Naveen the step-through 1972 Opaque Green Super Sport

[Rhacopilot]

(I'm sad the topic icon for :grin: is no longer the green version! Just saying)

Hi! My bike is named Naveen after Prince Naveen of Maldonia in the Disney movie "Princess and Frog" because, hey, I love frogs. I realize it's a "ladies" frame, but the name is stuck in my head.

I'm still having a roadblock to riding. Every time I think about going, I immediately think of how short a ride it will be because I expect my hands to go numb, and I'll be wobbly, and if there's a problem I can't squeeze the brake levers right....
I want to take my dogs. I know if they enjoy it, they will help me make a routine. Since the beagle's near-death and extended stint on an 8-hour schedule of antibiotics, they have a wonderful routine I love of waking me at dawn. They go outside quickly because they want breakfast! I know if they love riding, they will help me be good and badger me to go for rides.

So let's fix the hang-ups.
Life is too short to say no to my babies for such silly excuses.

Today I am going to go searching for the Mifflin. I saw the old Admiral in the junk pile earlier, but it's handlebars are swept back TOO far.
I need to see if the handlebars will go on Naveen. I have to able to ride with confidence and control of the bike before I can trust myself to add an unpredictable doggy to the equation!

Regular handlebars. That's the plan.

[Sleeper]

I need a "refresher". Is Naveen the bike that you were working on back when the former SBF was still active? IIRC, you had the handlebars turned upside down. Would the new handle bars be an "upgrade" from that configuration?

[Rhacopilot]

Yes!

Naveen is the one that grandad was helping me with, he gave me "Shedley Castle" and made a stand for my bike, and got the generator light set tested. I never got the bike reassembled, and after carting to he box and frame through several moves, I took it to a bike shop after surgery for them to put back together for me.

The handlebars were upside down briefly to give me the upright posture my doctor required after my neck surgery.
I honestly can't remember if I liked it much... Do you think I could turn them and just put hand brakes on them that way?

[Sleeper]

I can't say for sure whether or not the swaps you're suggesting will work. Handlebars have different diameters for different types of bikes and many times are not interchangeable. This goes for both stems and brake levers. If the new handlebar is a bit narrow for the stem, it's possible (to a certain degree) to use a shim to make for a tight fit. If the new handlebar diameter is too large, you would need a different stem. I would measure the center most portion of the handlebar that's on the bike currently to make sure that the handlebar you want will fit. You may need to use a caliper for the measurement as millimeters matter!

[JeffC]

Yes!

Naveen is the one that grandad was helping me with, he gave me "Shedley Castle" and made a stand for my bike, and got the generator light set tested. I never got the bike reassembled, and after carting to he box and frame through several moves, I took it to a bike shop after surgery for them to put back together for me.

The handlebars were upside down briefly to give me the upright posture my doctor required after my neck surgery.
I honestly can't remember if I liked it much... Do you think I could turn them and just put hand brakes on them that way?

I remember the bike as an Opaque Green Women's Super Sport. If they are the original handlebars they are the road style drop handlebars. They have an outside diameter of 23.8mm and use brake levers designed to be used for those handlebars.

If you want to use upright tourist handlebars like the Suburban, Hollywood, Collegiate etc... You will need tourist handlebars with an outside diameter of 22mm (the middle of the bars are one inch, the same as the drop bars), tourist brake levers designed for those bars, mountain bike style inner brake cables and grips for the handlebars. I have found the best way to make a conversion like that is to find a donor bike on craigslist and swap the parts over to your bike. I would talk to your bike shop and tell them what you want to do and they might be able to help you out and at least give you an idea on the cost and time it will take to do such work. 

[Sleeper]

Yes!

Naveen is the one that grandad was helping me with, he gave me "Shedley Castle" and made a stand for my bike, and got the generator light set tested. I never got the bike reassembled, and after carting to he box and frame through several moves, I took it to a bike shop after surgery for them to put back together for me.

The handlebars were upside down briefly to give me the upright posture my doctor required after my neck surgery.
I honestly can't remember if I liked it much... Do you think I could turn them and just put hand brakes on them that way?

I remember the bike as an Opaque Green Women's Super Sport. If they are the original handlebars they are the road style drop handlebars. They have an outside diameter of 23.8mm and use brake levers designed to be used for those handlebars.

If you want to use upright tourist handlebars like the Suburban, Hollywood, Collegiate etc... You will need tourist handlebars with an outside diameter of 22mm (the middle of the bars are one inch, the same as the drop bars), tourist brake levers designed for those bars, mountain bike style inner brake cables and grips for the handlebars. I have found the best way to make a conversion like that is to find a donor bike on craigslist and swap the parts over to your bike. I would talk to your bike shop and tell them what you want to do and they might be able to help you out and at least give you an idea on the cost and time it will take to do such work. 

Great info for Ms RhacoPilot and perhaps others too! I was hoping someone would come forth with those pesky details  .
I modded a '81 LeTour to give me more of an upright riding position by replacing the drop bars with a mountain bike bar and some mountain bike brake levers. I can't remember if I had to use a different stem but I think not. I believe that using handlebars like those on the Suburban, Hollywood & Collegiate (as suggested) would allow for a more upright position than my conversion did. I'm curious to see what she comes up with .

[JeffC]

Yes!

Naveen is the one that grandad was helping me with, he gave me "Shedley Castle" and made a stand for my bike, and got the generator light set tested. I never got the bike reassembled, and after carting to he box and frame through several moves, I took it to a bike shop after surgery for them to put back together for me.

The handlebars were upside down briefly to give me the upright posture my doctor required after my neck surgery.
I honestly can't remember if I liked it much... Do you think I could turn them and just put hand brakes on them that way?

I remember the bike as an Opaque Green Women's Super Sport. If they are the original handlebars they are the road style drop handlebars. They have an outside diameter of 23.8mm and use brake levers designed to be used for those handlebars.

If you want to use upright tourist handlebars like the Suburban, Hollywood, Collegiate etc... You will need tourist handlebars with an outside diameter of 22mm (the middle of the bars are one inch, the same as the drop bars), tourist brake levers designed for those bars, mountain bike style inner brake cables and grips for the handlebars. I have found the best way to make a conversion like that is to find a donor bike on craigslist and swap the parts over to your bike. I would talk to your bike shop and tell them what you want to do and they might be able to help you out and at least give you an idea on the cost and time it will take to do such work. 

Great info for Ms RhacoPilot and perhaps others too! I was hoping someone would come forth with those pesky details  .
I modded a '81 LeTour to give me more of an upright riding position by replacing the drop bars with a mountain bike bar and some mountain bike brake levers. I can't remember if I had to use a different stem but I think not. I believe that using handlebars like those on the Suburban, Hollywood & Collegiate (as suggested) would allow for a more upright position than my conversion did. I'm curious to see what she comes up with .

The Schwinn handlebars and stem sizes are pretty limited but it makes it easier to remember the measurements. Once you get into the 90's bikes then all bets are off with the 1 1/8 stems and the different size handlebar swells, and different head sets. One thing I do like about the later stems though is you don't have to remove the stem from the bike to change handlebars

[Rhacopilot]

I called the local bike shop, he says he can take a look. I can look at the Mifflin and see what it's handlebars look like and maybe take them with me.

I'm hoping it can just swap on with no fuss, Jamie doesn't want me going to another bike shop because currently the drop bar brake hoods are wiggly on the bars, and I'm missing the but that goes on the quick release arm to keep it attached. I guess he feels they didn't do a good job, but honestly the bike has been unridden and transported in odd vehicles a few times... It's not like I've been on it every day, the things had been vibrated weirdly and fallen over and squished with cargo...

I want to bolt a dedicated bike rack to the bus. Probably to the front bumper like a city bus? That way the back door is still accessible like an emergency exit should be. You never know. The other option might be a vertical something in the back... I'm pretty sure it will get dirty any way I have it outdoors, but I don't think I want to try too dedicate indoor space to it. The idea is to make the bike easily accessible so I actually RIDE IT, since self-motivation is a weak point.

[Rhacopilot]

Hmm. I can't figure out how to do photos from my phone, they are too big.

[Rhacopilot]

Mifflin bar is 2mm bigger, it looks like it measures 25mm and trying to measure Naveen's it looks like 23mm.

Couldn't you just tighten the clamp more at that point? Or perhaps add a strip of rubber to pad it out and clamp over that?

It also seems like if you had a flat regular handle bar you could just remove the sissy pull additions and still use the drop bar brakes. The pull would still be along the bar...
Hmm

[Sleeper]

Mifflin bar is 2mm bigger, it looks like it measures 25mm and trying to measure Naveen's it looks like 23mm.

Couldn't you just tighten the clamp more at that point? Or perhaps add a strip of rubber to pad it out and clamp over that?

It also seems like if you had a flat regular handle bar you could just remove the sissy pull additions and still use the drop bar brakes. The pull would still be along the bar...
Hmm

Well, if the Mifflin bar is 25mm and "Naveen's" bar is 23mm, the Mifflin bar would be 2mm too large for Naveen's stem. Perhaps the bar AND stem from the Mifflin could be used IF the stems were the same diameter.
I'm not so sure that using the brake lever assembly from "drop style" handlebars will work properly on a straight bar as they are made to mount on the sharply curved section of the drop bar. Maybe but I think not.

[JeffC]

On handlebars the center of stock Super Sport handlebars are 25.4mm or 1" the outer portion where the brake levers go are 23.8mm. The stem on a Super Sport can accommodate any bar that has the 1" center swell. Then you have to fit up the brake levers to whatever the other handlebars use.

Typically Schwinn tourist, mountain style and some hybrid bikes use 22mm clamp levers. The stem itself is the Schwinn 21.1 (.833) that fits into the fork. This is why I suggested talking to a bike shop person so you can fit up the right parts so you can ride the bike comfortably. It's a little tricky but not terribly so, you just need to use the right sizes.   

[Sleeper]

Hmm. I can't figure out how to do photos from my phone, they are too big.

To post photos, you'll need to "re-size" them to a smaller sized file. For the former SBF, an app called "Image Size" was recommended. The free version is sufficient for posting images here. There is a Pro version but at ~$25. isn't worth it for occasional posting to forums. Perhaps Mr JeffC has a better suggestion, IDK. Perhaps he can also elaborate on the recommended file size. (And maybe a detailed post in the Forum Rules section on how to post photos ;-) )

[JeffC]

For Iphones image resizing is built into their picture app. For Android you can download from the store for free a few different image resizing apps. Max size 800kb per image and five images per post. That's the max size the software will allow.

[JeffC]

I was able to increase the size of image uploads to 1000kb or 1mb 5mb per post 5 images per post. This is pretty much a standard for all but a few forum s today.