1973 Schwinn Collegiate

                                                        

                                                           1973 Schwinn Collegiate

                                                                                  

            My Friend Danny rescued this Schwinn Collegiate from the landfill about a year ago. It was rusty and in really bad shape.  One thing I noticed about the bike was that it had some really cool add on components like front and rear lights that work off a generator. The generator makes power from the rear wheel rotating as you ride the bike. The faster you ride the bike the brighter the lights get. cool 1970's technology. The bike also came with a mirror with reflectors on it.  I looked up this bike in the Schwinn catalog and found that it came standard with a five speed drivetrain and a stick shift gear selector.  The serial number stamped on the head tube is JJ514050. This code shows the month and the year this bicycle was made, which is September of 1973 and that it is an original Chicago Schwinn.         The 1973 models came in three color choices : Sierra Brown, Campus Green or Kool Lemon. 

                        This is what the bike looked like when it was pulled out of the landfill.

      I took pictures of all the components and places where the parts attached to the frame for reference to help me put everything back together. While inspecting the bike I came to the conclusion that this bike was not ridden very much. the tires were almost brand new tread wise , they were just dry rotted. 

      The bike must have been left outside on the side of a house or a barn because one side of the bike had way more rust than the other side. the chain was still almost brand new, just lightly rusted.

                                                        Pictures of the bike (before)

                   I took all the components off the bike and inspected the frame and the paint.

                

                                                                    Frame (before)

                                                                   Headtube (before)

                                  

                                                                     Top tube(before)

                                                       Downtube with Decals (before)

                                                        Seat tube with Decal (before)

                                                                 Chain stay (before)

                                                             Bottom Bracket (before)

                                                                      Fork (before)

       

                                                                  Chain guard (before)

                              

      The paint was in very rough condition . Rust was bubbling up through the paint in some spots but in other spots of the bike the paint was fine.  I attempted to wet sand some of the rust down with 800 grit sand paper ending with 2500 grit sandpaper. But I ended up sanding through the color coat and down to the base coat. Schwinn uses a metallic base coat and then uses a color coat on top to give the bike a metallic finish.  

       I could not buff out the original paint like I wanted to. I needed to repaint the bike. I had my friend Wes paint this bike for me. He is a  fellow bike rider and professional car restoration guy,   He is also  awesome at paint and body work.  Wes found paint that matched the original paint perfectly.  He got rid of all the rust and did an amazing job repainting this bike. 

             

                     

                                                                         Frame (painted)

                                                                     Head tube (painted)

                                                            Seat tube and seat stay (painted)

                                                                   Chain stay (painted)

                                                                Bottom bracket (painted)

                                                                       Fork (painted)

                                                                Schwinn approved Decals .

       

        When I gave the bicycle parts to Wes to be repainted. I forgot to give him the chain guard.  So I touched it up the best I could and applied new Schwinn Collegiate decals.

                    I did not repaint the head badge. I sprayed it with a couple of coats of clear enamel.

                                                                         HEADSET

 

                                                                    Headset (before)

       I soaked the chrome headset pieces in Evaporust solution. It removed most of the rust and left behind some pitting . I polished the headset pieces with Chrome polish.

                                                        Headset (cleaned and polished)

                     I greased the bearings and pressed in the headset cups. Then I installed the fork.

                                                      

                                                            HANDLEBAR and STEM

  The handle bars were very rusty. I soaked them in Evaporust. Then I scraped the rust off with WD-40 and the back side of a knife blade. The bars were still pitted from the rust but they looked much better.

                                                      Handle bars (cleaned and polished)

      The rust on the stem was just as bad as the handle bars. I soaked them in Evaporust and polished them. 

                                                  Chrome stem and parts (before)

    

                                                      Chrome stem and parts (polished)

                                                                         Stem (installed)

                                                                Handle bars (installed)

                                                                          CRANKS

    

             The cranks were not as rusty as the handle bars. I cleaned them and polished them.

                                                                      Cranks (before)

                                                      Crank hardware and bearings (before)

                                         Cranks, hardware and bearings (cleaned and polished)

     

                                        Bottom bracket bearings greased and cranks installed.

                                                                         BRAKES

          These brakes are side pull Schwinn Approved Type LS2.8. The front brake is made in Switzerland by Weinmann.  The rear brake Is also made by Weinmann but it was made in West Germany.  I read an article stating that Weinmann started producing bicycle brakes in Switzerland in 1933. In the 1950's they moved their operations to Germany to get better access to the European Economic Community. So I am thinking that the brakes on this bike were New Old Stock (NOS) by the time they were installed on this bike in 1973.   In 1991 they closed their Swiss branch and moved their operation to Hong Kong, China.  They are still in business today.

                                                                   Front brake(before)

                                                              Front Brake (before)

                                                            Front Brake (disassembled)

                                                        Front Brake (cleaned and polished)

                                                                  Rear Brake (before)

 

                                                            Rear Brake (disassembled)

                                                         Rear Brake (cleaned and polished)

                                                                 BRAKE LEVERS

  These are Weinmann brake levers. They were a very popular brake lever for 70's and 80's adult bicycles. These brake levers are all aluminum and light weight. I cleaned and polished the brake levers and brake calipers with Mother's aluminum polish.

                                                              Brake Levers (before)

                                                       Brake Levers (cleaned and polished)

                                                             Weinmann Brake Lever.

                                                                REAR DERAILLEUR

        The GT-100 is the first rear derailleur made by Shimano exclusively for Schwinn.  It was standard equipment on 1970 to 1974 5 speed models of Suburban , Collegiate and Deluxe Twinn.  

         The rear  derailleur used by Schwinn  before 1970 was the Huret Allvit , made in France. Some how Schwinn lost the contract with Huret and Shimano won the contract to make the rear derailleur. How ever , Shimano's derailleur had to look just like the Huret Allvit, with the clunky bash guard and everything.  Shimano's derailleur looks exactly like the Huret but performed much better and was easier to adjust, it also has machined steel jockey wheels. that will probably last for ever.

                                                                Rear Derailleur (before)

                                                  Schwinn Approved GT-100 bash guard.

      rear derailleur ( disassembled) Notice the steel jockey wheels. Most other derailleurs had nylon or aluminum jockey wheels.

          I cleaned and polished the derailleur with chrome cleaner and steel wool.  The chrome on the bash guard was still pitted, even after cleaning,  but now you can read the GT-100 logo.

                                                    Rear Derailleur (cleaned and polished)

                                                           Rear Derailleur (installed)

                                                                         SHIFT LEVER

       This shift lever is actually called a Schwinn stick shifter.  I see it on just about all 1970's  5 speed bicycles made by Schwinn.  It is a friction shifter, so the key to using it is that you have to fine tune it by moving it back and forth ever so slightly when you find your gear.  The chain will make a chattering sound until you get it properly aligned with the rear cog of the gear of choice.  

                                                       Schwinn 5 speed shifter (before)

       The chrome on this shifter was pitted and bubbled in some spots. I cleaned and shined it with chrome cleaner .   Most of the rust came off , but left some noticeable pitting on the collar .

                                           Schwinn 5 speed shift lever (cleaned and polished)

                                                                          WHEELS

               
                  These are genuine Schwinn tubular S6 wheels. They are size 26"x 1 3/8" wheelset. 

                                                                  Front S6 rim (before)

         The chrome on both rims were rusty and pitted.  The hubs were rusty and missing just about all of their chrome.    The front hub says "Schwinn Approved" and has what looks like a picture of a fish engraved on it,

                                                              Front hub (before)

           I use WD-40 and steel wool to get most of the rust off the hub and the chrome rim. 

                                  Front Hub axle and bearings. The front axle has Z-73 engraved on it.                                                                 The bearings were still in good shape so I reused them.

                                                         Front Hub bearing races (before)

                                                       Front axle and bearings (cleaned)

Front bearing races (cleaned and polished)

                                                                   Fresh bearing grease.

Front rim (cleaned and polished)

Front wheel (complete)

Rear Wheel

                                                 Rear freewheel and chrome pie plate.

                                                                       Rusty rear rim.

                                                              Pie plate/spoke protector

                                                          

Pie plate/spoke protector ( cleaned and polished)

                          Schwinn Approved 14-32 tooth freewheel (Made in Japan) by Shimano

 I cleaned the five speed freewheel with WD-40 and a wire brush.

Cleaned five speed freewheel.

Rear Hub (before)

        The rear hub has "Made in France" engraved into it.  While doing some research on the rear hub, I ran across an article named "The Schwinn French Connection" . This article talked about how years ago Schwinn only used French components with the likes or Huret , Maillard and others.  Maillard  manufactured hubs in France under three brand names.  Atom was the label used for low priced freewheels and hubs. These parts had  "Schwinn Approved" branding on them.  Normandy was a label applied to mid range parts and Maillard was the high end prestige label.  This rear hub was most likely made by Maillard under the Atom brand.

Axle ,bearings and hardware.

Rear hub cleaned and fresh bearing grease.

                                                        Rear hub (cleaned and polished)

                                                 Rear chrome S6 rim (cleaned and polished)

                                                5 speed freewheel and pie plate (installed)

                                                 Schwinn Approved S6 wheels (complete)

                               I wrapped the wheels in Kenda K23 . 26 x 1 3/8 x 1 1/4 " tires

                                                                       FENDERS

                                                                 Fenders (before)

          These fenders were so rusty. I didn't think I was going to get the rust off of these things.  

    I used WD-40 and a knife edge to scrape down most of the badly rusted areas.  Then I used more WD-40 and 00 fine bronze wool to even everything out. I finished off the chrome with Turtle Wax Chrome cleaner and buffed them to a nice shine. The rust left some pitting that I could not remove.

                                                       Fenders (cleaned and polished)

                                                           Rear Fender (installed)

                                                              Front Fender (installed)

                                                              Chain Guard (installed)

         

                                                                          Schwinn Grips

                                                             Grips and Brake levers

                                                                             PEDALS

      These Schwinn pedals were not serviceable . I sprayed a liquid lubricant into the spindle to lubricate the bearings.

                                                                                SEAT

                  This is a Schwinn Approved seat . These seats were made by Mesinger. THis one was dusty and dirty, probably from being left in a barn for all those years. It cleaned up nicely with some Orange Sol cleaner. 

I shined the seat with Armor All  vinyl protectant.

SEATPOST and CLAMP

The seat post and clamp were both in good condition , so I just cleaned them up and reinstalled them.

                                               Seat post clamp with a little patina !

                                         SHIFTER CABLE , BRAKE CABLE and HOUSING

I replaced the brake cables and shifter cable. I used white cable housing.

CHAIN

The chain was still in good condition. I soaked it in Evaporust and lubed it with chain lubricant.

Front brake and front chrome fender.

Rear brake and rear chrome fender.

LIGHTS and GENERATOR

I cleaned up the lights and the generator.  Installed them on the bicycle and they WORK !!!

                        Ultra cool Schwinn Collegiate with some nice add on accessories from 1973. 

       Thanks for joining me on the restoration of this vintage 1973 Schwinn Collegiate. This steel bike rides nice and with the generator engaged against the rear tire , the front and rear lights illuminate the night. These Schwinn middle weight bicycles are very sturdy and heavy too. This one weighs in at 43LBS.          

               Thanks for reading my bicycle blog. I hope you found it interesting.     And thanks to Danny the owner of this bicycle for saving it from the land fill !!!     One more bicycle back in service !!                                                                                  

                                                                         Cheers Tony.