There are some little tricks to the trade, and a lot of it is just experience, hands on work with these rolling antiques.
If you have a part of the bike world you're really drawn too, such as Schwinns, it'll be helpful to look at a lot of the sales catalogs and become familiar with the serial numbering system, and if nothing else the three locations Schwinns are stamped to give you a general idea of the date.
If it's 20" classic bikes in general, the New England Musclebike site will be a huge help, with their extensively documented collection.
http://www.nemusclebikes.com
For other brands of 20" bikes besides Schwinn, look up Railrider's (Raleigh Ron's) Muscle Bike Forums.
The other references here will certainly get you started in the right direction.
For specific questions with much older bikes, especially prewar bikes, you might want to look for reference books on the subject. There are general ones and Schwinn ones, and Schwinn comes up so often because for a long time they were 1/2 of the market of US bicycles.
Sadly the US bicycle building industry is down to just a few proud companies, and the only one I know of that does not build high end road bikes, is Worksman:
http://www.worksmancycles.com (very cool bikes, people, website)
For some of these other common, but sometimes called off-brands, there are some generalizations that apply. There is a timeline and relationship between the names Murray, Sears, JC Higgins, and CLeveland Welding Company. CWC built a lot of bike frames that were badged for Sears. Prior to 1964 they were sold at Sears as JC Higgins brand. Essentially identical bikes. Murray (sometimes you'll find wheels stamped M O Mfg for Murray Ohio Manufacturing) would market bikes under their own brand name to department stores and small shops and distributors across the country. Sometimes other badges appeared on these for other store brands: my friend owns a lovely 1959 Fleetwing men's middleweight tank bike with M decals and CWC stamps on it.
For identification, as you've noted these Murray/CWC/JCH/Sears bikes have pointy rear dropouts, and if fitted with a springer front fork will have a distinctive rat-trap design with short trailing arms for the wheel and truss-type rods up to the spring. There are many variations all using the common spaceliner type of frames.
Likewise bicycles built by Columbia (Westfield Mass) will feature a rear frame with a rounded hoop over the rear tire, instead of straight chainstays going all the way up to the seat. And for instance a Ross built bike (CBC in New York) will often have twin small diameter tubes instead of a single top-tube.
But of course, there are as many exceptions as there are bikes that meet these characteristics. I have a Ross "europa" and a few Columbia 3-speeds that would be difficult to distinguish if they were stripped down to just a frame. And if you find a Columbia Thunderbolt, you just might wonder "Who made THAT? And WHY?"
Good thing is that these types of forums allow you to quickly post a couple pictures, ask some questions, and receive knowledgeable advice from people who really do know their bikes- hang around here and pretty soon, you'll know too!
--Rob
thesuicideride said:
so ive seen things posted like "definitely murray made bike" or "looks to be a columbia". what are some of the distinct characters that give away what make a bicycle is? i know schwinns are easily recognizable by their smooth fillet brazes. ive noticed that when people say its a murray they usually have longer pointy dropouts. ive only been in the vintage bicycle world for about a year. and im solo
. most of my friends sit around inside. so everything i know i know from reading here
. if you have and knowledge/pics you would like to share post um up! thanks guys!
