OK, more Schwinn Suburban tire size questions

[Dan D]

Ok, I might lose my Schwinn lightweight membership before I was even accepted, by asking this question. I value your opinions and want to see if I'm going to get laughed at or smacked for this question. No that I sucked up by saying I value your opinions LOL here we go with the question.

I posted a question yesterday in regards to my concerns with my 5 speed, 27 inch tires on my suburban and gravel roads. The answers I received verified my fears. How difficult is it to put 700 size tires and rims on this bike ? Please dont hurt me by smacking me for destroying a nice suburban, I will not destroy the bike ! I want to know if this is a simple bolt on swap ? I want to be able to easily undo this if I decide to. I do know these facts:

1. I can buy 700 spooked rims for $35 apiece

2. I will use a rear sprocket and chain off an old 5 speed colliegiate I have laying out back, so I will not even remove the gear cluster off my original rim. I also learned today I cannot mis match sprockets and chains (another story)

3. I will have a retired bike mechanic do this for me, he explained the hub offset might need tweeked in, he was the one who told me I must use gears matched to the chain, I cannot use my chain with a different sprocket. His labor is very cheap, by a 6 pack ( and I'm not much of a drinker anymore LOL) and keep him company is about it for labor.

Anyways what he didn't know is how much bigger of a tire we can fit and if it will be worth our time to do this. He said there is a huge selection of tire sizes for 700 rims. Will a 1.5 tire fit in my suburban? Anyone else try something like this ? Or am I crazy ? I already have 4 bikes and am kinda hitting my limit of keepers (for now anyways) so I want to multitask with this bike. Again anything I do is bolt on only so I can put the bike back to original !

Your thoughts ?
Dan

[Dan D]

Hey Ric, I'm just glad to hear you say you are Interested in what others have to say ! At least you didnt say I'm crazy !
( or maybe your waiting for the others to tell me LOL)

"Are the 700's you are considering double-walled lightweights such as Alex?". I don't know ? He said he could get me 700 rims already spoked for that, I didn't ask the brand because it wouldn't mean nothing to me, I'm a newbie to this. Lightweight bike stuff. I will ask next time I see him.

I defiantly will keep all the original stuff, we thought the brakes would work, but are not 100% sure.

Sometimes we ride a couple miles of gravel, a lot of the time we don't even hit the gravel, I sit back and let the group decide and just follow, but I don't want to be the one crying about where we ride, I'm just happy I'm getting friends, family and neighbors to go out riding ! So I want to have a bike that can handle both terrains.
Dan
 

[JenniferC]

Dan, if you're going to ride the bike regularly on gravel and dirt then by all means take those stock chrome steel wheels off of there and get some rider wheels on it. Alloy wheels brake better when wet and are stronger than the steel wheels. If you bugger  up the riders so what, get another set. In the meantime your shiny stock wheels are home a snug as bug. There's nothing wrong with the steel wheels but you can have them put aside when you want use them for special occasions or when (eeek) you sell the bike.

The 700c wheels should work OK on the Suburban frame the only thing you have to be concerned with is the reach of the brakes. My Raleigh Super Grand Prix has the exact same Dia-Compe brakes as my Sports Tourer and my Super Sports and my Raleigh has the 700c wheels on it. You can see that the pads sit lower on the arm but there is still plenty of room. You'll have to see what width will work with the Suburban frame and fork. The Rolly has 700c x28c tires on it and there is plenty of clearance. Get the Kevlar belted tires that have a smooth center for smoothness on the road with some tread on the sides for gripping in loose dirt and gravel. They will be a bit of a compromise but that's how it rides.

 It's best to stick with the same size freewheel as far as gearing goes so there's not so much tuning and fiddling to get two unmatched components to work.

[hooch]

I do know the schwinn lightweights with the 26x1 3/8 tires use the same frames as the 17" tired suburbans and the brakes  have a longer reach than the suburban brake  but i have never compared the 700 whells to an s-6 wheel for diameter.  because ive never really owned any lol til now i have 5 bikes with them I will compare tomorrow and stick a 700 on a varsity and look at the brakes

[JenniferC]

The 700c wheel has a nominal 622mm diameter on the bead (seat) on the rim and the 27" is 630mm. Too sun beaten from working in the yard all day to go down the basement and look tonight. I'll read tomorrow Hooch. Goodnight eveyone 

[Dan D]

Thanks for the info !  I need to balance the checkbook before attempting this, the 2 bikes I bought this week kinda dipped into the funds. Thanks for your thoughts !  Thanks Jennifer for comparing the rim sizes, not much difference in size, .008 mm.

Hooch, I did notice that the brake arms are longer on the  old 5 speed colliegiate bike I'm parting out, I might need to use them, still just bolt on stuff, in which I can easily put the bike back to original !

Dan

[JenniferC]

Dan, the size difference is 8mm, that means approximately 4mm at the brake arm.

[hooch]

I should have gotten better photos but here is a varsity and a stock 27" with the brake set to it and the second photo is a 700c wheel off my trek 1000 using the varsity brake (Schwinn Approved Type LS 2.4) it should work with a minor adjustment of the pads
and I am pretty sure the Suburban and Varsity use the same components
now it has me thinking hmmmm put some mid 90s hybrid wheels on a varsity frame (700cx38) would really fill up the forks lol

[Dan D]

Thanks Hooch !!!!!!!
  That answered a lot of questions !  In fact that answered all my questions !
Dan

[hooch]

I had to play   here is a set of 700C x 38 tires on a Lime green 76 Varsity frame

[JenniferC]

Hooch, the only difference between the Varsity and Suburban is the front fork. The Varsity uses a flat blade ashtabula and the Suburban use the tubular forks. I would say though from looking at your pictures that a 700 x 32-35c would fit rather nicely on the Suburban. Thanks for taking the time to check that out for our knowledge base. 

[hooch]

doh! I knew that fork was different thanks Jennifer
A member on the Rat Rod Bikes forum posted photos of his Collegiate with 700s on it he had to grind the slot a bit on the Collegiate brakes  but it shows it with fenders
I like it alot!

[Eric Amlie]

Here is my Collegiate with 27" wheels.

I didn't have to grind out the caliper slots, but IIRC, I installed a fork and brake calipers from a Varsity.

[Dan D]

Good info here !  Thanks for all the replies and not calling me crazy LOL
Dan

[hooch]

If you haven't noticed we are all crazy here lol