[Keith]

I have an old vintage steelie Schwinn Varisty. All components are pretty much shot so I stripped it down and want to make it into a fixed gear.

I assume all I have to do is replace the hub and that's it?

If so how do I know which hubset to buy?

[cowboycharlie]

did you find out anything about this? i have a vintage schwinn i wanted to do the same thing with.

[dovitsky]

you will need a new hub, with a spacing of 120mm. (maybe a new wheel)
pake makes cheap good fixie wheels
a cog
a lock ring
a new chain (something strong)


then a plus would be some bull horn handlebars

[cowboycharlie]

So I should be able to go to a hub manufacture and tell them what I have and they will tell me which hub? Will I not need a measurement for them?

[dovitsky]

well any older road bike will have a 120mm hub spacing in the rear so you should be ok. always double check. Anyways, any fixie hub will be 120mm spacing

[101]

Schwinn Varsity's are super heavy bike.

[retromike3]

I fixed up a varsity for a person and set it up with the standard 40 tooth inner chainring and a fixed rear rear cog. The kid I set it up with hated it. It was way too heavy even with most of the junk taken off it. The shop I worked on was at the top of a hill though. There is a saying that you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear was written for the Varsity.

You might want to start with a little lighter bike, But if you live in a really flat area and want to build some legs maybe the Varsity is for you.

Mike Frye

[Industry_Hack]

Originally Posted by retromike3

I fixed up a varsity for a person and set it up with the standard 40 tooth inner chainring and a fixed rear rear cog. The kid I set it up with hated it. It was way too heavy even with most of the junk taken off it. The shop I worked on was at the top of a hill though. There is a saying that you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear was written for the Varsity.

You might want to start with a little lighter bike, But if you live in a really flat area and want to build some legs maybe the Varsity is for you.

Mike Frye

If he hated it as a fixed gear, he probably didn't like it any better as a ten speed. Maybe someone should have explained to him that when his bike was new, it was ridden all over by someone who probably thought it was the greatest thing ever, and never complained. As a pre-teen, I put more miles on my brother's new Traveler than he did.

[retromike3]

My dad started me out with a early seventies used Schwinn Varsity with not quite 26" wheels It was heavy but was basically striped of all of the heavy stuff. I road the wheels off it. I was twelve and skinny as a rail.

Two years later my dad "moved up" and got me a used(but not as old) Schwinn Continental. It had bigger wheels (27") Bigger frame(maybe 18") and full fenders and maybe a rack on the back. The fenders were steel and front fork might have been hollow but it was as heavy as some frames that are out there now. The wheels were steel with Normandy hubs(I think the front had a quick release.

THat bike was too big and heavy for a squirt like me to drag around town. Of course my dad had to by a bigger bike than I could use because "he will grow into it" Problem was I was not growing like the other kids in my block. Since then I have quite a few dealings with the Varsity and they usually don't leave a good taste in my mouth.

There is a group of Varsity fans in Portland OR and they like to cruse around town on there machines and I guess they are a little easier to move than a 26" cruiser but its not my choice for a fun ride.

Mike Frye

[Scrodzilla]

I found a red Varsity frame near the dumpster behind work one night and was AMAZED at how heavy just the frame was. I left it there.