Who needs a Hub Adapter? Try a Vintage Schwinn hub instead!

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daf

New Member
Mar 11, 2014
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Ann Arbor
So I got a little crazy with the bike (hard tail..ow) and finally pulled some spokes. I was sitting down looking at hub/sprocket adapters online and the prices were beyond the measly budget I have left for this bike, so I sighed, grabbed a beer and went outside to watch the afternoon drift by.

That's when I noticed the hubs on my wife's old rusted out '74 Schwinn Suburban. They were..wide flanged and had some interesting holes between the axle and the spoke mounts. An idea started forming..this just might work!

I pulled off the hub and learned a whole lot about what a pain in the butt a cassette gear can be to remove without the tool. Then, with spokes removed, I eyeballed some marks on the sprocket to line up with the holes in the Schwinn Hub. Fortunately, the stock sprocket ISN'T hardened steel, so I managed to drill out all 8 holes with a regular hardened steel bit.

I also reused one of the tire sandwich pieces as a spacer, filed out the center hole of the sprocket a bit so it would fit down onto the hub and reused the bolts from the stock sprocket mount.

The biggest pain in the butt has been removing 6 mm from the spokes and re-threading them. That's the difference between the spoke mount holes of the original 26 inch hub and the new 27 inch vintage Schwinn hub's spoke holes.

I have pictures of everything except the re-laced rim. I'm working on that today and should have the wheel back on the bike this afternoon. Hope it's not still raining by then. :-||

Some of the advantages of going this route are that you don't have to add any extra weight to the bike. You lose one bolt from the standard kit, one of the tire sandwich pieces, all of the curved steel mounting washers, and you don't have to bolt anything onto a hub. You shouldn't see ANY slippage with this design and no torque related spoke issues either. Also it's a cheaper route to go. The vintage hub is available on Ebay for around $25 without bidding. Maybe less if you hunt and bid. Schwinn Rear Hub Ebay Listing

Disadvantages? A bit more time consuming to install, you need a spoke threader or to have the spokes made custom at a bike shop (about a dollar a spoke..)

Attached are some pictures.

Thanks again for the great information everyone!

Ride fast, ride hard and come home safe,

daf
 

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greaser_monkey_87

New Member
Mar 30, 2014
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USA
I hope you didn't use a regular thread cutting die to re-thread the spokes. Spoke threads are not cut, they are rolled which helps keep the spoke the correct diameter between the threads. Cutting the threads can cause them to be loose and fail under tension. Try to find the correct length spokes if you can.
 

daf

New Member
Mar 11, 2014
14
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0
Ann Arbor
Well, let's not be too hasty! I'm pretty sure beer deserves the lion's share of the credit here.. :D

daf
 

bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
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living the dream in southern california
if your original wheel was a 3 cross spoke pattern, you might have been able to do a 4 cross pattern and not have to cut the spokes.

i've laced many larger hubs into wheels using the same spokes this way. might have to grind a little off the tips when it's done, but that's easier than cutting and rethreading.

good idea, though... :)