'64 Super Sport handlebar

[Eric Amlie]

I recently bought a '64 Super Sport that had been crudely converted to a tourist setup.
The original stem with the collar had been crushed onto a smaller diameter tourist style handlebar.
I'm returning the bike to it's original configuration and would like to retain the stem & collar as it's one of the defining features of the '64(and perhaps '65) models.
Does anyone know what the diameter of the original handlebar was to fit a stem & collar like the one pictured?

 

[GTs58]

Hopefully @schwinnbikebobb can help you out.

 

[John D. Williams]

How bad is the crushed one? Could you get a wooden dowel with a tapered end, tap it through carefully until the deformed stem was looking back to normal? Then you could tell size.

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

My guess is the handlebar diameter is 23.5mm since it's an alloy bar. Steel bars were 22mm. All the brake lever clamp bands came in one of these two sizes.

The diameter of the sleeve which makes up the difference of the handlebar bulge is likely 26mm.

These are educated guesses since I do not have the exact bar.

Remember the goal is to "keep it round" while you are reshaping it back to the correct size.

That's a Titan Stem.

I have some old GB bars with a sleeve that is similar to yours and they measure 25mm.

Good luck with your project.

John

 

[Eric Amlie]

I don't think reshaping will be much of a problem.
I had to bend the sleeve apart at the gap on the bottom to get it off the tourist bar that it was on. There was no way that it was going to make the curves to slide it off the bar. It's very soft aluminum which deforms easily.
I'll get it on the "new" bar easily enough. I just need to know the correct diameter that the new bar needs to be for the bar & sleeve to fit the stem correctly.

 

[schwinnderella]

Eric, I have a set of these bars and stem, if I can find them I will measure them and report here. Give me a few days.

 

[Eric Amlie]

@schwinnderella
Thank you. I appreciate it!
No rush. I do most of my bike work during the winter anyway.

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

Eric, it seems like it would help to use a couple of screw type heater hose clamps to keep the aluminum sleeve compressed around the handlebar while your working everything into place.

Also, it might help you to anneal the aluminum sleeve before you reinstall it back on the handlebar. This would make it softer and easier to form without kinking or cracking. You can coat the metal with carbon or ink from a felt marking pen. You use a propane, MAP gas, or Acetylene torch for heat and at the temperature the carbon/ink burns off the metal is hot enough to become annealed and soft.

John

 

[schwinnderella]

Eric, you must have bought the blue ebay bike in Lake Zurich, looks like it has some good potential.
Here are a couple of pics of my bars, both have a small sticker indicating the bars are also Titan.
I do not have a digital caliper but I measure 23 on the bars and 26 on the sleeve , so John seems to be correct.
I believe at least some the 65's and maybe some of the later 64's used the same bar and stem but the stem did not have the word super on it.
My terra cotta 64 Super Sport M3035 seems to be an early one but it has almost entirely later and wrong parts.
Have fun with it !

 

[Eric Amlie]

@schwinnderella Thank you!
Yes, it is the Lake Zurich bike.
It will be a fun project.