1953 Schwinn Corvette progress

GoldenMotor.com

David D.

New Member
Sep 12, 2010
146
0
0
California
Well been working on this a couple days, a 53' schwinn acording to the serial # and the guy i bought it from... has a bendix 2 speed hub, and S6 rims. mostly done with fabrication and getting ready to tear it down for paint, same red as the tank, and ordering the proper schwinn decal set today......anybody know of a source for tires larger than 1 3/8" for these rims? i want a slightly larger tire w/o lacing new rims on here...anybody here ever built one of these schwinn middle or lightweight bikes with the bendix hub? bolting the sprocket direct to hub with a rubber to help dampen torsional vibration to the hub....thanks for any help, David
 

Attachments

Last edited:

wheelbender6

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2008
4,059
221
63
TX
I have never found any other tire to fit a 1 3/8 rim.
I've tried some metrics but no joy.

I would have been afraid of goobering up the kickback hub.
I'm glad it still works.
 

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
113
northeastern Minnesota
I don't know about S6 rims, my Schwinn Americans ran S7 rims and they are a weird size. A regular 26" tire is too small in diameter. With the older 2.125 rims they were the same size tires as anybody else s. You can use regular balloon tire rims and tires on that and they will fit if at some point you want heavy duty rims. A thought about the 2 speed hub is that it is worth a good bit to the historical Schwinn guy, especially in good working order and cosmetically good. That wheel might go a long ways in paying for heavy duty rims in 2.125. I even used my middleweight fenders by adding little extensions at the end of the brackets. The ride is much better with the wider tires. For a pedal bike that Bendix 2 speed is great, on a motorbike it is kind of a waste since pedaling is what you probably don't want to do. Just a thought.
SB
 

culvercityclassic

Well-Known Member
Sep 27, 2009
3,115
177
63
Culver City, Ca
That is a very nice build and bike...good choice

Watch out for that front motor mount, I started with that on my first build and it blew up real fast. Get that motor down on the frame.

Ccc
 

David D.

New Member
Sep 12, 2010
146
0
0
California
Yea guys, i hesitated before drilling... but after some research on ebay i found that this was not the last bendix hub in existance and for about a hundred bucks anyone can have one..., and as to the issue of what good is it on a motorbike? well i found out the red stripe(the one i have) starts out in a lower gear than one to one.... i only pedal to start but low gear is good:) my schwinn jag is locked in low and i removed the shifter as i dont need it...thought about a shift kit, have not seen it done yet with one of these... was thinking you would have to clutch, let off the throttle, pedal back, release the clutch, add throttle.... so i decided i wouldn't try it....oh yea the motor mount...that will be changed...i dont like it either, but the height of the engine will remain, on these bikes there is not enough room between the pedals for the engine and i wanted to use all the stock parts i could....not building a custom bike, more of a resto-mod if you will....
 
Last edited: