Schwinn Three Speed Wheels - Wheelbuilding Notebook

 

 I mentioned awhile back that I was looking at building a "runner" wheelset for my Schwinn Superior 3-speed. This is an old, 1949-50 era bike, but the wheels still make a difference. The wheels are among the most important parts of a bicycle, and you'll benefit greatly if your wheels are rounded, true (or at least pretty well true), and made from decent quality parts.

I started the Schwinn Superior re-build using a set of the classic Schwinn "stainless S6" wheels from 1949. These had the old style steel double-butted spokes, stainless S6 rims, Sturmey AW rear hub, and Schwinn hourglass front hub. 

The old wheels were decent, but a couple issues were nagging me. First, the rear rim in particular was out-of-round in a way that the spokes just could not eliminate. It seems to me the wheels may have hit a curb or dropped off a curb such that they took on flat spots. Second, some of the spokes underwent extensive de-rusting, but still were pretty worn. Both wheels had a little residual wobble, though they trued up reasonably well for their age and condition. 

So I decided to set the old wheels aside and build what new-old wheels might look like. That is to say, I used some nice, old hubs from my stock, a set of new-old-stock (never used old stock that is) Schwinn S6 steel rims, and new Sapim Race double-butted spokes. This is essentially what a "new" Schwinn three speed wheelset would be. 

 

The results are quite good: round, true wheels with good spokes and hubs. They run smoothly and allow for tighter brake tolerances because the rims are like-new. I like this wheelset enough that I may build another. I have the parts around to do this, and I'd just have to order the spokes for one more front wheel.

 

That brings me to the "notebook" part of this entry. I like knowing what spokes I need. So here are my findings as to spoke lengths:

• Schwinn Front Hourglass hub to 26 inch Schwinn S6 rim: pattern is 36 spokes, cross 4. Length of spokes is 288mm, 290mm or 292mm. The 288 is a bare minimum, whereas 292 is max. The 290 will work fine. This is similar to the old 11-7/16 inch size recommended by the Torrington Co. A word of caution here: unlike many modern wheels, this wheel build will involve butting some spokes over the heads of spokes on the same side of the hub. The original wheels I have all feature this over-butting of spokes and seem perfectly fine with it. Stick with this wheel build. It may seem like the spokes and cross pattern will not work at first, but once you go to tension the wheel, it all draws up together nicely. I did NOT use spoke washers at the flange for a couple reasons: (1) the flange on this older hourglass hub is quite thick, and (2) the butting-over of the spokes at the flange is very problematic if you use spoke washers. I indeed used the flat spoke-nipple washers at the rim. The 292mm may be a touch long if you don't use the rim washers, but you can file them down the thread or two that run long. I recommend 290mm as a happy medium. Sapim Race double-butted reasonably approximate the old US-production double-butted look. I used 14mm nipples.
  

 

• Sturmey Archer AW to 26 Schwinn S6 rim: pattern is 36 spokes, cross 4. Length of spokes is again 288mm, 290mm, or 292mm. This build is more straightforward than the front because the larger flanges of the AW hub are fine with a cross-4 pattern. I used brass spoke washers at the flange (the flange is thinner than the Schwinn hourglass I had up front), and a flat spoke-nipple washer at the rim. I used 288mm spokes because I had them on hand. Beware that 288mm is the minimum length. I would use 290mm if I had to order spokes. You could also use 292mm with a washer at each end of the spoke, but it may need a little filing to level back down when you're done. Again, 290mm is a happy medium. With the AW hub I indeed recommend you use the flange washers. 

These wheels are effectively copies of the 1949 original wheels, but with Sapim stainless spokes and chromed steel rims. Keep in mind these are ISO 597 rims NOT the British 590mm. The above spoke lengths may not work for a British 3-speed. This is for the Schwinn 3-speeds.