194*??? Schwinn

[Alienbaby17]

I picked this bike up at a swap meet last fall. I stashed it away and forgot about it until a few days ago. I never really thought it was anything that special. I bought it because it looked old, was cheap (around $20) and I thought it'd be fun to rebuild.

I was getting ready to start on another bike project and was moving this one when I noticed the serial number under the crank was rubbed clean. I decided to look up the number. The number is, "F57267". I'd never considered it might be an old Schwinn but I found similar numbers in the 1949 Schwinn numbers listing. When I started to give it a little closer inspection I found an 'AS' bolt on the seat post clamp. One thing that puzzles me is the strange sprocket. I suppose it could have been changed at some point over the years.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

[bits n pieces]

Thats a schwinn phantom style sprocket. It wasnt phantom specific i dont think. The fork looks schwinn too.

[Wildcat]

This is a drawing from the old Schwinn catalog in 1949, from the trfindley website:
I think they misspelled "cycleplane" but were consistent all the way through.


From the 1950 catalog, the D13 looks a lot like yours. So, you most probably do have a 49 Schwinn with correct sprocket. When you pull the cranks to lube them, there may be a date stamp (2 digits) on the middle part.

[Alienbaby17]

Wow! That was quick. Thanks, guys.

So it looks like it is a 1949 Schwinn.

This one may turn into a long-term restoration.

[B607]

Your frame is called a "DX". Both top bars are curved. No way that chain ring came on that bike. All DX bikes had skip tooth chains with Sweetheart chain rings. The white part of your frame has been repainted. DX's had the curly q wing thing. The seat is a Schwinn B1. Original to that bike and several others and in demand. Gary

[dogdart]

Your frame is called a "DX". Both top bars are curved. No way that chain ring came on that bike. All DX bikes had skip tooth chains with Sweetheart chain rings. The white part of your frame has been repainted. DX's had the curly q wing thing. The seat is a Schwinn B1. Original to that bike and several others and in demand. Gary

I'm not quite sure of that , This is my DX as found , with Phantom style chainring , I forget the serial # right now , but it's 50 or 51

[dogdart]

My DX had a Morrow hub on S-2 rim , maybe the Phantom ring goes with the upgrade ????

[Wildcat]

It would great if that white paint that was added could be carefully removed to see the original trim. I first thought there were burn marks from work on the fork crown, but that may just be excess grease and oil.

My 53 Schwinn was probably a Meteor, but it had the same non chrome phantom chainring and chainguard as yours. It didn't match the catalogs, but they were original to that standard looking Schwinn. Plain forks, no tank, full fenders.

[Alienbaby17]

I was doing some more research and found this website.
http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topic ... schwinn-dx

The bicycle featured there is a 1948 DX and it has the same non-skip tooth Phantom chain ring. (There are some obvious much newer modifications to this bike but I wonder about the sprocket.)

If I was going to try to bring this bike back closer to original would I want to get that "planes and trains" headbadge like he has in his photos?

Thanks for all of the info so far!

[Wildcat]

Check out the parts section, they have those headbadges.

http://www.memorylane-classics.com/

[B607]

Your frame is called a "DX". Both top bars are curved. No way that chain ring came on that bike. All DX bikes had skip tooth chains with Sweetheart chain rings. The white part of your frame has been repainted. DX's had the curly q wing thing. The seat is a Schwinn B1. Original to that bike and several others and in demand. Gary

I'm not quite sure of that , This is my DX as found , with Phantom style chainring , I forget the serial # right now , but it's 50 or 51

Hello dogdart,

That's not a Phantom chainring on your DX. That's a prewar Schwinn chainring off of a higher end B model bike. They are similar, but not the same.

Find me a pic in a Schwinn catalog that shows a 26" boys DX with any chainring other that a Sweetheart and I'll eat crow. Gary

[Alienbaby17]

B607,

I'm sure you've got to be right about this. Did you happen to look at that link I posted to that other DX? I'm kind of new to the old bike thing. Was it common for people to convert the older skiptooth bikes to the newer style chain setups?

[B607]

I saw the other DX in the link. The caption also said it was missing a lot of the original parts. Yes, parts got switched a lot. Especially when they went through backyard bike shops in the 50's and 60's.

Like any factory, Schwinn could have run a batch of DX's with other chain rings for what ever reason and there may be a few out there. I've never seen one in a Schwinn catalog and have never seen one on an original bike. Gary

[dogdart]

Your frame is called a "DX". Both top bars are curved. No way that chain ring came on that bike. All DX bikes had skip tooth chains with Sweetheart chain rings. The white part of your frame has been repainted. DX's had the curly q wing thing. The seat is a Schwinn B1. Original to that bike and several others and in demand. Gary

I'm not quite sure of that , This is my DX as found , with Phantom style chainring , I forget the serial # right now , but it's 50 or 51

Hello dogdart,

That's not a Phantom chainring on your DX. That's a prewar Schwinn chainring off of a higher end B model bike. They are similar, but not the same.

Find me a pic in a Schwinn catalog that shows a 26" boys DX with any chainring other that a Sweetheart and I'll eat crow. Gary

I never really noticed the difference before I also checked the hub for a date code & it's '39 . Would that ring have been used in '39 ? It just goes to show , you can't assume a bikes original , just because it's got all the same make parts on it I should have been suspicious of the two coats of repaint