Since postwar Schwinn has some of the more complete records and serial numbers online, people often look up their serial and find that it was a Monday produced frame, and these frames often are a bit more sloppy. I'm sure there was sub-standard work performed by people or departments on every day of the week. But there does appear to be a larger portion of Monday frames out there that were discovered with poor brazing quality or other defects.
1947 Columbia Build
- Thread starter NoControl
- Start date
Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:
I'm retired now, but I worked for a company that made hi-tech bearings. Unbelievable tolerances. You get used to the quest for utmost quality. Witnessing blatently-poor workmanship like this kind of catches me off guard a little. We gripe about the quality of Chinese products, but I'm starting to think that the Chinese now produce better stuff now, than we did then. At least THIS bike, anyway. I'm a second-generation machinist, and a lifelong craftsman, so I'm really picky.
I consider old bikes to be some of the best machines out there, from a simplistic standpoint. I've had some early 1900's bikes with precision fit bottom bracket and headset components, and some very precise machine work. On the other hand, this stuff was made to sell, and paint can cover a lot of things. When you start stripping the paint off, a lot of shoddy work shows up.
