Varsity production by year

[Eric Amlie]

Is that a Benelux derailleur?

I've only seen a few of the Cyclo 2 & 3 speed converters used with the Sturmey hubs, but all the ones that I've seen did use the Benelux derailleur.
Personally, I'd probably replace it with a Huret Allvit if possible.

 

[bikerbluz]

Sorry about the misinformation. I had forgotten about the Switch in 61 mid year. Should have remembered, I have a 61 Conti with the early decals and shifter.

 

[Metacortex]

The Varsity started out as an 8-speed with Simplex derailleurs for 1960 through the early part of '61. On May 15th 1961 production the Varsity was changed to 10-speeds (still with Simplex derailleurs) while on that same day the Continental was changed from 10-speed Simplex to Huret derailleurs. The Varsity finally changed to the same Huret derailleurs as the Continental near the start of '62 production (Feb. 15th 1962).

As far as Varsity production, Schwinn did not generally publish production figures for individual models, however it did publish figures for the various model types. For example:

Finally Schwinn published an advertisement in 1978 indicating that nearly 3 million Varsities had been produced. Given that the (electro-forged) Varsity remained in production through 1985 it would be nearly certain to say that at least 3 million had been produced over the entire run.

 

[Metacortex]

I wanted to add that 1969 was the first year that Lighweights out-sold Middleweights, and 1970 was the first year Lightweights out-sold Compacts. I believe Schwinn considered 1970 "The year of the Lightweight" in some of the dealer literature at the time.

 

[Matt B]

[QUOTE="Metacortex,
That chart helps a bit. Probably about as close as we can get. Appears bike manufactures did not track production details like car manufactures. Thanks

 

[Metacortex]

Metacortex,
That chart helps a bit. Probably about as close as we can get. Appears bike manufactures did not track production details like car manufactures. Thanks

I believe Schwinn did track the production of each model in great detail (as evidenced by the ~3 million Varsities ad in '78), however they did not (and were not required) to publish it.

 

[Oilit]

Speaking of 8 speeds, check out this Traveler.
AFAIK, this was a concept bike that Schwinn never actually made, or at least sold.

View attachment 953450

I wonder if there was a problem with the supply of the hubs? I've heard that the "Schwinn Approved - Made in Austria" hubs replaced the Sturmey-Archer hubs in 1959, possibly because Sturmey-Archer finally decided to abandon the SW hub in favor of the AW, but it may have taken time to get back to full production. I believe 1960 was also the year Tubing Investments bought Raleigh, which owned Sturmey-Archer, so there was a lot going on at this time.