Schwinn Stamped Tubular Rim with No Valve Hole

[Marshall Waha]

Hi Cabe Memembers!
Happy Holidays I hope you are all well. I have some questions:
1.) Has anyone ever seen a Schwinn Rim Stamped Schwinn Tubular with no Valve hole?
2.) Could a valve hole be drilled in a rim that didn't have a valve hole to begin with or would that compromise structural integrity?
Only reason I am asking is I came across these two ebay listings:
20” Tubular S-2 28h Chrome Knurled RIM Stingray Double Stamped No Valve Hole
Schwinn Stingray S–2 Side Stamped 20" 28 spoke No Valve Hole

I found these to be a bit odd, because (and this is a rhetorical question but please correct me if I am wrong here), don't all stamped or nonstamped Schwinn Stamped Tubular Rims have a valve hole? I have seen non-valve hole rims on an old Sears bike that a friend gave me but no longer have. But not on a Schwinn rim stamped Schwinn Tubular rim before. The real question is: Is the seller lying in the listings above or are they telling the truth? Because I've bought from this seller before, for example I purchased Shimano D-Type coaster brake 28h hub the seller had it listed as a 36h but in the description he called it 28h, I then had to ask this seller was this 28 holes or 36 holes they said 28h. I then told them they needed to revise their listing (eventually it did get revised by ether the seller or eBay that will forever remain a mystery.) because you can't lie and call something one thing and contradict it with the truth in an item's description, that doesn't add up or make sense. Hopefully most of you agree. Anyways I just found this strange and had to ask. For the most part otherwise the seller seems to be pretty truthful and trust worthy, but I find this to be odd. Also I may or may not be posting in the Wanted Section for a S-2 stamped Schwinn tubular rim, I already have two S-7's for my 1965 Schwinn Deluxe Stingray simply because I really don't want to deal with two different wheel sizes and would rather have two of the same wheel sizes as well as two different spoke sizes even if that's not what came from the factory, but I may change my mind so I am going to wait and see. Anyways happy Holidays everyone! Thanks Marshall D.WahlstromHelgren

 

[blakekennedy]

Its probably an exercise bike wheel. I believe some were stamped S2, some were not. Since it has spoke holes it was more than likely an earlier model like this one below. Later ones had a had an insert and they weren’t drilled for spoke holes. Im not sure about the earlier ones if they have the same profile as an S2, but I know the later ones have a flatter and more angular profile, which can be somewhat noticeable if you really study it. The experts will chime in and give you a better answer

 

[coasterbrakejunkie1969]

Hi Cabe Memembers!
Happy Holidays I hope you are all well. I have some questions:
1.) Has anyone ever seen a Schwinn Rim Stamped Schwinn Tubular with no Valve hole?
2.) Could a valve hole be drilled in a rim that didn't have a valve hole to begin with or would that compromise structural integrity?
Only reason I am asking is I came across these two ebay listings:
20” Tubular S-2 28h Chrome Knurled RIM Stingray Double Stamped No Valve Hole
Schwinn Stingray S–2 Side Stamped 20" 28 spoke No Valve Hole

I found these to be a bit odd, because (and this is a rhetorical question but please correct me if I am wrong here), don't all stamped or nonstamped Schwinn Stamped Tubular Rims have a valve hole? I have seen non-valve hole rims on an old Sears bike that a friend gave me but no longer have. But not on a Schwinn rim stamped Schwinn Tubular rim before. The real question is: Is the seller lying in the listings above or are they telling the truth? Because I've bought from this seller before, for example I purchased Shimano D-Type coaster brake 28h hub the seller had it listed as a 36h but in the description he called it 28h, I then had to ask this seller was this 28 holes or 36 holes they said 28h. I then told them they needed to revise their listing (eventually it did get revised by ether the seller or eBay that will forever remain a mystery.) because you can't lie and call something one thing and contradict it with the truth in an item's description, that doesn't add up or make sense. Hopefully most of you agree. Anyways I just found this strange and had to ask. For the most part otherwise the seller seems to be pretty truthful and trust worthy, but I find this to be odd. Also I may or may not be posting in the Wanted Section for a S-2 stamped Schwinn tubular rim, I already have two S-7's for my 1965 Schwinn Deluxe Stingray simply because I really don't want to deal with two different wheel sizes and would rather have two of the same wheel sizes as well as two different spoke sizes even if that's not what came from the factory, but I may change my mind so I am going to wait and see. Anyways happy Holidays everyone! Thanks Marshall D.WahlstromHelgren

Yes they are off exercisers and they are slightly thinner then a standard S-2

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

Its probably an exercise bike wheel. I believe some were stamped S2, some were not. Since it has spoke holes it was more than likely an earlier model like this one below. Later ones had a had an insert and they weren’t drilled for spoke holes. Im not sure about the earlier ones if they have the same profile as an S2, but I know the later ones have a flatter and more angular profile, which can be somewhat noticeable if you really study it. The experts will chime in and give you a better answer

View attachment 2160879

Exactly correct.

But keep in mind that when Schwinn entered into the fitness market, they did not know how large of volume to plan for, and how much money to invest into the product line. Just like you and I would do today, they used as much as possible in "off the shelf existing parts". The very first exercisers were XR-1's and had a small 36 tooth crank sprocket. They came in White, Sierra Brown, Sky Blue, Campus Green. Basically, the existing Schwinn colors that were used on other models. This information is important to remember if you're a yard sale buyer. These very early exercisers had S-7 rims and a semi pneumatic tire. The tires were also used on the hard tire version of the Debbie and Skipper 20' models. In heavy use, this was not a good combination because the friction of the fiber brake pads caused the tires to expand and come off of the rims, since the semi pneumatic tires had no bead wire like a normal S-7 pneumatic tire used on a straight side rim.

The next version used a S-2 (hook side rim) in place of the S-7 straight side rim. Again, they stayed with a semi-pneumatic tire, so no valve hole was necessary. At this point they had a lot more confidence in the kind of sales numbers they could hit so the contracted to have a very heavy "weighted" tire custom made for the exerciser application. The tire was installed onto the rim after it was spoked, and the rim was then crimped into the tire beads. Thats why the rim looks a little narrower. Then a black plastic/nylon band like found on a crate was wrapped around the tire and it secured the tire from coming off of the rim. At first this version had "open spokes", but most of the have black plastic spoke guards that snapped onto the wheel. A change to the large diameter crank sprocket increased the wheel speed and smoothed out the pedal cadence on the fixed gear wheel. The model numbers were up to XR-5, XR-6 around this point in time.

The next version was the XR-7. They completely did away with a fabricated, spoked wheel with a separate tire. They went to a two-piece stamped wheel. It was chrome plated on the friction brake surface. Thank God, it no longer had a welded and poorly "under cut" seam that the brake pads "thunked" with every revolution of the wheel. The center of the wheel was painted the color of the exerciser.

The color of exercisers evolved, from bright colors to colors that fit into a house, office, or a DR's office better. At first the color of choice was Radiant Coppertone, and White as the second choice. Eventually, the Radiant Coppertone and replaced by Harvest Gold, or White. From a dealer's perspective the opaque colors were much better because they could be easily color matched and touched up.

This takes us up to the point that the Chicago factory was closing, and the production of exercisers was being sub'd out to Giant Bicycle as a vendor. The first big change you will notice on the Giant produced units is the change in seat post diameter. It changed from the old traditional 13/16" size to about 1" in diameter. This change allowed the use of a pin style seat post clamp which was a great improvement. The solid stamped wheel developed in Chicago stayed on the exerciser when it was transferred to Tiawan production.

The Fitness segment was a very important part of Schwinn's, and the Schwinn Dealer's dollar volume. It paid a lot of the bills.

John

 

[AmericanSchwinnfiend]

On "throw out days" I'd drive one of the old 1990s 4 cylinder Honda Odyssey's around and stop to raid the old Schwinn "exercycles" that were on the curb in front of every other house. I'd snaffle the saddle, chain, handlebars, neck and bottom bracket assemblies. Most exercise equipment is bought as a New Years Eve resolution and end up being a clothing rack until the day it gets abandoned at the curb on throw out day. In other words, the parts were never used but just needed to be be cleaned.