Arnold Ziffel
Finally riding a big boys bike
Beautiful bikes!! The 1971 BURGANDY one is the way you wanna do it as that GT-300 (schwinn approved version of Shimano Crane)is light years better than the original rear derailleur seen on the ORANGE bike. Just remember the phrase any ten speed with a Huret Allvit......out with it and into the trash can it goes ( or more appropriately into a ziplock baggie and into a drawer if you must keep it). The Japanese rear derailleurs were so incredibly good that every rear derailleur from Europe, Huret, Campagnolo, and Simplex,.... etc, was just second rate junk. People that really rode a lot, realized this immediately during the very early seventies. A massive improvement in durability and trouble free operation.
Schwinn, excepting the five speed Suburbans & Collegiates, and the superb Japanese built early seventies imported bikes, such as the WORLD VOYAGEUR and Le Tour which were better than the Chicago built offerings, ..........Schwinn hung on too long to Campagnolo rear derailleurs on PARAMOUNT, and the Huret garbage rear derailleurs on everything else built in Chicago. Raleigh and other European marques like Peugeot and everything out of Italy and France kept with the now immediately obsolete, second rate garbage far too long too. By 1977 most everybody had gone Japanese for rear derailleurs such that the Europeans like Campy, and Huret, etc were just about wiped out. Everybody that rode lots of miles on whatever rear derailleur equipped bicycle realized the massive superiority of the Japanese rear derailleurs by no later than mid 1972.
It was common by mid 1972 for folks to remove the factory derailleur from whatever prestigious European bicycle maker, and replace it with a SUNTOUR unit or a SHIMANO unit. You considered yourself very fortunate if you got the lucky VARSITY that came off the assembly line with a substitute part rear derailleur from the 5 speed Suburban/Collegiate which had the GT-100 (1970-1973) or GT-120(1974-1977) because those Shimano built units from the 5 speed Suburban/Collegiate were at least three times better than the Allvit.
The various Japanese and Taiwan bicycle manufacturers gained massive market share versus the various prestigious European marques and Schwinn because the JAPANESE bikes were better because of the more reliable superior shifting, as well as more advanced and improved engineering and quality control. From about 1974, or 1975, as the bike boom was closing, the major Japanese makes had taken the throne of the best overall line of road bikes in the world. You could spend more for something else from Europe or USA but I don't believe that you could equal the quality of what Bridgestone, Panasonic, and FUJI, etc were offering in their product lineups in the 1975 to 1989 era. The Japanese marques like Bridgestone, PANASONIC, and FUJI, etc were about equal to the best from anywhere as to frames and geometry, what really made the Japanese bicycles massively better early on than the best from Europe and USA was that all the Japanese bikes featured superb quality SHIMANO or SUNTOUR equipment. Yes, that stuff was that good and it was that much better. Shimano would go on to world domination in the bicycle world. Just so many patented innovations and refinements to the older stuff that they copied-adapted-improved upon that had been designed decades ago in Europe or the USA. If you're old enough, you probably remember them for fishing reels before seeing the name on a rear derailleur or other bicycle component.
If you are gonna ride any old or classic ten speed, you must not ride on very old aged tires, and you must not rely on very old aged brake pads, and do not ride anything with a european rear derailleur. Failure to follow those basic rules can result in a less than pleasant cycling ride.
Schwinn, excepting the five speed Suburbans & Collegiates, and the superb Japanese built early seventies imported bikes, such as the WORLD VOYAGEUR and Le Tour which were better than the Chicago built offerings, ..........Schwinn hung on too long to Campagnolo rear derailleurs on PARAMOUNT, and the Huret garbage rear derailleurs on everything else built in Chicago. Raleigh and other European marques like Peugeot and everything out of Italy and France kept with the now immediately obsolete, second rate garbage far too long too. By 1977 most everybody had gone Japanese for rear derailleurs such that the Europeans like Campy, and Huret, etc were just about wiped out. Everybody that rode lots of miles on whatever rear derailleur equipped bicycle realized the massive superiority of the Japanese rear derailleurs by no later than mid 1972.
It was common by mid 1972 for folks to remove the factory derailleur from whatever prestigious European bicycle maker, and replace it with a SUNTOUR unit or a SHIMANO unit. You considered yourself very fortunate if you got the lucky VARSITY that came off the assembly line with a substitute part rear derailleur from the 5 speed Suburban/Collegiate which had the GT-100 (1970-1973) or GT-120(1974-1977) because those Shimano built units from the 5 speed Suburban/Collegiate were at least three times better than the Allvit.
The various Japanese and Taiwan bicycle manufacturers gained massive market share versus the various prestigious European marques and Schwinn because the JAPANESE bikes were better because of the more reliable superior shifting, as well as more advanced and improved engineering and quality control. From about 1974, or 1975, as the bike boom was closing, the major Japanese makes had taken the throne of the best overall line of road bikes in the world. You could spend more for something else from Europe or USA but I don't believe that you could equal the quality of what Bridgestone, Panasonic, and FUJI, etc were offering in their product lineups in the 1975 to 1989 era. The Japanese marques like Bridgestone, PANASONIC, and FUJI, etc were about equal to the best from anywhere as to frames and geometry, what really made the Japanese bicycles massively better early on than the best from Europe and USA was that all the Japanese bikes featured superb quality SHIMANO or SUNTOUR equipment. Yes, that stuff was that good and it was that much better. Shimano would go on to world domination in the bicycle world. Just so many patented innovations and refinements to the older stuff that they copied-adapted-improved upon that had been designed decades ago in Europe or the USA. If you're old enough, you probably remember them for fishing reels before seeing the name on a rear derailleur or other bicycle component.
If you are gonna ride any old or classic ten speed, you must not ride on very old aged tires, and you must not rely on very old aged brake pads, and do not ride anything with a european rear derailleur. Failure to follow those basic rules can result in a less than pleasant cycling ride.
