Black Schwinn Continental

[dirtman]

Yesterday I took a walk through a local flea market. Bikes are rare there but I found a 19" frame Black Schwinn Continental for sale for $10. The woman said she's been trying to unload it for a year with no takers. Both tires are flat, the bar tape is missing, but the chrome bits are pretty clean and the wheels spin true. The big plus was that it came with two brand new Kenda tires and tubes.
I didn't need it, I didn't even want it but figured the tires and tubes were worth the $10.

The tires on it are super old, Schwinn scripted skinwall tires in 27x1 1/8", the rear tube is hanging out of the tire where the sidewall gave way separating from the bead from dry rot.

The tires, tubes, and likely the two new pedals on it will end up on something my size here, the rest is parts unless I find a similar Continental or Varsity frame in 23 or 24" that fits me.
There's no sense fixing this one up because small don't sell here. It a road bike doesn't have a foot of steer tube, they don't give it a second look, regardless of rider size.
The bad part is that with just tires, the bike will probably ride and shift just the way it sits.

The way I see it with today's tire prices, I just got $80 worth of tires for $10, and a pile of parts to sell off.
I have a Raleigh Sprite in my size that can use these tires.
(The local bike shop wanted $35 each for the same tires, and $15 each for the tubes just last fall when I was looking for tires for Suburban then. I ended up buying a parts bike with newer tires on it for $40 of CL instead). I parted out the CL bike for its tires, sold the alloy wheels for $60 locally, and a friend of mine listed the crankset on fleabay and got $40. I junked the rest after none of the other bits sold).

The worst part about this bike is that I saw that bike out there last summer, (she said she had been carrying it back and forth to the fleamarket for over a year), she wanted $20 for then, and didn't offer the tires. I think I offered her $5 for it but she wasn't interested, that was last spring. I think the tires were holding air back then.
$10 for the bike and tires though cost me three times that much in time and agravation having to take it apart and hauling it home in pieces in the trunk of my car.

Being a 19" frame, I figure the ideal rider is likely around 5ft tall.

 

[49autocycledeluxe]

my Racer is the next frame size up and I ride it just fine @ 5'10" with a 30" inseam. from the standpoint of riding only and nothing else considered this is the best vintage bike I own.

 

[dirtman]

I brought the bike in the shop a little while ago, its in better shape then I thought.
The wheels have some brake track wear but nothing that hurts it being used. The pedals surprised me and have the Schwinn cross on the dust caps. (they made their way to my 24" Varsity). The wheel bearings are clean and freshly greased, the seat is decent, and likely original, and all the cables work.
Both tires still had their flashing on the tread, but the skinwall sides had turned to dust The rear tube was blown out completely, the front tube has a hole in it. (Both tubes though each had 11 patches already on them).
It tough to throw away two tires like this that have zero wear on them that sat and rotted away.
Its missing the left turkey lever and the pin it attaches to is broke in half. I'm sure I have one of those in my parts pile here somewhere.

I know I can make it work for me but I really don't need another bike, and certainly not 10 speed.
At 6ft 3in with a 36" inseam, it'll take a really long seat post, and at 325 or so lbs, that's not the best idea. If it were the tallest model, I'd likely be restoring it and adding it to the fleet, but I've got a bright yellow 24" Continental, and both an Orange and a green Varsity with a minty clean blue one hanging in the shed waiting for me to get around to it.
I have a 24" Green Speedster, a 24" red Racer, a 24" black Traveler, and a 22" Opal Blue Traveler, and 14 English 3 speeds, most all in 23" frames. I also have a 21" Racer in an off shade of rattle can red with immaculate chrome that I added a longer seat post to and some slightly taller bars but I ride the 24" Speedster the most.

I also had a derailleur version Sidewinder and I could just never get used to that bike.
I sold it a few months ago when someone made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

 

[49autocycledeluxe]

that bike is too small for you.

 

[dirtman]

I was too big for this bike when I was 8 or 10 years old. (I hit 6ft at about 12 years old, before this bike was even built).
I'd need a 24" seat post and 12" riser stem to make it even sort of work.

I fit well on my 24" Varsity and my 24" Speedster. They feel and fit about the same as a few of me 25 1/2" Raleigh Super Course's do, maybe better. The cranks fall in a better position on the Schwinn and my bad knees last longer because of it. I max out these days with bad knee pain on the Raleigh after only 3 or 4 miles, then I can't walk when I get off the bike. That don't happen on the Schwinn for some reason.

As I clean up the parts for this bike its looking better and better, its too bad its too small.

The parts list it needs so far is tires and tubes, which I have but sort of have them planned for my Suburban instead, a front safety lever, (found one in the brake lever bin downstairs). and a chain. Someone for some reason put a Shimano UG chain on this, I believe they came with Sedisport chains when new?
Isn't a Shimano UG chain only for the Shimano UG (twisted tooth), freewheels?

The problem is I learned my lesson years ago about not fixing up smaller road bikes because no one wants them here. Even guys who should be riding a smaller frame buy huge bikes for some reason. If the steer tube isn't a foot long, it doesn't get any attention here. When tall bikes do sell, its to someone who's driven a lot of miles to buy it.
The only way this goes back together is if I find someone with a taller frame that wants to swap framesets, but that's not likely so the parts will get shelved and I'll have one less bike to store here for now.

Here's the crankset after 20 minutes in the spray washer. So far just about everything is cleaning up at least this well. It must have been stored indoors for most of its life. My guess is anything wrong with it likely happened in the care of the woman who I got it from at the fleamarket. It was probably a lot cleaner when she first got it and started lugging it back and forth to the fleamarket every weekend for a year or more.

 

[dirtman]

I don't think I've run across this model stem before, it doesn't say Schwinn Approved,
It reads "Schwinn Forged". Considering the bars are Randonneur style and marked
"British Made", and this stem looks to use the same bolts as a similar aged GB stem,
my guess would be the stem and bars both were sourced from the same place in the UK?





Kind of crude looking close up.

 

[GTs58]

Any date stamp on that stem? And that was on the Continental. The specs say it's an SR Alloy.

 

[dirtman]

The stem has several markings that I've not run into before on a Schwinn stem.
The top line is marked 'MAX HI' then below the serrated band there's the number
20979, and the '9' is noticeably lower than the rest of that number.
Then below that in two lines, it reads 'BRITISH MADE'
The first thing I noticed was the European style wedge, The bolt and wedge look the same as a similar GB stem.

I've got the frame stripped down bare right now, noting on it but decals and paint. I've also have a Varsity frame here which has a 1974 date on it. The Varsity frame is one size larger measuring 21" C-T. The Continental measures just slightly over 19" C-T. 9 Compared to a full 24" C-T for my 1973 Varsity that I use myself.
The Continental frame is heavier by 1.1 lbs at 9.12 lbs on a hanging digital scale. Not sure why, there's certainly less tubing, every tube is noticeably shorter, as is the seat tube. I didn't weight the complete bike but it 'felt' heavier than most in hand when I carried it from the truck into the shop. The catalog specs it at 36lbs. Its got no add on gadgets, and I'm weighing bare frames. (I don't have a matching fork for the Varsity and its pretty rough looking, or I'd be looking at building it up with these parts but no one wants a rattle can paint job or a battered up old Varsity).

Another thing I noticed when taking the Continental apart is that the rear wheel, even with a flat tire, barely cleared the dropouts, I had to really force it out of the drops to remove the wheel. My larger Varsity has an inch of clearance.
The chainstays are shorter on the Continental so much so the 27" wheel barely fits. I didn't need to pry it out with tools but it took a good solid thumb of my hand to pop the wheel free of the frame.
Side by side the chainstays are roughly an inch shorter on the Continental vs. the older, larger Varsity. An inflated tire would never fit.

There are no readable decals on the bike, only the seat post bands, fork decals, and headbadge are intact. The DT and TT are bare with only the faint glue lines from former decals. The serial number reads KQ564443, which I believe puts it as Oct. 1979.



The markings are very faint, '20879' & 'BRITISH MADE'

 

[dirtman]

I knew I had one of these here somewhere,
The lower part of each stem is identical down to the knurl and 'BRITISH MADE' STAMPING.
The GB stem is just an older model.




The Schwinn stem is likely just a Schwinn scripted version of this one:

GB stem on eBay

 

[dirtman]

I cleaned up the freewheel, spoke protector, wheels, saddle, and post.
The seat post has the numbers 44-79 on it, its got a serrated ring on it like the stem, and also says 'British Made' on it.
Its chrome plated steel, with the squashed looking top reduction to a 5/8" clamp.
The saddle is Schwinn scripted and is a one piece molded cover over a molded lower with two rails. The seat has a small sticker that reads just 'France'.
Both hubs were in good shape, all the bearings were clean and still shiny with no race wear at all. Not even a bearing path has formed on the cones. The grease was hard as a rock though.

The freewheel doesn't show much wear, only the two smaller gears show any sign of chain wear.
I have both derailleurs soaking in some solvent, when they free up a bit I'll give them a run through the hot ultrasonic cleaner. They're not rusty or marred up, so they should come out looking almost new as well.


Looks pretty good for 43 years old.









The wheels are in what I'd call good rider condition, they have a few imperfections but nothing I'd worry about for my own use. Each wheel has a few spots where the chrome is worn through on the brake track an both have sloppy weld joints and a few very slight bumps, none bad enough to feel it in the brakes.




The saddle is rip free, and the padding still feels good, (what little it has).

My 1974 Varsity is cleaner overall but not by much. The more I clean up these parts, the more I wish the frame was my size, but 20" simply isn't doable for a guy with a 36" inseam. I'd need a 24" seat post and 18" stem. I did think about building it up more as a Suburban than as a drop bar bike. An upright riding position would be more forgiving size wise with the right bars, stem, and saddle.

I will add that I've made a few of my small frame French road bikes work for me by switching out the stem for a longer version, 110mm vs maybe the 60mm that came with the bike. It gets the bars out of my knees so I can pedal, then with a taller seat post its doable for shorter rides.
The problem is that as I get older and heavier, riding bent that far over is far from ideal. Its likely why my go to bike is my Speedster.