Schwinn Varsity Chopper ....

[49autocycledeluxe]

Very cool ride. A whole lot of thinking, figuring andView attachment 820554 fabrication It reminds me of the "Digger" motorcycles of the 70s

funny you would say that. a buddy of mine had a 70's sportster either built by Arlen Ness or just a Ness frame and fork .. not quite sure now. very similar to that one you posted way back in the 80's.... had a coffin tank and pretty sure it had more rake and longer forks. he never let me ride it but I did sit on it, and the narrow bars and where they are in relation to the seating position came directly from that bike.

as for "thinking and figuring" the original plan was for a long Stingray bike with 20" wheels. I'll do more thinking on the next one

 

[Sven]

Seen a few "diggers" .Never rode one. It always looked to me like you wouldn't be able to lean far into a right hand curve, as the exhaust (muffler or low drag pipes) would hit the the pavement. I've always been a fan of the "long bike" chopper of the 70s or early 80s.
Anyway keep us posted on your chop

 

[49autocycledeluxe]

now that the new fat tire has rekindled my enthusiasm I am back on it. I am widening the rear triangle so the tire can spin! there is no air in it and it rubs in these pics.

I have a large flange hub coming and another aluminum rim to lace up, along with a skinny 26X1.50 tire for the front. since it is a Varsity I am thinking of painting it that lime green Schwinn Varsity color now. might change my mind a few times before that happens

 

[49autocycledeluxe]

making fat 26 X 2.125 tires fit a Schwinn Varsity frame....hope my figuring was right.

 

[49autocycledeluxe]

..going to fit the rim and tire and see where I am before I weld the last part. going to cut off the seat tube flush with the top tube also.

 

[49autocycledeluxe]

got the frame all fattened up so the 26 x 2.125 tire will fit and put a chain guard on it. since this was a 10 speed and never had a chain guard I had to make my own front bracket so I lowered it and set it back a little so it is closer to the chainring. I plan on putting a bunch of holes in the guard. found a new 24" fork that was not messed up (still has a 26" wheel) , so now I am rolling, the 24" fork lowers the front about an inch and a half. not stopping as I have nothing attached to the drum brake out back.... thinking about some sort of "suicide brake" with a lever on the frame and linkage rather than a brake lever on the bars and 10 feet of brake cable... we'll see how that works out. have a large flange aluminum hub for the front, and a 1.25" wide aluminum rim with a skinny slick on it. just need to figure out proper spoke length and lace up the wheel.

trying to decide between "Varsity lime green" with the Varsity decals under clear or maybe a more vintage color with some old school scallops. they have all the cool scallop stencils on ebay.

 

[anders1]

Wow, that’s pretty cool!!