need help IDing a pre 46

rubsterob · Oct 11, 2013

ok ive been looking for hours and cant seem to find anything. i have an old skip tooth and the badge on the front says chicago cycle co liberty. which i found out is a schwinn with a different name. so i started i looked it up in the schwinn vin database and it came back as a 55 or a 57 but that isnt old enough because of the story behind it. its my girlfriends great grandmas bike from when she was a girl her grandma was born in 47 and claims the bike is older then her. so it does NOT have a welded on kickstand so that means pre 46. but after that i get a little lost. the vin is on the BB and it is R50850 it has rear facing drop outs with bolts it has locking front forks. it does not have a chain guard on it. any help would be greatly appreciated. i know these or horrible cell phone pics but i can get better ones if need be. and if you need me to take a specific photo of something please let me know what

Jpromo · Oct 11, 2013

Tis indeed Schwinn and indeed older than '47. About ten years older--my guess would be 1938 give or take a year. The crank looks to be original, so if you pull the crank, you may see an AS 3x. That x shall be your year.

kentercanyon · Oct 11, 2013

Wow great grandmother's bike! Lets hope yiur girlfriend appreciates it. Nice bike. Pull the crank... And realize this bike was probably 40-60 dollars new which was like 300-400 now. Someone spend serious coin at the height of the depression to buy this best quality bike for a young girl. And she valued it enough to keep it always. Is that the original key?

rubsterob · Oct 11, 2013

not sure if it is the original key. looks newer to me but it does work. says Cleveland O. U.S with a Y 12 logo on one side the other side says cole national. pulled the crank (huge PIMA) and it says its a 36 the 6 could be mistaken for an 8 but im pretty sure it is a 6. i cant get the left side pedal off to fully pull the crank. i know some pedals tend to be reverse thread but i cant remember if its the left or right pedal. i know the crank was reversed threads. (found out the hard way. luckily didnt destroy anything) the paint is not original. rumor has it the paint was originally black. and yes the family was wealthy and i think the dad (great great grandfather) worked for a biking company. the plan is to clean it up, possibly repaint and give it to my girlfriends mom for christmas. any suggestions to help cut the rust down? i dont have access to a soda blaster

Jpromo · Oct 11, 2013

The left pedal would be the one that's reverse threaded.

The reason I didn't mention '36 is that 1936 was the first year for the cycle lock. The key cylinder in this year only was straight back, which proved to be a pain to access. Thus, they put it on an angle the following year. Seems like it would be a late '36 (utilizing the new fork) or an early '37 (using leftover 36 parts like crank. Either way; it's a cool bike with some classic lines.