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Schwinn Lightweights Wheel Building
- Thread starter momo608
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Metacortex
Wore out three sets of tires already!
Yes. Also a thread on hub, rim and spoke usage for different years and models would be interesting.
OK. I suppose the best place to start is to read through the Sheldon Brown website on wheel building to understand the basics.
http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html
Not claiming to be an expert, just a guy who would rather put my money into buying more fun stuff than paying people to do things I should know how to do.
I personally do not use a dish stick or a spoke tension meter, although I would like to have a tension meter just to see out of curiosity where I'm putting my spoke tensions but so far I'm too cheap to buy one. The fact that wheels were successfully built without them for many decades tells me this is not a critical tool in the tool box. Used rims almost always have some sort of damage and perfectly even spoke tensions are not possible to achieve a true wheel. I have wasted a lot of time on used rims so I now do this simple test to see if it's worth the trouble of building them up. Remove the spokes and hub from the rim. Lay the rim on the flat ground and if it does not lay flat or very close to it, junk it. You will have spoke tensions all over the place and some spokes might be no more that finger tight to achieve a true wheel on a bent rim. That's not going to stand up to use and remain true.
How do I find the rear dish setting?
#1 Finger tighten all the spokes up on my truing stand and eyeball an offset for the rear wheel.
#2 transfer the rear wheel to the bike frame and find the spot on the rim that perfectly centers the rim in the chainstays. Make sure the axle is fully seated all the way back and down in the drop outs, remove the derailleur hanger to do this. Use the axle nuts and washers and tighten them down to simulate the rear hub in the installed position. Good time to tweak your stays and drop outs if things are too tight, loose or crooked.
#3 Find that perfect spot on the rim by spinning it or create one need be by loosening and tightening the spokes using a scale on the stays. Mark it with a marker. Carefully remove the wheel assembly and transfer it back to the truing stand and set your stand up using your mark.
I use this procedure on all my builds and it has not failed to give me perfect wheel dishing on all my bikes.
http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html
Not claiming to be an expert, just a guy who would rather put my money into buying more fun stuff than paying people to do things I should know how to do.
I personally do not use a dish stick or a spoke tension meter, although I would like to have a tension meter just to see out of curiosity where I'm putting my spoke tensions but so far I'm too cheap to buy one. The fact that wheels were successfully built without them for many decades tells me this is not a critical tool in the tool box. Used rims almost always have some sort of damage and perfectly even spoke tensions are not possible to achieve a true wheel. I have wasted a lot of time on used rims so I now do this simple test to see if it's worth the trouble of building them up. Remove the spokes and hub from the rim. Lay the rim on the flat ground and if it does not lay flat or very close to it, junk it. You will have spoke tensions all over the place and some spokes might be no more that finger tight to achieve a true wheel on a bent rim. That's not going to stand up to use and remain true.
How do I find the rear dish setting?
#1 Finger tighten all the spokes up on my truing stand and eyeball an offset for the rear wheel.
#2 transfer the rear wheel to the bike frame and find the spot on the rim that perfectly centers the rim in the chainstays. Make sure the axle is fully seated all the way back and down in the drop outs, remove the derailleur hanger to do this. Use the axle nuts and washers and tighten them down to simulate the rear hub in the installed position. Good time to tweak your stays and drop outs if things are too tight, loose or crooked.
#3 Find that perfect spot on the rim by spinning it or create one need be by loosening and tightening the spokes using a scale on the stays. Mark it with a marker. Carefully remove the wheel assembly and transfer it back to the truing stand and set your stand up using your mark.
I use this procedure on all my builds and it has not failed to give me perfect wheel dishing on all my bikes.
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Metacortex
Wore out three sets of tires already!
From 1960 on Schwinn normally used 4-cross (vs. 3-cross) lacing on higher end bikes, but which ones specifically varied from year to year. I've also seen where they may have run out of a given spoke length and used 3-cross instead of 4-cross, or even vice-versa on a specific bike even though that was not intended.
If you have a specific model or year in mind I can offer more information. For example in 1960 the Continental was laced 4x while the Varsity was 3x. In 1964 the Super Sport and Sierra were laced 4x while the Continental and Varsity were 3x.
PS: Glad to see you back...
If you have a specific model or year in mind I can offer more information. For example in 1960 the Continental was laced 4x while the Varsity was 3x. In 1964 the Super Sport and Sierra were laced 4x while the Continental and Varsity were 3x.
PS: Glad to see you back...
GTs58
I'm the Wiz, and nobody beats me!
I'm not sure, I have a 71 wheel that is 3 cross. My late 61 Conti is 4 cross.
Schwinn499
I live for the CABE
I have quite a few different ones....ill have to look.
I read somewhere that the spokes were not factory overlapped on the last cross on early Schwinn's. When I got the 60 Conti they were not but I don't know if they were respoked at some point. I do know it had the original rims but unfortunately they had to go because of damage. If I remember right it was said that overlapping the last spoke was problematic for the assembly line. The first time I respoked these I copied what was there, the second time after learning more about wheel building, I overlapped them. Sure helps to keep the rim more true upon assembly.
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Metacortex
Wore out three sets of tires already!
Where was that said? I'm sure mistakes were made since the wheels were hand-built, but the intention was standard 3x or 4x lacing (depending on model and year).
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