       Now if you live in Florida or anywhere that you don't have any hills, it doesn't matter too much.
Remember that the JAPANESE were responsible for this gearing improvement because the EUROPEANS could not produce a rear derailleur that could reliably shift  anything much beyond 28 teeth cog at that point in time.  Schwinn engineers knew what they were doing in getting shimano  to do work for them.


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## HEMI426

Gotta love that price.


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## Goldenrod

That's made of quality Chicago steel, Sonny.  You can drop it from 10,000 feet on a hard boiled egg and ride it to any edge of the Land of the Free.  If it gets scratched, dig up A.S. and demand a replacement.


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## Allrounderco

I've ridden a lot of miles on hard OG tires on various old bikes.
And every time I change them, and feel how they transform the bike, I wonder why I didn't do it sooner. If you plan to keep the bike, definitely change out the tires. I have used the Kenda K23 on a couple of bikes. I know there's a lot of commentary on how the new ones aren't as good as the K23s made 20 or so years ago, and that may well be true. My experience has been good, however.

In any case, great score - just the condition of the bar tape alone suggests this will clean up to near new condition.


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## Aaron65

What a fortunate find!  Clean it up, grease the bearings, and replace the tires - and then keep it or sell it!  Anything anyone puts on the street around here isn't worth picking up...your lucky day!


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## Mr. Monkeyarms

Two things that will survive a nuclear exchange. Cockroaches & Schwinn Varsities.... 🤣


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## Jeff54

Tour De Luxe said:


> I was coming back from my daily ride on my Specialized Triathlon bike and spotted this 1973 Varsity on the curb a few doors down from my house. My wife had chores for me, so didn’t get back to the Varsity for several hours, but it was still there! Classic green deluxe model with original bar tape, tires, well, basically everything. Chain still in spec, so likely not ridden much. A bit of surface rust on the fenders and wheels, but I put 25 psi in the tires and rode it to the end of the street and back. Rear derailleur works fine, but front will need some work. But the weight! Had never lifted a Varsity before. This thing must weigh about 40 lbs!
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Boy, there's a sight for sour eyes. A pair of Puff's that's hardly used and not completely dried and rotted out. 
Whew, that is not easy to find!


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## Tour De Luxe

Appreciate all the advice and words of encouragement! Will definitely replace tires before I run at speed. I have a set of Vittoria Zaffiro tires that were on my 1984 Le Tour Luxe (LTL) for a while that I will install temporarily on the Varsity. I had the Kendas on the LTL but the side walls cracked after only 5 years, so not a fan. The old Schwinn Passage tires lasted 25 years.    I want to try the Schwalbe HS159 on the Varsity, BTD has them for $20 ea vs the K40 at $15.  

I put some new 700c wheels on the LTL running 28x622 Conti GP5000 and picked up 2 mph over the stock wheels and Vittoria tires. Also dropped the weight down to 26 lbs without kickstand and rack. Keeps me competitive with the other riders on their modern plastic bikes. They hate it when I point out that their bikes are CF reinforced plastic!


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## PCHiggin

Nice find! I would have grabbed it as well. The weight isn’t that bad, especially for my rides. I’m not carrying them on my back


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## The Spokemaster

You found this for FREE, in your neighborhood  ?

I think I want to live in your neighborhood !

*FREE* is a very good price !


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## Tour De Luxe

Just gave the “new” bike a quick wash. Fixed the problem with the front D too.  A little OA will clean up most of the rust I hope. I’ve never used that stuff before.

Calling these Varsitys a “Lightweight” is a misnomer. I weighed this puppy at 41.6 lbs on my bathroom scale. It’s 15 lbs heavier than my 1984 Cro-moly Le Tour Luxe!

Generator and lights still work!


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## GTs58

Tour De Luxe said:


> Just gave the “new” bike a quick wash. Fixed the problem with the front D too.  A little OA will clean up most of the rust I hope. I’ve never used that stuff before.
> 
> Calling these Varsitys a “Lightweight” is a misnomer. I weighed this puppy at 41.6 lbs on my bathroom scale. It’s 15 lbs heavier than my 1984 Cro-moly Le Tour Luxe!
> 
> Generator and lights still work!View attachment 1613434




Those fenders, light set and wheel reflectors must be 5 lbs of dead weight. And that chain ring guard.  lol....

My late 1961 Conti Tourist is only 35#.


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## SirMike1983

The bike was obviously well-kept, then suddenly sent to the curb for free. Perhaps a moving or decedent's estate type thing? Usually the plastic light lenses are broken, there are dents, and other such things on free curb bikes. You did very well for free, given the completeness and condition. Yeah, it's heavy by most standards today, but you wouldn't get much of a refund, considering what you paid. It looks like you made a very nice find.


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## Tour De Luxe

SirMike1983 said:


> The bike was obviously well-kept, then suddenly sent to the curb for free. Perhaps a moving or decedent's estate type thing? Usually the plastic light lenses are broken, there are dents, and other such things on free curb bikes. You did very well for free, given the completeness and condition. Yeah, it's heavy by most standards today, but you wouldn't get much of a refund, considering what you paid. It looks like you made a very nice find.



Great find without a doubt! I don’t think this bike was ridden very much and then just stored in a garage. I rode it 10 miles yesterday and it did ok, but the brakes squealed like a stuck pig and I was a bit worried about the tires blowing out at speed, so I pulled the front wheel and brakes off today with the idea to take the front wheel from my 84 Le Tour Luxe and swap it with the Varsity temporarily so I can work on the rusty rims. The brake pads had almost no wear.  

Wow, are those steel rims and galvanized spokes heavy! With the tire and tube: 2420 g. The nice AL Weinmann rim from the LTL with Zaffiro tire and tube is only 1714 g. More than 1.5 lb savings just on the front wheel. The QR axle on the newer wheel doesn’t exactly work on the Varsity, but seems to be secure. The 32 x 630 Zaffiro mounts really wide on the Weinmann rim and doesn’t quite fit under the fender without interference, so I’ll have to pull the fender off too. I’m curious if the 6 speed rear from the LTL will work with the Varsity. Dropout seems to be the same.


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## Tour De Luxe

GTs58 said:


> Those fenders, light set and wheel reflectors must be 5 lbs of dead weight. And that chain ring guard.  lol....
> 
> My late 1961 Conti Tourist is only 35#.
> 
> View attachment 1613467



I pulled the wheels off the Varsity and put my aluminum wheels and Zaffiro tires from the Le Tour Luxe on it. I had to pull the fenders due to the wide stance of the Vittorias. The old Puffs measured only 28mm wide, but the Zaffiros on those Belgian Weinmann rims are nearly 34mm, even though the same size tire. I also temporarily pulled the generator and lights. The stripped down Varsity is “only” 34.8 lbs. Those steel wheels and Puff tires weighed over 12 lbs!  Not nearly as pretty without the bling of the chrome. Those fat tires sure gave a smooth ride. I did about 13 miles on it today.


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## Oilit

Tour De Luxe said:


> I pulled the wheels off the Varsity and put my aluminum wheels and Zaffiro tires from the Le Tour Luxe on it. I had to pull the fenders due to the wide stance of the Vittorias. The old Puffs measured only 28mm wide, but the Zaffiros on those Belgian Weinmann rims are nearly 34mm, even though the same size tire. I also temporarily pulled the generator and lights. The stripped down Varsity is “only” 34.8 lbs. Those steel wheels and Puff tires weighed over 12 lbs!  Not nearly as pretty without the bling of the chrome. Those fat tires sure gave a smooth ride. I did about 13 miles on it today.View attachment 1614507
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Those tires look good on the bike, and I can see how they would give a better ride! The biggest problem with the 26" lightweights is there's only one tire available unless you change rims, maybe that's the way to go.


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## Tour De Luxe

Oilit said:


> Those tires look good on the bike, and I can see how they would give a better ride! The biggest problem with the 26" lightweights is there's only one tire available unless you change rims, maybe that's the way to go.



Actually the Varsity has 27” rims. I have some Schwalbe H-159 27x1-1/4 on order, due tomorrow.  Hopefully they will mount on the straight sided Varsity rims (no hook that I can see), and mount at 32mm width or less.  BTD had them on sale for only $15 ea. Schwalbe does state hooked rims only, but so does Vittoria and Continental. Not sure what tire will actually work on a straight side rim. Perhaps a cheap Wheelmaster is the way to go since it would open up the huge selection of 700c tires. I could just leave the wheels from the LTL on there, since I converted that bike to 700c.

I need to tweak the rear D a little. Shifting on the 6 speed freewheel is a little rough on each end. Need to break everything down, clean and regrease before I get too many miles on that 50 year old grease.


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## davek

I just go to my LBS and get Kenda, some folks like them some don't . I use windex to seat the bead and they ride fine.


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## kostnerave

What happened to the fenders, generator light set and wheel reflectors? That was the magic, well at least for me. Ha!


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## Tour De Luxe

Oh, all that chrome will be back. Cleaning it up now. Will do a full takedown of all the components and try to get the rust off, or at least make it shiny.  My new Schwalbe HS-159 tanwall tires in 27x1-1/4 came in today and look real good and hopefully will mount narrow enough to fit under the fenders. The Vittoria Zaffiro V mount like a ballon tire. Nice ride, but slow.


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## Tour De Luxe

OK, I cleaned up the chrome and put the fenders and light set back on the Varsity. It looks great. I put the new Schwalbe HS-159 tires on my wheels from the ‘84 Le Tour Luxe for now. Those old steel wheels from the Varsity still need a bit of work to look presentable. The alloy wheels from the LTL save 3.4 lbs, bringing the weight down to 38.2 lbs as shown.  I will say the ride is not nearly as nice as those fat Vittoria Zaffiro tires which measured 34mm wide. The new Schwalbe measure at 28mm.


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## Tour De Luxe

Also, I did a bottom bracket service and the bearings were completely dry. I’m sure the head bearings are dried out too, but I could not get the stem out. Any suggestions from more experienced guys on here? A few more before/after pics.


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## Oilit

Tour De Luxe said:


> Also, I did a bottom bracket service and the bearings were completely dry. I’m sure the head bearings are dried out too, but I could not get the stem out. Any suggestions from more experienced guys on here? A few more before/after pics.
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For a stuck stem, all I know is penetrating oil and patience. But there are plenty of threads about stuck stems, might be some help or at least consolation.


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## bobcycles

sucker looks NOS!


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## Tour De Luxe

Here is the finally completed refurb of the ‘73 Varsity. I was able get most of the rust off of the steel wheels and the spoke guard at the freewheel. I did a clean and repack on the wheel bearings and they spin really nice. Not happy with the brake pads from Amazon. They squeal a bit and cause some vibration. I might try some Kool-stop red to see if that helps.


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## Oilit

I've got a set of Kool Stops on the front of a '51 Traveler beater. They grip better than the stock pads, but squeal even worse. Changing the alignment with the rims changed the pitch, but I haven't found the solution yet. But at least I can stop going downhill!


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## Schwinny

I found the best non squeal pads were Fibrax with the leather inserts. They are specifically for wet riding with steel rims, which I don't do anyway, but no noise either.
Had to get them from jolly ole' England tho


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## GTs58

Oilit said:


> I've got a set of Kool Stops on the front of a '51 Traveler beater. They grip better than the stock pads, but squeal even worse. Changing the alignment with the rims changed the pitch, but I haven't found the solution yet. But at least I can stop going downhill!




So resetting the pads with a toe in didn't help? I've been lucky and never had a noise problem, yet. I went shopping at Pork Chops BMX last Monday since they were having a once in their lifetime sale, 20% off. I bought 6 pair of the Salmon 6 bump Weinmann replacements and have never before had Kool Stops. Hope I don't have any noise issues.


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## Oilit

GTs58 said:


> So resetting the pads with a toe in didn't help? I've been lucky and never had a noise problem, yet. I went shopping at Pork Chops BMX last Monday since they were having a once in their lifetime sale, 20% off. I bought 6 pair of the Salmon 6 bump Weinmann replacements and have never before had Kool Stops. Hope I don't have any noise issues.



I've got to play around with them some more, but the initial result was just a change in pitch, from shriller to hoarser. I can't tell if it's the rim that's vibrating or the calipers or both but something's really singing, to the point I was worried that something would vibrate loose. I got sidetracked on a different project the last few days but I'll try some more adjustments this evening.


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## stingray66

here is my 1973 varsity did some painting  a lot of cleaning  and modifying  its now a 21 speed


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