So you've decided to buy (or you already own) a vintage Schwinn three speed bike... that's great. But you've reach the point where you need new tires. Either the originals are shot, or else missing, and you need tires.
First, let us start with general
rules. The proper tire size for this discussion is 26 x 1 3/8 Schwinn, also called 26 x 1 3/8 x 1 1/4 and 26 x 1 3/8 S5/S6. You need a special tire size,
this is NOT the same as 26 x 1 3/8 British. The common tires for
British three speeds will not work on your old Schwinn three speed.
Instead, Schwinn co-opted an older size that was known in Britain as 26 x
1 1/4 (EA1). Schwinn renamed the size and modified the tire thickness a
bit, and just like that they had their own tires. The idea was that you
had to pay a Schwinn dealer to sell you tires rather than being able to
buy commonly available British Dunlop tires off the shelf at the local
shop.
So now that you know you need this different tire size that fits Schwinn three speeds, what can you do?
The
answer is, "not a whole lot". The reason is that only one company
currently makes new tires for the Schwinn three speed size: Kenda. The
Kenda tires are an acceptable tire, and not bad considering they are in
the "budget" tire range. The Kendas work reasonably well if you're a
casual vintage rider like I am. Don't expect the same quality as
Michelin, Panaracer, or Schwalbe. But these tires are what are available
today, and they're not all that bad.
The Kenda tires look reasonably vintage, have straight, street-type treads, and are reasonably durable. They come in black wall, tan wall, and white wall. The white wall goes especially well with those 1940s-60 era Schwinns from the age of glossy paint and lots of chrome and stainless steel. The tan walls work on the later "bike boom" era bikes from the 1970s. Black walls go with just about everything and are understated (they also are more correct for early post-war bikes).
The
other option besides the Kenda is a set of vintage tires, such as
Goodyear, Uniroyal, Chain, or BF Goodrich. These were excellent tires in
their day, and the Goodyears especially seem to last a long, long time.
It's too bad these tires are no longer made. Interestingly some
specialty British tires called 26 x 1 1/4 still turn up sometimes, and
this is the same size as the Schwinn tires, but they are very uncommon
in the United States today. They were used on some of very old "Clubman"
type bikes the British had, and those tires are also very well made.
But by now, they are very old. I recommend using new Kendas before
trying to use old, broken-down vintage tires. It's a safety issue in my
book.
But don't be afraid to buy and ride an old Schwinn three speed because of all of this. The Kenda tires are not bad, and are affordable. We all may wish something better was out there being made today, but it's still better than nothing at all.
Yeah, I wish there would be more choice in Schwinn 597 tires, but since these bikes aren't that desirable amongst Schwinn collectors (who go ga-ga for the heavy/middleweights), it's probably not going to change any time soon.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm amazed how hard Schwinn stuck to their guns about this wheel size. I had a mid-80's Schwinn Collegiate which was made in Taiwan by Giant, and it still had 597 steel wheels! I pretty much gave up on that bike when the spokes kept breaking and I was too poor to have new wheels built.
One option is to switch wheels to the British 26" x 1 3/8" size. There's not much difference in diameter (590mm vs 597mm) so brakes should work. And it opens you up to more tire choices. And more importantly, it means you can build wheels with alloy rims, meaning lighter wheels and much improved stopping power in the rain. Building new wheels isn't cheap, though, and I've heard that alloy rims in 590 have gotten scarce.
-Shawn
https://societyofthreespeeds.wordpress.com/
I built a Schwinn for my wife using Sun CR-18 rims and it worked out pretty well. She ultimately ditched the bike in favor of a new aluminum road bike though... Even building the wheels yourself, it's not cheap, and I saw even the Sun CR-18 rims were getting harder to find.
DeleteThe one thing I did notice is that Schwinn's quality nosedived more in the 1970s-80s than Raleigh's did. I've found the 1970s Raleighs to be decent bikes usually. Maybe not the best in the world, but still decent riders. The 1970s-80s Schwinn 3 speeds, I've never been impressed with them. I did have a 1980s Schwinn BMX Aerostar when I was a kid (probably built by Giant), and that was a fun bike for a small rider.
I've found that 1940s - mid 1960s Schwinn three speeds are about the equal of a Raleigh Sports. They're a little heavier, but they're more durable and have a little different frame angle. One thing you notice in that during the 1970s, the Schwinn rims get kind of rough, hubs can be kind of cheap, and everything is kind of heavy. Given a choice between a 1950 Schwinn and a 1950 Raleigh, I think it's fair to go either way, depending on what you like. But 1975 Schwinn vs 1975 Raleigh, no contest that I think the Raleigh was the better 3 speed at that point.
Perhaps the dip in quality of Schwinn's American-made bikes in the 70s was a factor in them outsourcing manufacturing for the first time. Another reason was that aside from basically hand-built Paramounts and Super Sports/Superiors that they couldn't build a good modern and lightweight road bike in-house, so they outsourced manufacturing to Japan first, then Taiwan.
DeleteI know that their Chicago factory was aging by the time the 70s rolled around, and all their tooling was based around their heavy but near-indestructible "electro-forged" frames. And they were on the verge of labor troubles too--they had that strike in the 80s which convinced corporate that building a factory in the middle of biz-friendly, labor unfriendly Mississippi was the way to go. Never mind the fact that there was no skilled labor near the new factory...
The Giant-built Collegiate was a pretty decent bike, despite the 597 wheel size. I miss it sometimes.
-Shawn