Schwinn wheels what's the deal?

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It's not really visible in pictures!
It's a difference in bead diameter, schwinn specific.
 
Sort of hard to tell from looking, but some Schwinn wheels can be identified by knurled markings that run the length of the rim, or they will be stamped "Schwinn" and the number of the rim, like S7. Schwinn made a fair amount of proprietary-sized rims, that to the naked eye look like 20", 24", or 26", but will only accept special sized tires. To make matters worse, some of these tires have what look to be the same size on the sidewall, like 26x1 3/4 vs. 26x1.75 (which you would think would be the same), but they cannot be interchanged with each other.
 
Schwinn...most people love 'em or hate 'em. I love 'em, and that's the only brand I have so no parts interchange problems here. Gary
 
Schwinn was trying to keep a captive market with proprietary sizes bitd. I guess that worked for a bit, but nowadays, we just get a few questions each week from ppl who just got an old Schwinn but can't get new tires to fit.

Thanks a lot, Schwinn! :rockout:

I really respect the old Chicago Schwinn company, and love their frames, but I tend to run other parts and I'll never touch their off-size wheels....
 
The only Schwinn's I'm interested in are the old ballooners. They ALL take standard 26 X 2.125 tires on S2 rims. The problem with wheel/tire size was introduced by Frank Schwinn, Ignaz' son who took over the company after WW2. He was in bed with B.F.Goodrich on the tire scheme. I'm sure if worked financially for Schwinn and BFG but really screwed the bike buying public, then and way into the future. Only middleweights and skinny tire bikes are effected by the odd size tires so it doesn't bother me in the least. Gary
 
True; s2 wheels are immune, as are the 27" wheeled bikes.... Another good thing is that MW can fit a s2, usually with a 2.125" tire.
 
B607 said:
The only Schwinn's I'm interested in are the old ballooners. They ALL take standard 26 X 2.125 tires on S2 rims. Gary
Click to expand...
This is how, at one point I weeded out "schwinn," bikes from, original not schwinn but owned by them bikes! Old schwinn.
In the 80-90s, everytime a schwinn middle weight came in, I'd sigh. I knew the rim wouldn't be marked, 26x1 3/8 tires will fit close enough to fool ya, and the bead on the rim, a joke!
Man I don't miss it!
 
once the tires I ordered get here I plan on taking a pic showing the difference between a 20 inch s7 tire a 20 inch huffy rail front tire and a common 20 inch. Just had to order tires for my rail and my daughter's fairlady
 
My bike has it's original S7 wheels. I did end up shelling out $40 at a bike shop for 2 new blackwall tires, but they look the part. When I mounted them, they were really tight on the rims- had to air them to 55PSI to "seat the beads". :D
There are 3 or 4 brands of them in 26"- all Chinese made, I think.
I saw some whitewall 26x1 3/4 S7 tires just recently for $9.99 each at another bike shop.

kes7t2-1.jpg
 
I'm looking for S6 white walls which seem to be rare. Bicycle Heaven advertises some but he won't return calls. Anybody know of another source?
 
:( Be careful buying Schwinn bikes to flip. I picked up a chinese made 10 speed, not very old at all. To my dismay, the tires were worse than I thought, and I just couldn't re-sell it with the original tires. That's when I found out that it had S5 or S7, (don't remember). Took about a month for LBS and $40 to get a matching pair of tires. I barely got my money back from that one. It's not only the old Chicago made Schwinns that use these wheels.
 

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