Schwinn New World

[Gartenmeister]

Found this in the back of my garage. I kind of like it; it has nice patina. I might keep it. Needs some work on the hub. What do you guys think? What can you tell me about it? Age? Any value?

 

[deorman]

That's quite the museum piece. I would guess 40's or even late 30's. The grips and maybe the bar seem newer. Very cool and unusual "A.S. & Co." sprocket. I have no idea what it's worth.

 

[deorman]

http://www.trfindley.com/pg_schwinn_cats.htm

 

[franconuevo]

Looks fun enough to keep and fix it up. You just 'found' it in the back of the garage. ? Is it yours or previous owner?....that's a great find.

Some very cool elements on that bike..the sprocket, the shifter, the seat is excellent, nice head-badge, cool chub grips, the pedals...what's not to love??
Man I'd love to clean that one up and make it shine.....

F R A N C O

 

[franconuevo]

I think the grips and bar might be original.....
good guess on the year D-man. here's a New World 1945
http://classiccycleus.com/home/1945-schwinn-new-world/

 

[Wildcat]

The shifter is Sturmey Archer, so the rear hub must be SA also. The hub shell may have the date stamped in small digits next to the name, 03 43 would be March of 1943. Schwinn serial numbers before 1948 were lost in a fire, so that may be the best way to find the year of manufacture.
It looks like the shift cable isn't hooked up correctly, I'll have to research and see how that shifter hooks up. I think it's supposed to be just a bare cable that goes through the wheel at the seatpost right to the little chain on the hub. The cable on yours looks new.

 

[Gartenmeister]

I read through the really nice write-up at The Bike Shed blog, and as best I can tell most everything on the bike is original (not pedals). These bikes had quite a bit of variety over the course of production, which ran (interrupted) from 1938 to around 1950. Again, according to the Bike Shed, mine appears to have features most consistent with about 1941. I am pretty confident it is pre-war. Cool, I think it is my oldest bike.

As far as finding it in the garage, I purchased a collection and I have a lot of bikes. Most of which I know very little about, which is why I am here. See my intro post.

Anyway, this afternoon we took it for a ride around town. Put my buddy on it (I was experimenting with a child carrier on a different bike) but we did about 8 miles. The hub and/or shifter has some issues (lower gears don't work) but otherwise it rides nice.

 

[deorman]

The buckhorn bar, alloy cages, and the extraneous cable cover ain't right, but beyond that the bike looks marvelously unmolested and undamaged.

If the hub is dated it's not an absolute i.d., it could have been replaced at some point. The hub could also be dated from an earlier production year than the bike overall and still be the original, which I would suspect it to be, looking at the bike over all.

Now, about that garage story...

 

[RustySprockets]

I can see from the photos that there's obvious slack in the shift cable, which will surely prevent engagement of the lower gear. I'm betting that just needs a tweak, and it's easy to do.

Wildcat is correct. White cable housing is unnecessary here due to the shifter's mounting location on the top bar. That housing is really only needed when the controls are on the handlebars or stem, otherwise, it's just in the way.

 

[marius.suiram]

I had a New World, but a single speed from 1938...1940, sold it for 300$ in this spring