Fixing up a Schwinn

[Bikenutscott]

I got a Schwinn really cheap since it was painted all gold for a parade. I am trying to take a little time restoring it. I would like to identify it as well. I managed to not get too impatient and see if there was anything hiding under the gold paint on the chain guard. I managed to get the following pictures. The frame ID number is HA103915. One identifier said it is a 1965, but the rims are steel and made in Taiwan with heavy duty spokes.

Closest chain guard I could find is a cruiser/spitfire, but I couldn't find any with this color or paint style. Ideas? Thanks BikenutScott

 

[Wildcat]

That's a frame made in Oct 1965.
That's a later model lettering and may have been added along with the wheels. Some pics of the whole bike is needed.

 

[rickpaulos]

I've seen many Schwinn middleweights with non-oem wheels. The 26 x 3/4 S6 tires weren't always available or the price was too high for the owner so they would swap for S2 wheels in the now industry standard 26 x 1.nn or 2.nn. The tire size is usually molded into the tire sidewall or printed on. Newer tires would have the ISO size: 559 for S2, 597 for S6.

Schwinn used "heavy duty" spokes and rims on the Heavy Duti, the Twinn tandems and the older Town & Country tandems. "Heavy duty" is a relative term. They are typically thicker than 14g (.080") in several sizes up to 0.120". You could measure the spoke diameter. Schwinn used Bendix coaster brake 1 speed hubs in the 1960s.

 

[musclebikemadman]

I got a Schwinn really cheap since it was painted all gold for a parade. I am trying to take a little time restoring it. I would like to identify it as well. I managed to not get too impatient and see if there was anything hiding under the gold paint on the chain guard. I managed to get the following pictures. The frame ID number is HA103915. One identifier said it is a 1965, but the rims are steel and made in Taiwan with heavy duty spokes.

Closest chain guard I could find is a cruiser/spitfire, but I couldn't find any with this color or paint style. Ideas? Thanks BikenutScott

That guard is off a Cruiser made after the Chicago plant closed down in 1982. It is not a 1965 guard thought it may fit.

 

[DesmoDog]

Between the guard and the wheels I'd be skeptical that the frame is an old school Chicago Schwinn frame.

I seem to recall that later "Schwinns" had serial numbers that confused the Schwinn date decoder schemes. What does the fork look like and where is the serial number?

For reference, here is a picture of an '89 Schwinn Cruiser. I'm going to bet your fork looks the same? Also, the tag on the front used to have four digits stamped in it, you can find the year from that.

 

[musclebikemadman]

I got a Schwinn really cheap since it was painted all gold for a parade. I am trying to take a little time restoring it. I would like to identify it as well. I managed to not get too impatient and see if there was anything hiding under the gold paint on the chain guard. I managed to get the following pictures. The frame ID number is HA103915. One identifier said it is a 1965, but the rims are steel and made in Taiwan with heavy duty spokes.

Closest chain guard I could find is a cruiser/spitfire, but I couldn't find any with this color or paint style. Ideas? Thanks BikenutScott

A 1965 serial number would have 2 letters and 5 numbers, yours has 6 numbers for sure not a 1965. Where is the serial number stamped '65 would be rear drop out

 

[Wildcat]

You're right, only 5 numbers, I'll update my serial number notes. I stand corrected, it's not a 65. So it most probably is a post-Chicago made cruiser, like the one DesmoDog is showing. A good bike for a build even if it wasn't made in Chicago.
I'd like to do some digging to see where it may have been made and what year, so A few pics of the bike and number will help.

 

[Bikenutscott]

You guys are amazing. True bicycle encyclopedias. That makes the most sense about the wheels, the rear hub is a Hi Stop #305 one speed. The spokes measure .100 so are likely 12g. The rims are. So what pictures would help? The bike is totally disassembled including the wheels. In the end it seems like the wheels were added later. What do you guys think the chain guard suggests?

Thanks for all the great info. All you shared adds up to what I have for a bike. Desmo Dog, the picture brings it all together. The stem has the four bolts, like BMX. The fork is tubular. Here is a picture of the head badge below. All of you are the greatest, thanks for sharing your knowledge. Scott

 

[twojs.bike]

Head badge has screws. From my experience the non-chicago head badges are riveted. Not sure that is 100% true 100% of the time.

I don’t think we have seen a picture of the whole bike frame yet?

 

[DesmoDog]

Head badge has screws. From my experience the non-chicago head badges are riveted. Not sure that is 100% true 100% of the time.

I don’t think we have seen a picture of the whole bike frame yet?

The fact that it says "Schwinn Quality" vs simply "Schwinn" makes me think it's not a Chicago made bike. No idea on how the badges were attached.

Everything so far says this is an early '90s "Schwinn"

Check this out:
https://ratrodbikes.com/threads/1992-schwinn-cruiser-on-the-block.11056/

 

[twojs.bike]

Good point!

 

[rickpaulos]

Schwinn reset their serial number system (again) in 1965. not sure just when in 1965. The 1965 to 1983 chicago built ef bikes had the first letter for the month, the second for the year, then the numbers. They changed from 5 to 6 digits as production was increasing throughout the 1960s. They reached 1,000,000/year in 1968 and needed more digits.
The number above would be August 1965.

The chicago factory was closed up throughout 1983 in a phased shutdown. They continued the same EF number system on the Murray built Schwinns for a couple years.

Schwinn had many different serial number systems used in the Chicago factory and at all their other factories and oem makers. The Chicago built: Paramounts, the brass fillet brazed models, the Cycle Trucks and tandems each had their own number system. Bikes built in other Schwinn owned plants: Greenville Mississippi, Wisconsin, Washington, Cspel Hungary, and China, all had different numbering systems. Out sourced bikes from Taiwan, Japan and China (and many more unknown suppliers during the Scott ownership) have different number systems by supplier. The Pacific (2002+) era had a few systems including a much longer number system that covers many of the pacific brands. Starting in 2004 a typical pacific number is 5 letters, 2 digits, 1 or 2 letters and 3 to 5 digits. SNFSD04AA12345 for example.

The Schwinn Lookup tool on the web has some errors and only tried to cover Chicago built frames up to 1983.

There have been some slip ups in the Schwinn serial numbers. There was some duplication from 1945 to 1965. One year it took them about 32 days to reset the year. Not a unique event, others have messed up too like the 13th to 15th month Sturmey Archer hubs. There are also gaps when the workers went on strike for months.

How this frame was built is the definitive call on where it was built. The EF bikes are quite distinctive. No one else built bikes using the Schwinn EF process. The Pacific chinese cruisers were welded and would have weld beads at the main joints. Also the weight. An ef frame is much heavier.

 

[Bikenutscott]

Wow, thanks for all the great info to teach me more about these bikes. As I near retirement, about 10 years, I want to get more and more seriously into older bikes so all of your knowledge is amazing. I am also glad for these forums so that maybe in another 50 years all this great knowledge will not be mostly lost.

Here are a few last pictures. Thanks rickpaulos for final confirmation of the frame, see below. I am now confident of what I have, wishing it was an older original. I will get this one going again and try to find a good home for it. Then maybe start searching for another good project.

The seat might be the best part of this bike. I intend to rebuild it as well.

Scott

 

[rickpaulos]

Photos! Definitely not a Made in Chicago Schwinn. The big welds were not a Chicago frame building method. The dropouts to chain stays joints are not done like they did in Chicago. Some attention was paid to reproducing the overall look but not the details and not the construction method. That welded on kickstand is a Schwinn design so I'd say its not a Huffy, Murray, Columbia, etc, branded bike.

Can you post a photo of the serial number showing the location and font? Chicago Schwinn serials generally were located on the bb in the 1940/1950s, the left rear dropout in the 1960s and the head tube in the 1970s-1983 on the ef bikes. And is there a second number on the bb shell or signs it was filed off? Perhaps you found a faked number. I checked my records and I had a Schwinn Cruiser with HB305140, pretty similar to your HA103915. No photos of that bike. I sold it in 2019. If you look at the Schwinn serial numbers on the head tubes with a microscope, it looks like the numbers were stamped on flat metal before it was curved in to the head tube shape. It's a common industry manufacturing method to stamp the numbers on the individual frame parts before the frame is built, well since the last 50-70 years anyhow. I see many 1990s+ bsos where the weld beads are on top of the numbers.

That leaves it to being made just about anywhere other than Chicago. Schwinn closed shop in 1983 so this is certainly made after that. The Greenville Mississippi factory mfd mostly mid range road bikes. The Cspel Hungary plant could have made it. Could have been outsourced to Murray or some PRC or ROC factory. The serial number follows the Chicago factory EF bikes but they could have used that system anywhere else.

Looks like every part has been replaced. It is not remotely valuable or a collector bike. Restoring to showroom condition is a big financial dead end. Good news is you can do anything you want with it like the previous owner did. Customize away.