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HD wheels

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coasterbrakejunkie1969

Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
I love the Schwinn wheels especially the HD versions. I have a few sets of the 12 gauge HD-S7s on my KSHD bikes and on a set from my tandem. I have a set of '80 HD s-2 12 gauge that I use on different bikes. Currently they are on my twin bar build. I bought these S-2 HD hoops awhile ago thinking they were 12 ga, nope they were 10 ga even more heavy duty. I finally found hubs and spokes and built this set of wheels. These are super HD wheels, I know they were used on heavy service bikes like Wasp's but boy do they seem over the top. I thought the 12 ga. versions were stout. I would like to see other Schwinn HD wheels either mounted or not. Most interested in seeing some more 10ga. wheels especially those that came originally on a bike.

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I love the Schwinn wheels especially the HD versions. I have a few sets of the 12 gauge HD-S7s on my KSHD bikes and on a set from my tandem. I have a set of '80 HD s-2 12 gauge that I use on different bikes. Currently they are on my twin bar build. I bought these S-2 HD hoops awhile ago thinking they were 12 ga, nope they were 10 ga even more heavy duty. I finally found hubs and spokes and built this set of wheels. These are super HD wheels, I know they were used on heavy service bikes like Wasp's but boy do they seem over the top. I thought the 12 ga. versions were stout. I would like to see other Schwinn HD wheels either mounted or not. Most interested in seeing some more 10ga. wheels especially those that came originally on a bike.

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Back in the day when I was working at the shop, we had a contract with some of the local aerospace companies to build them custom 3 wheeled trikes for in their machine shops. The bikes were built up from Hollywood frames, with wald 3 wheeled conversion kits. The wheels sets we built had heavy .120ga spokes, and we installed solid rubber tires on them. These things were tanks.
 
120 spokes, or 105 spokes were just an option on the order sheet.

At our dealership, we sold many Schwinn's to local paperboys. Originally the S2 balloon wheel Wasp was the basic model to begin with, but once they figured out that the S7 45 psi air pressure tires were easier to pedal their paper loads they switched over to the middle weight American/Speedster models as the base. We added the following factory options at the time the factory order was placed. First a Cycle Truck (Superior 12") stem to raise the paper bags off the front tire. Box Bar handlebars, and a Spring Fork were added. The saddle was up graded to a 7000PB (Mesinger plastic black) like used on the XR5 and XR7 exerciser. Sometimes we ordered the leather covered version. The spokes were always upgraded to 120 during the S2 Wasp period, but later when the middle weights S7 became popular we dropped down to the 105 spoke, as it was plenty strong for the industrial application. The front hubs were usually Bendix Eclipse heavy duty (not the quill version), but eventually the German Union heavy duty hubs were standard as Bendix faded away. We always added knobby tires like the S7 Tractor tire, and Thorn Resistant tubes. One thing still sticks in my mind (not much left in there after 75 years) is that the factory upcharge to the dealer for the thorn resistant tubes was $1.20 (.60 each tube!). The Paperboy Special's (with all of the optional equipment added) retailed for about $89.95.

John
 
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