1974 Schwinn Le Tour Headset

I need some help. My bicycle mechanic is reassembling a restored 1974 Schwinn Le Tour. He is having diffiulties with the headset. So I have a couple questions: First, the headset had loose ball bearings...and he wants to use a bearing cage. I am opposed to this. First, the 1974 Schwinn Le Tour may have been made by Panasonic in Japan....but it was high quality. Loose bearings give twice the number of points of contact in the race....which gives better roatation of the bearings and more strength to the headset. Am I wrong? Second, it may be that the lower bearings and upper bearings and the upper and lower race are different size and take different size loose bearings. The guy that took the headset off threw everything in a bag and I can't say with certainty if they were different sizes. Can anyone tell me with any authority what the proper bearing size is for the upper and lower race if they are different? Finally....he changed the loose bearing crank bearing to a cage...and I want him to change it to loose bearings for the same reason stated above (it's stronger and performs better). Can anyone support me on this choice? Thanks guys....a fast response is appreciated....I have to go deal with this situation this morning!

Views: 1229

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by BruceBikes on September 5, 2014 at 6:18am

Whether you use a retainer (cage) or loose bearings, there should be two and only two contact points for each ball. There is no difference between the two in this regard.

I can't tell you what size balls you should be using, but the size of the old balls can be easily confirmed with a digital (or dial) caliper or with a micrometer.  A reputable bike shop/mechanic will have one or both of these.

Regarding strength, if the retainer allows you to use the same number of balls as you would if they were loose, there is no difference in strength.  (i.e. if you replace 11 loose balls with 11 identical balls in a retainer, they will be equally strong.)

Assuming you're using a reputable bike mechanic, I would follow his advice.  If you feel strongly about sticking with loose balls, there's no reason he can't accommodate you, but you may have to pay to have him rebuild a perfectly serviceable bearing a second time.  The retainers merely provide a convenience when assembling and maintaining the bearings.

Hope this helps.

Permalink Reply by OLB 0.1 on September 5, 2014 at 7:01am

If you want a second opinion, you can contact/visit Barnard's Schwinn in Oak Park. They specialize in vintage Schwinn restorations. They also carry NOS stock of lots of good stuff to help people get their bikes as close to original as possible.

FWIW, I have a 1973 Sports Tourer and the headset bearings are caged. This model was higher in the lineup. If it was good enough for the Sports Tourer, it should have been good enough for the LeTour. Then again, my bike may have been switched to caged before it came to me. Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Tominator on September 5, 2014 at 10:25am

It was higher than the LeTour?

Permalink Reply by Rob Stoddard on September 5, 2014 at 11:04am
I think the Sports Tourer was a "Middleweight" model whereas the 1974 Le Tour was the first year of the "Lightweight" model line. The only bike higher than a Le Tour was the Paramount, which was a Track model bike.
Permalink Reply by BruceBikes on September 5, 2014 at 11:09am

From the Schwinn catalog in 1974, it looks like the "10-speed" road bikes from best to worst (least best?) are:

1. Paramount

2. Sports Tourer

3. LeTour

4. Continental

5. Sprint

6. Varsity Sport

I'd put the Voyageur II (in the back of the catalog) around the quality of the Sports Tourer.  Also, it's amazing how much lighter the Paramount is than all the others.

Permalink Reply by Rob Stoddard on September 5, 2014 at 11:31am
I really appreciate everyone's contribution to this post. There is a lot of differences of opinion about loose bearing headsetsn versus cages bearing headsets on the net. The concept that more bearings packed loosely (you fill the race, and then you remove one) being inferior to a caged set with half as many bearings doesn't sound like a plausible benefit except to the mechanic. Loose bearings, which will move more easily and which provides more contact points and therefore provides greater strength seems to make more sense to me. Caged bearings are simplier to install...that's a given....but I chose to go with loose bearings for my restoration before all the comments here were received due to the time constraint of telling the mechanic what I wanted. I had a second Le Tour frame with an intact headset which I provided to him to see it actually did come with loose bearings....and also for him figure out how the parts all fit back together properly. Apparently he was having a tough time - and he has 20 years experience as a mechanic! - but it might have been because the frame was repainted and the headset was re-chromed....so maybe there was some debris in the threads or something that was keeping it from going on properly. I'll find our soon when he calls and tells me it's all done I hope! My loose bearing headset on the Le Tour held up pretty well for 40 years....and if I hadn't done a full-blown restoration I would not even have needed to take the headset apart.....so the idea a caged set are simpler to replace can only mean to me that you will replace a caged set that has gone bad more often. If it came that way....there was likely a good reason for it - and it was probably a quality choice....at least that's my conclusion based on my research on the internet from various threads, posts and discussions....and I've done a lot of that over the past 24 hours! Thanks again everyone for your comments - its greatly appreciated.

RSS

Groups

© 2008-2016   The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.   Powered by

Disclaimer  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service