Early "American Flyer" with AS Springer

[SummitCoCycleWorks]

Found this in the back of the Orange Peel bike shop in Steamboat Springs, Colorado last week but it belonged to the custom titanium frame builder who worked next door- Kent Eriksen. He took it in as a trade towards a new MTB frame from a Schwinn collector from Tuscon. That's where the story ends for me. I guess the original owner built it up for a utilitarian cruiser- light weight aluminum stem and huge cruiser bars. Mavic MTB wheels with a Schwinn-approved coaster hub in the back and a generic aftermarket hub up front. I posted this in the "Help with ID" section as well since I really don't know anything about this bike's history. Who made it? What era is it from? What could be original and what was probably added over the years? etc. The serial number is carefully stamped in older font underneath the bottom bracket- number 07318. So any help from you guys would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for all the help over the years!

Ryan

How she looked on the day we found it after pulling it out of the vines and overgrowth:





















Interesting bend in the crank arms. Looks like a typical Schwinn chain ring. Doesn't look like there was any original tabs or whatevers to mount a chain guard so this guy used some hardware store stuff to bolt it on.



You can see the what I believe to be original "AS" bolts used to keep the springer together and the way the arms are linked (welded? brazed?) to the pivot points on the fork crown below the steer tube seems pretty unique but again, I'm not too familiar with bikes of this vintage.



Came with a cool vintage Brooks. Super comfortable but needs some love to keep it from degrading further.



Thanks for looking and again, any info you could share about this bike would be greatly appreciated!

 

[heyslugger]

Lotta cool stuff ads up to a really unique ride. Thats a Dog Leg Crank (with the dog leg kink in the arm)

 

[El Duderino]

i dont know if thats necessarily a schwinn frame. its looks like a colson. the badge is off of a schwinn built bike which is where the fork probably came from. i would like to have the badge though

 

[Carbon]

Frame is definately Schwinn built, looks identical to my 37. Schwinn made the American Flyer bikes, not sure on the serial numbers, if memory serves me, Schwinn model numbers aren't available pre 48 because of a factory fire. It was originally a skiptooth bike, not really sure on much else, Nice find.