I cut a nice set of high flange (although solid axle) hubs out of a junked '73 Varsity with the intention of polishing and rebuilding with cheap alloy rims on a later budget project. Last night I'm rebuilding the front hub bearings and NOW happen to measure my locknut-locknut length and damn if it isn't 94mm (or was it 95?)! Went out to the trash and measured the flat blade fork and yep, it ain't no 100mm either.

Does this make this hub set a "Schwinn only" deal? I was just assuming that eveything of this era was 100mm front.

Now what? Throw 40 new 3/16 bearings into my spares box and the hubs in the trash? Continue to build out and limit myself to a Schwinn anchor project? Finish the rebuild and do a full polish and get $15 for the pair on ebay?

Damn.

[quote=Mr Bentwrench]I cut a nice set of high flange (although solid axle) hubs out of a junked '73 Varsity with the intention of polishing and rebuilding with cheap alloy rims on a later budget project. Last night I'm rebuilding the front hub bearings and NOW happen to measure my locknut-locknut length and damn if it isn't 94mm (or was it 95?)! Went out to the trash and measured the flat blade fork and yep, it ain't no 100mm either.

Does this make this hub set a "Schwinn only" deal? I was just assuming that eveything of this era was 100mm front.

Now what? Throw 40 new 3/16 bearings into my spares box and the hubs in the trash? Continue to build out and limit myself to a Schwinn anchor project? Finish the rebuild and do a full polish and get $15 for the pair on ebay?

Damn.[/quote

I can't speak to old Varsity, but my Sutherland's lists several different axle (over-locknut) lengths for front hubs of road bikes of that period, by nationality, from the 96mm sort-of-standard used by the French makers Malliard and Normandy (who furnished a lot of Schwinn's OEM stuff), to the various Campy and Asian standards. For US makes, with solid axles, Sutherland's lists axle lengths as: "too numerous to count." You might try Schwinn-oriented websites for a more definitive word; I know that even the lowly Varsity has inspired its own cults.

For the various reasons I mentioned in my earlier diatribe (over on C&W), you shouldn't be surprised if your axle dimensions vary a bit from nominal, especially with a manufacturer such as Schwinn (who would build bikes with off-the-rack parts from a number of "Schwinn-approved" vendors.)

You do know that you can, with the judicious use of spacers, vary your O.L. axle length to fit your fork? For that matter, you can get sometimes raid the takeoff parts bins from shops for cheap axles, cups, cones, and whatnot.

xxl to the rescue again! Thanks!

It's a nicely finished set of early 70's high flange 36h "Made in France" hubs that I strongly suspect to be Normandy's. The bike turned out to be a complete waste of $20 and the hubset was the only remaining redeeming value.

I hadn't considered spacing the front but it sure makes sense because it's common for the rear and 2-3mm/side is well within reason especially on a solid axle. *slaps palm to forehead*

Again, thanks and I owe you a cheeseburger... or a beer.


EDIT: BTW, what is 'Sutherland"... and where can I find such great reference material!

xxl to the rescue again! Thanks!

It's a nicely finished set of early 70's high flange 36h "Made in France" hubs that I strongly suspect to be Normandy's. The bike turned out to be a complete waste of $20 and the hubset was the only remaining redeeming value.

I hadn't considered spacing the front but it sure makes sense because it's common for the rear and 2-3mm/side is well within reason especially on a solid axle. *slaps palm to forehead*

Again, thanks and I owe you a cheeseburger... or a beer.


EDIT: BTW, what is 'Sutherland"... and where can I find such great reference material!

Sutherland's was a bench reference book for the bicycle trade; a bible of standards for everything from old 3-speed Whitworth-threaded Raleighs to coaster brakes to well, road bikes. If you were a bike shop back in the day, you had one of these. They were pretty pricey, like $150/copy. I scored mine when a friend of mine who ran a bike shop bought out another shop in town, and gave me two old editions. "Barnett's" is another, similar product. Wikipedia shows ISBN's for both, so I guess they're still in production (though I gotta think they've gone CD-ROM by now.) Some public libraries have copies.

Your suspicion about the hubset being Normandy (or Maillard) is probably correct, so your measurements being in the neighborhood of 96mm sounds about right. Ditto for the bearing size and count. You should be able to swap that solid axle for a hollow-axle/quick-release setup, if you want. Most shops have axle stock they can cut to length for you.