1957 schwinn identity crisis

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i had my own schwinn identity crisis a few months ago, with what i thought was a 51' spitfire, but ended up being a 62' american from what i found out on another forum. it was confusing cuz the ser# matched up for both 51' and 62', but some of the features lead it to be a 62'. i guess. mine has the wickedly heavyduty bendix wheels and heavy duty seat, so i guess it is a heavyduty american. or a wasp.

don't freak over the odd schwinn sized wheels cuz you can still find blackwall and whitewall tires for it out ther if you look. with the straightbar, id have to say a wasp, american or spitfire too. i believe its NOT a jaguar, corvette or phantom.
 
Uncle Stretch said:
It really does other than mine has chrome wheels. Maybe an add on Who knows . Wish it had the chainguard with the name on it ....yeah right. :cry:
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at least it has a headbadge :lol:
 
I was surprised that all 5 bikes I picked up a few months ago all had headbadges. The headbadge theif must have missed these. The one I stripped yesterday has a cool Roadmaster one . I started to keep it myself. I sat staring at it for several hours last night and got no direction on the build ,but I know its comming. :wink: :wink:

DSCF0010-1.jpg


I love this frame design.

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How long does it take you to strip a frame down like that?

I'm assuming you are using the drill on the workbench with the wire wheel.

The last one I did seemed like it took a long time.

Looks like you should have just used chemical stripper on the headbadge....to avoid scratches.
 
it takes about 20 minutes with a 4 1/2'' cheap china sidegrinder with a 6'' cup wire wheel. If i used a wire wheel in a drill I would be there forever. The paint stripper is terrible messy ..hate it. I scrape the places I cant reach with a pocket knife or paint scraper . Its about a 30 45 minute process all together. Unless its a schwinn heavy duti and then its chemical stripper...wire wheel....burn it ....cuss ...scrape. that paint just smears it wont come off. The headbadge was already scratched . I dont wire brush them...clean them with laquer thinner. :cry: :cry:
 
maddogrider said:
Is the paint thing that makes you dislike the Schwinns? I like my overrated Schwinns except for the funkie wheel sizes
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I think its the overinflated price thing. I see old junk black phantoms that are neither rare or that stylish in compearision to other really nice bikes of the time,and they will be a frame two old beat to heck rusty fenders and a tank and they want $600 . Its insane. Find nice s-2 rims ...start at $250 . parts are really overrated price wise too....and dont even get me started on the silly little stingrays that bring astronomical prices that you look silly ridding. It is just me though ....I know schwinn has a following that will shame the trekies. when I grew up we had schwinn,western flyers and a few english bikes . All the really cool bikes were up north. Never saw a columbia,elgin,rollfast any of them. I love them now. :lol:
 
I like schwinns best, but I agree, your paying for a name more so than a bike.

typical schwinn bike at a garage sale conversation

guy 1 "how much for that red bike"
guy 2 "oh that one, you mean that schwinn, ive been offered $200 and turned it down, i need at least $300 out of it,i couldnt take any less"
guy 1 "you've been offered $200, for that ?!? i gave $50 for one a little bit cleaner last summer"
guy 2 "this one has sentimental value, my mothers brothers friend bought this bike new and died the next day, and ive never seen another one quite as nice anywhere else, still has the original air in the tires and is signed by Arnold Schwinn himself, i think i have a picture of Bigfoot riding it down the street popping a wheelie somewhere around here too"
guy 1 "what about that house painted yellow bike with the front and rear suspension, how much for it"
guy 2 "that piece of junk, just buy something else and you can have it"

:)
 
You have to admit though, Schwinn frame construction is top notch....especially compared to the frames that are crimped together and spot welded.
 
Man that was funny. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: I'm not anti schwinn ...one of my favorite bikes is a schwinn...the shamrock. was out there just a minute ago trying to copy it to this roadmaster. ha ha
 
Rat Rod said:
You have to admit though, Schwinn frame construction is top notch....especially compared to the frames that are crimped together and spot welded.
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I have to agree RatRod i just took my Space Liner Flight Liner thing apart tonight. Just lookin at it i hope it dosnt fold on me when i take it out for a ride.
Agree with Uncle Stetch also wish they wernt so overrated i would have alot more :mrgreen:
 
Rat Rod said:
You have to admit though, Schwinn frame construction is top notch....especially compared to the frames that are crimped together and spot welded.
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Steve please. All the bikes have lasted the abuse of small destructive kids for 60 plus years and they are still going . So Schwinn came up with a cantileaver frame . I dont know about quality I picked one up at WalMart the other day and wiggled it. The frame felt like a piece of spagetti. Still says Schwinn on it. I have stripped paint off of all kinds of frames and there were some well made ones for the stuff they had back then. :roll:
 
CCR said:
I like schwinns best, but I agree, your paying for a name more so than a bike.

typical schwinn bike at a garage sale conversation

guy 1 "how much for that red bike"
guy 2 "oh that one, you mean that schwinn, ive been offered $200 and turned it down, i need at least $300 out of it,i couldnt take any less"
guy 1 "you've been offered $200, for that ?!? i gave $50 for one a little bit cleaner last summer"
guy 2 "this one has sentimental value, my mothers brothers friend bought this bike new and died the next day, and ive never seen another one quite as nice anywhere else, still has the original air in the tires and is signed by Arnold Schwinn himself, i think i have a picture of Bigfoot riding it down the street popping a wheelie somewhere around here too"
guy 1 "what about that house painted yellow bike with the front and rear suspension, how much for it"
guy 2 "that piece of junk, just buy something else and you can have it"

:)
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hahah thats funny
 
Uncle Stretch said:
Steve please. All the bikes have lasted the abuse of small destructive kids for 60 plus years and they are still going . So Schwinn came up with a cantileaver frame . I dont know about quality I picked one up at WalMart the other day and wiggled it. The frame felt like a piece of spagetti. Still says Schwinn on it. I have stripped paint off of all kinds of frames and there were some well made ones for the stuff they had back then. :roll:
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What you're looking at at Wal-Mart is not Schwinn...it's Pacific Cycle's Chinese junk that they produce via a lie that they purchased a few years back. That'll start a whole brawling thread on it's own. :wink:

I know when I've compared the different frames from the different manufacturers it seems like Schwinn payed more attention to details in terms of quality and strength. Their welds look nice and things are always smooth. They also feel really strong in comparison to the bikes made by Murray, JC Higgins, etc. Maybe things were different with the pre-war bikes. I'm mainly pulling info from the bikes I owned from the 50s, 60s and 70s.
 
Well here you go Steve ,Schwinn quality at its finest. Schwinn down to its script grips......find something that is not Schwinn to trade me. ....Another family only swap he he .... and its yours .

sb-8.jpg
 
biss-ness said:
I think your bike is a Schwinn Skipper...maybe
http://www.geocities.com/sldbdealer6/1961/61dlct16b.jpg
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I think since mine had the chrome wheels it was probably an American. There are about 3 stripped down models from that period that had the chrome wheels. I guess if i can ever find a chainguard with a name on it thats what it will be. :shock: The only Schwinn chainguard I have now with a name on it is a speedster and I dont think anybody will buy that name . :lol: :lol:
 

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