You could use later drop centers. There are several kinds and Schwinn may(?) have only used one profile prewar, but I don't believe they were the only ones who used that profile. Pretty similar looking rims were on a bunch of 50s non-Schwinn middleweights. They are the same size as balloon rims. How accurate do you want to be? Also, there were rims in the 80s by Sun and one other company whose name escapes my right now that look like Lobdell flats but have a welded seam. Huffy also made some rims in the 50s that look like Lobdell flats but are a wee bit wider.
26x2.125 tires on 559mm rims were a Schwinn invention circa 1933. S2 came after the war and the 2 differences are the 1) the stronger tubular construction and 2) they are straight sided, not hooked bead like most of the others. They were still 559mm, and a lot of older balloon tires say "for straight sided or clincher rim" indicating they will work on either an S2 straight sided rim or a more conventional hooked bead rim.
As 26 is the outer diameter, when Schwinn introduced middleweights with narrower tires, they enlarged the rim size to 571mm so the whole wheel and tire assembly was still about 26". That is what we know as the S7 and that is why balloon tires don't fit it. All the competition just made skinnier "26x1.75" tires to fit the same old balloon rims they were using before. They weren't really 26 anymore, but the tires interchange with balloon.
Any 26x2.125 balloon, any 26x1.75 (NOT 26x1-3/4, those are for S-7), and any 26" mountain bike tire will fit.
26x2.125 tires on 559mm rims were a Schwinn invention circa 1933. S2 came after the war and the 2 differences are the 1) the stronger tubular construction and 2) they are straight sided, not hooked bead like most of the others. They were still 559mm, and a lot of older balloon tires say "for straight sided or clincher rim" indicating they will work on either an S2 straight sided rim or a more conventional hooked bead rim.
As 26 is the outer diameter, when Schwinn introduced middleweights with narrower tires, they enlarged the rim size to 571mm so the whole wheel and tire assembly was still about 26". That is what we know as the S7 and that is why balloon tires don't fit it. All the competition just made skinnier "26x1.75" tires to fit the same old balloon rims they were using before. They weren't really 26 anymore, but the tires interchange with balloon.
Any 26x2.125 balloon, any 26x1.75 (NOT 26x1-3/4, those are for S-7), and any 26" mountain bike tire will fit.
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