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1973 Speedster

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As Artie Johnson used to say in Laugh In, Verrry Interesting! I happened to notice the sprocket turning while I was coasting this afternoon and wondered about that. Thanks for pointing this cool feature out and for posting the link.
 
I finally took my Lemon Yellow Speedster on a long ride this morning and was View attachment 1041546surprised how well Blondie handled. I’m used to my lighter 74 Le Tour but my 15 mile ride was very relaxing. I zeroed the Schwinn speedometer after buying it so it has up to date mileage.View attachment 1041545View attachment 1041584
I love your Speedster bike. I just picked up a brown 5 speed collegiate for $10.00 last weekend. Not near as nice as yours, But still rides and shifts just fine. Ride on. Razin.
 
Well saw the Suburban today and it looked good so it climbed up into my Tundra bed, final price was $50. The paint and chrome looks very good and needs some cleaning and polishing having lots of dust and grime from storage. The rear light is missing so that will eventually get replaced. The tires are dry rotted , originals and holding air but I will be putting on some white walls to pimp up the ride. The serial # puts it built June 1980. I rode it around my block when I got home and was pleasantly surprised at how smooth and solid it rides.
Here are some pictures how it looks now. I will post pictures later on once I clean and polish her. The original salmon color pads are in like new condition.
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I had one of these suburban blue girls bikes. They are really sweet rides once you get used to the Free Wheel sprocket. Enjoy your new ride. Razin.
 
Well my cheap bike is turning out to be not so cheap. Yesterday Evening I rode it around the hood and the shift cable connection snapped inside the stem shifter. My bike mechanic says If I want to keep it as is I need to get Positron Shift Cable kit or replace the rear derailleur to a standard set up. He may also need to replace the chain to match the new derailleur.
 
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Yes, the Suburbans are great riders. Your 1980 bike likely has a better shifter than the early '70s Suburbans had, which is the main problem riding the early ones. IMHO, these are the best riding deraileaur bikes Schwinn ever made. Never had a FF bike. I could have bought one a few years ago, but decided against it because of all the cautionary comments I read online.
 
Yes, the Suburbans are great riders. Your 1980 bike likely has a better shifter than the early '70s Suburbans had, which is the main problem riding the early ones. IMHO, these are the best riding deraileaur bikes Schwinn ever made. Never had a FF bike. I could have bought one a few years ago, but decided against it because of all the cautionary comments I read online.

Hey thanks. Can you share some of those comments?
 
Hey thanks. Can you share some of those comments?
Hmmm.... it was a few years back. The main sentiment was what you have already experienced - if something breaks the shifter parts are not interchangeable with non-FF. It was sold as a system where you could shift gears without having to pedal. So, you could shift gears while coasting. Might also be easier to shift gears while braking, because you don't have to pedal. As Sven said, most people didn't see the need for the FF system, so it didn't last long, making parts more difficult to locate.

It's an interesting system, and should work fine once you get your new cable.
 
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