New find last week - 1977 Schwinn Suburban

[fotomatt1]

I just picked up this 1977 Suburban 5 Speed (FFS) last week pretty inexpensively. It's 99% original. The only thing replaced were tires and tubes according to the original owner simply because they dried out and cracked. He said it mostly sat in his living room as a decoration for most of its life and his wife was tired of looking at it. I'm in the process of building a Klunker from a 1953 Schwinn Panther frame and it got me wondering what the possibilities are for the Suburban? Anybody do a gravel conversion or a restomod? I can lave it completely original and be happy with it, but I think it would be a cool frame for a project, especially in the condition it's in. Thoughts? I saw a thread here where someone fit 29" wheels on one and it looked amazing!

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

Beauty, eh?

Personally, I'd leave it as is. IMO, it would be a cumbersome gravel bike with the heavy frame and steel wheels.

 

[fotomatt1]

Beauty, eh?

Personally, I'd leave it as is. IMO, it would be a cumbersome gravel bike with the heavy frame and steel wheels.

I wouldn't do anything to permanently change it and I'd keep all the original components to rebuild it stock if need be. I likely wouldn't use the steel wheels...I'd go with a lighter set of 700c wheels and potentially even change the fork. I agree the frame is heavy, but not too bad with modern components and it sure would look cool.

That being said, it does ride nice and the Front Freewheel system is pretty cool. I had never seen one before.

 

[Endlesschain]

I would keep original,too nice too orig to go gravel,if it was more of a racer than a commuter then gravel but not this one,I wouldnt go down that path my friend,some things best left alone