1971 schwinn 10 speed shifter?

Question

I have ridden my clean, well functioning schwinn super sport over 200 miles this season, but it was parked on an angled

surface and fell on its right side, causing the rear dérailleur to stop upshifting. there doesn't appear to be any damage to the dérailleur, so I do not know what is wrong

Answer 1

With some thing like that it can be hard to find out what is wrong. Look at it to see if any thing has broke, if you don't see anything clean it off and oil it if it still doesn't work take it in to your local bike shop and see if they can fix it you ya.

Answer 2

There are 2 springs on your rear derailleur- "shifter" as you call it. One is a return spring that brings the derailleur back to the high gear position, and one that holds tension on the pulley cage. My guess is that one or both of them came loose.

Here are a couple of pics of the derailleur... I know it doesn't match exactly but the "Schwinn Approved" you have is functionally identical http://www.flickr.com/photos/stronglight...

If after checking this still doesn't make things better I would recommend a trip to the bike shop. There are just too many things that could be causing your problem.