1972 Schwinn Sports Tourer... Just Got It

[schwinnbikebobb]

Here is mine. Still the Campy chunk but thought I'd keep it. I'd go Crane if to be ridden. Found this one about 90 minutes away but I asked Stikshifter if he wanted to go with me so we made a day of it including a pizza lunch. Typical story, the seller said the local bike shop said it was a $500 bike so she had a distorted view of worth. I asked her did they offer to buy it for the $500? No they didn't want it she said. Then we were able to make a deal after we got that out of the way. Looking at this pic it looks like the fork is tweeked but it is not, just the angle I guess.

 

[HARPO]

Truth be told, I only paid $50 for it.

Makes it more palatable for my wife to know that I'm not spending a ton of cash on bikes... except for the two Schwinn Black Phantoms I bought a couple of weeks ago .

 

[HARPO]

Here is mine. Still the Campy chunk but thought I'd keep it. I'd go Crane if to be ridden. Found this one about 90 minutes away but I asked Stikshifter if he wanted to go with me so we made a day of it including a pizza lunch. Typical story, the seller said the local bike shop said it was a $500 bike so she had a distorted view of worth. I asked her did they offer to buy it for the $500? No they didn't want it she said. Then we were able to make a deal after we got that out of the way. Looking at this pic it looks like the fork is tweeked but it is not, just the angle I guess.

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Looks great! I have quite a bit of work to do as you can see on mine.

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

John,
I think the adjustment of the brake safety levers is a balancing act. If one brings them up too far, making them easy to reach, there is likely to be very little brake force before the safety lever is even with the handlebar top. I see far more complaints about the brakes being ineffective from the tops than the levers being a bit of a reach. Of course, proper caliper setup is critical here too.
I'll continue setting them to the max reach point, that's my favorite setup.
The randonneur bars on the ST make the safety lever adjustment look worse than it is.

My 85 ST was in similar condition to the OP's, I ended up replacing spokes and rims, they were too far gone on mine.

Thank you, they are all very good points.

Not only do bicycle frames come in different sizes, but the people that ride them come in many different sizes. People are proportionally sized. That is a smaller rider not only has shorter leg length and torso that would fit on a 17" frame size, but they will also have shorter hand reach. The best compromise that Schwinn determined to fit the most riders, of the most body sizes was to make these two adjustments. You need to properly position the handlebar "first", before you adjust the brake hood position on the handlebar.

#1 Use a 3' yardstick as a pointer to help visualize the position. Point the ends of the drop handlebar so that they align with the rear axle.

#2 Adjust the brake lever hoods so that the top of the brake lever hood aligns with the frame's "down tube"

This will produce a uniform set up position that takes into account the optimum hand reach for different rider sizes, rider comfort on both the top and bottom of the bars.

All adjustments work in concert with each other. There's really no reason why you should not be able to get any road bike that has alloy rims to have good stopping as long as the brake cables are freely moving and the brake pads are not old and "hard as a rock". Exotic brake shoes are not necessary, for the speeds bikes like we are talking about in this thread. The lack of braking friction on a wet/steel rim is another issue, but alloy rims stop just fine.

John

 

[HARPO]

If you look at the $196 price tag on the bike back in 1972, that was quite a bit of money . I was in College in my Sophomore year at that time, buying in 1970 a used 1963 Buick Le Sabre in very good condition for $500.

So in today's money, what would that have cost back then?

 

[PfishB]

If you look at the $196 price tag on the bike back in 1972, that was quite a bit of money . I was in College in my Sophomore year at that time, buying in 1970 a used 1963 Buick Le Sabre in very good condition for $500.

So in today's money, what would that have cost back then?

Neat little online tool I use for this: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ According to it, $196 in 1972 is equivalent to $1548 today, or 690% inflation. Yeesh... I usually use it in reverse looking at what I'm paying now compared to when I bought similar in the past. It's gone a bit crazy lately as we're all painfully aware...

 

[HARPO]

Didn't notice this when I bought the bike . Everything else was coming along nicely as I was taking it all apart, which was all nicely greased.

Apparently he was doing his own work and lost the cover with the bearings OR stripped the crap out of it and couldn't get it back on. Figured he didn't need it (but it's stripped because I can't get one on!!) and just put the arm back on. Live and learn!!

 

[WillWork4Parts]

Didn't notice this when I bought the bike . Everything else was coming along nicely as I was taking it all apart, which was all nicely greased.

Apparently he was doing his own work and lost the cover with the bearings OR stripped the crap out of it and couldn't get it back on. Figured he didn't need it (but it's stripped because I can't get one on!!) and just put the arm back on. Live and learn!!

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Those can certainly be a pain if somebody really cranks on them to install. I haven't been defeated by one yet, but if you have the right tool, you can put a longer bolt into the socket square drive to help keep it centered on the splines and then use a big wrench on the hex part of the tool. ...also remember that the non-drive side is RH(standard) threads, lefty loosey...

 

[HARPO]

@WillWork4Parts Lol, yes, I know.

But this guy had his eyes closed and stripped the threads when he was reinstalling. The outer threads will take a ring, which I tested, but the inner threads for the bearings cup won't. Oh well!

 

[daverup]

Sorry to see this. Maybe you know a shop with a tap that could get it straightened out?