Skiptooth Schwinn!

[feespo]

I have a 1950's Skiptooth Schwinn that rides like crap! The chain doesn't catch at times and the bicycle hardly brakes! I love the bicycle, just wish it could as good as it looks! I live in the bay area and hoping that someone nearby can helo fix! Any help is greatly appreciated. Felix

 

[Muttley]

Is it a single speed with a Bendix Red Band hub?

 

[Wildcat]

I'll bet your rear hub is pretty well worn out. That's probably where your slippage is, and also lack of braking. The first order of business is to assess the rear hub. Take it apart and see if it just needs cleaned up and re-lubed and adjusted. It's old if it's a skip tooth so find the name brand on the brake arm and find help with that particular hub. Single speed hubs aren't that complicated. Here's a New Departure breakdown:


Then, if it's beyond help and worn out, a new wheel and hub won't be skip tooth unless you invest some bucks. If you're just wanting to ride, I would suggest conversion to standard chain. You'll have to change out your chain wheel also, but that's not hard to do either. New 26" back wheel, chain, and chain wheel, and you'll be cruising. Save all the old stuff in a box.

 

[us56456712]

How do the teeth look on the rear hub? Are they kinda half moon shaped instead of triangular? A lot of wear will make them half moon. Sometimes the front skip tooth chainring wears to just nibs. Either shows a lot of use and it would be easier to replace the chainring and rear wheel. If the chainring is in good shape you can get a new wheel and grind off every other tooth on the rear cog, provided it is divisible by 2. Skip tooth chains are expensive to replace and if your other components are worn the chain could be to, especially if it is the original chain. I sometimes just replace the rear wheel, chain and chainring with modern parts if the originals are badly worn. The bonus is that by using modern gearing you will be able to change the ratio if you want easier pedaling on hills. Its possible to find 10 tooth skip tooth rear cogs and sometimes down to 17 tooth skip tooth front chainrings, but they usually are expensive, not the easiest way to lower gearing. Modern chainrings are almost always thinner than the old skip tooth ones so a spacer (like a thick washer) is used to move the chainring out a little. This is really an easy fix, either by replacing the drive or rebuilding the rear hub. Worn parts in early hubs can be expensive and for some models hard to find. The most common rear skip tooth hub that I have is the New Departure Model D. I have one model C. The New Departure has a series of discs that jam together to cause the braking, sort of like a motorcycle clutch in reverse. Other brands use brake shoes. The New Departure discs wear thin and cause poor braking. Sometimes the discs can be roughed up with sand paper to make them grab better. The retaining spring clip on the New Departure has a small nib on the end which can wear and cause the brake to not always grab or grab half way around backwards.

 

[Wildcat]

My 42 Hawthorne is an example. I could use the skip tooth, but I modernized it to make it easier to pedal, and to save the skip tooth stuff. I could have just added a standard chain wheel, but added a 3 piece conversion.
Before:

After:

 

[us56456712]

My 42 Hawthorne is an example. I could use the skip tooth, but I modernized it to make it easier to pedal, and to save the skip tooth stuff. I could have just added a standard chain wheel, but added a 3 piece conversion.
Before:
View attachment 85408

After:
View attachment 85409

Nice