# This Schwinn Worth Messing With?



## dave429 (Jun 3, 2022)

A family member offered to give me a vintage Schwinn exercise bicycle similar to this one I have pictured. I don’t really want it taking up room but wondering if there are any parts worth saving from it? Is anything interchangeable on other models of Schwinn bikes? Looks like it might have a 20” rim and shorter ape hanger bars with a gooseneck stem and Huret speedometer. Maybe the crank and bearings. These might be good for a stingray or runabout? Are the pedal parts any good and think there are blocks under the pedal covers? Anyone here have any insight on the matter?


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## GTs58 (Jun 4, 2022)

With a little work you could make a two wheeler out of it? I had a borrowed one for a short time when I had to learn how to walk again after falling three stories. I didn't pay much attention to all the details, but I've heard the rim does not have a valve stem hole, but it can be drilled out.


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## island schwinn (Jun 4, 2022)

Those things are a popular part out item on ratrodbikes.


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## Goldenrod (Jun 4, 2022)

First you get an army surplus rocketed, do some weld tacking and take it to the top of the Grand Tetons.  Grease yourself up, leave the clothes and light the fuse after pointing the unit toward a roadrunner.  Call it the CABE Coyote.


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## WillWork4Parts (Jun 4, 2022)

dave429 said:


> A family member offered to give me a vintage Schwinn exercise bicycle similar to this one I have pictured. I don’t really want it taking up room but wondering if there are any parts worth saving from it? Is anything interchangeable on other models of Schwinn bikes? Looks like it might have a 20” rim and shorter ape hanger bars with a gooseneck stem and Huret speedometer. Maybe the crank and bearings. These might be good for a stingray or runabout? Are the pedal parts any good and think there are blocks under the pedal covers? Anyone here have any insight on the matter?
> 
> View attachment 1639051
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The early ones like pictured here have normal S7 stamped rims with a drilled valve stem. The later ones have an S2 with the width of an S7, but they still fit a regular Slik after you drill the valve stem hole. It's hit or miss if they are stamped S2. The solid rubber tires can be a pain to cut and pull off of either of them. The handlebars aren't real apehangers since they have zero back sweep. The speedometer drive cable is Just too short to fit a 20" properly. Cranks and stem are always nice! Later model ones have shifter locknuts holding the rear base on. Some have the metric 10 Springer fork bolt, but that's pretty hit or miss. The pedals on the one you have pictured do not have covers but are one solid chunk O rubber and are base model middleweight steel parts. If you have pedal blocks to donate, they make a great pedal since they've never been laid over or hit a curb. The later models' pedals aren't schwinn but are still made quite well. 

Yeah.....you could say I've taken a few of these apart. Lol


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## dave429 (Jun 4, 2022)

@GTs58 that 2 wheeler sure looks funky! 🤣
@island schwinn maybe I will check out ratrodbikes and see what they think.


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## dave429 (Jun 4, 2022)

@Goldenrod good plan! 🤣 You go first!


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## dave429 (Jun 4, 2022)

@WillWork4Parts Thanks for all of the information. I will have to check the bike out when I get a chance and see what I can use. Is the stem the same stems they use on other Schwinn bikes? Those are nice to have around.


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## kreika (Jun 4, 2022)

Damn,  someone clocked 6792 miles on it! Nice!


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## Rivnut (Jun 4, 2022)

Cut off the “fork” so the tire is on the ground and put some casters on the ends of the rear.  Then see if you can have fun figuring out where it might go or how you might steer it.


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## WillWork4Parts (Jun 4, 2022)

dave429 said:


> @WillWork4Parts Thanks for all of the information. I will have to check the bike out when I get a chance and see what I can use. Is the stem the same stems they use on other Schwinn bikes? Those are nice to have around.



Yes, same stems, they just have a sliding T-handle instead of the normal pinch bolt for the handlebars, same thread and year stampings though. Also happens to be the quickest way to date the rest of the parts involved...before dragging it home. Loosen and check year stamp on handlebars.


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## rustystone2112 (Jun 4, 2022)

On rainy days if you’re really bored and you really have to ride something


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## ogre (Jun 4, 2022)

I use Exerciser quick release seatpost clamps on several 2-wheeled Schwinns, and I've saved a couple quick release stems that I've not gotten around to mounting. I like the long, heavy duty seatposts with height guide. The standard equipment Mesinger seats are durable, with metal innards that don't disentegrate like modern plastic cruiser seats.


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## Xlobsterman (Jun 5, 2022)

dave429 said:


> A family member offered to give me a vintage Schwinn exercise bicycle similar to this one I have pictured. I don’t really want it taking up room but wondering if there are any parts worth saving from it? Is anything interchangeable on other models of Schwinn bikes? Looks like it might have a 20” rim and shorter ape hanger bars with a gooseneck stem and Huret speedometer. Maybe the crank and bearings. These might be good for a stingray or runabout? Are the pedal parts any good and think there are blocks under the pedal covers? Anyone here have any insight on the matter?
> 
> View attachment 1639051
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> View attachment 1639052




There is a small collectors market for these bikes. But they are really not worth a whole lot. Personally I hate to see these old Schwinn bikes get parted out as others have suggested. But to each his own I guess..........

I have a 1980 model that was my late mothers. She gave it to me a few years before she passed. And I actually pulled this bike out of the box, and assembled it when my dad purchased it for mom as a Christmas present that year.


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## Robert Troub (Jun 5, 2022)

dave429 said:


> @WillWork4Parts Thanks for all of the information. I will have to check the bike out when I get a chance and see what I can use. Is the stem the same stems they use on other Schwinn bikes? Those are nice to have around.



Yes, and the speedometer s sell well also...


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## dave429 (Jun 5, 2022)

kreika said:


> Damn,  someone clocked 6792 miles on it! Nice!



Seeing how many miles we could get would have been something my friends and I would have done when we were kids. That’s a lot of miles on an exercise bike!


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## dave429 (Jun 5, 2022)

@Xlobsterman great shirt!


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## Xlobsterman (Jun 6, 2022)

dave429 said:


> @Xlobsterman great shirt!




Yea, but unfortunately I sold that on Ebay years ago when I needed some working capital to start up my own business during that time! I sold off a few other Schwinn collectables during that time, that I now wish I never sold!


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## dave429 (Jun 6, 2022)

@Xlobsterman those are neat pieces.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 6, 2022)

those   bikes have some value when you sell them complete. probably more than the few useful parts you could remove.


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## Xlobsterman (Jun 6, 2022)

dave429 said:


> @Xlobsterman those are neat pieces.



 Yea, I had that stuff stored in a box for years, and sold them about 10 years ago now. The owner of the shop I worked at gave it all to me when he sold the shop in 82.


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## Thee (Jun 9, 2022)

Xlobsterman said:


> Yea, I had that stuff stored in a box for years, and sold them about 10 years ago now. The owner of the shop I worked at gave it all to me when he sold the shop in 82.
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My parents traded in my brother & I’s yellow 5 speed sting rays? Bought in Haverhill mass & shipped out here when we moved, for 24” 10 speeds around 1976? I got the bicentennial colored one


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## Thee (Jun 9, 2022)

Xlobsterman said:


> Yea, I had that stuff stored in a box for years, and sold them about 10 years ago now. The owner of the shop I worked at gave it all to me when he sold the shop in 82.
> 
> View attachment 1641316



Traded at that shop I forgot to say 🫢


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## Thee (Jun 9, 2022)

Xlobsterman said:


> Yea, I had that stuff stored in a box for years, and sold them about 10 years ago now. The owner of the shop I worked at gave it all to me when he sold the shop in 82.
> 
> View attachment 1641316



You guys fixed a flat on my brothers bike on Christmas Day !!! Sent him the pic & he remembered 😊


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## dave429 (Jun 9, 2022)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> those   bikes have some value when you sell them complete. probably more than the few useful parts you could remove.



You are most likely right, I do hate tearing completes  apart. If I don’t grab it, it will end up as scrap metal. Better to salvage something over nothing.


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