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Help ID'ing Cruiser 5

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Rivnut

Cruisin' on my Bluebird
I picked up a Cruiser 5 today but none of the regular sources reveal anything about the ID number stamped on the head tube.

The number is: BV509002

Chicago or Japanese? Date? What about the fork, rack, seat, front fender mount, reflector? Does anything look not as delivered? I know that the pedals, grips, and tires were replaced within the last week so the seller thought it would "look better" for selling."

Thanks,
Ed

Any help is appreciated.
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I picked up a Cruiser 5 today but none of the regular sources reveal anything about the ID number stamped on the head tube.

The number is: BV509002

Chicago or Japanese? Date? Anything unusual that I should be looking for to help ID this bike?

Any help is appreciated.


None of your photos are opening except 1, showing the fork and rim..

and that rim has a story to tell. when Schwinn stopped making em, no more rail-road tracks on rims, not even the crappy ones, and you've clearly got none. which makes it a import from who's hell me no know. but it is. I'd estimate it from 1982- 86-ish but could be newer too.

[edit] photos are opening now and also showing the font saying "SCHWINN cruiser 5" is not the same used up until about 1984.

I don't think it's made by PC cycles from 2001 although can't be certain, but, now days, PC uses stamps, a stickier on the frames that you can peal off verses stamped number on the frame. Pretty sure that rear rack is the same thing PC cycles is putting Schwinn's name on currently too.

Might be a 1/3 Jap, 1/3 US 1/3 Chinese hybrid. . check for 4 numbers stamped on the badge, from down to up, the 1st number [bottom ] will be year made, 198?.

if it aint there, ? who knows then.
 
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Technically BV would make that would make it a Febuary 1984 bike and I think a few of the Crusier sytyle bikes were still being made in early 1984 in Chicago or it could be a Murray built framed bike. Head badge detail and BB detail would answer those questions. Roger
 
Chicago...

Could be, the "Electroforged" look of that frame says maybe, but I thought that factory closed in 1982.I think he has an American Made Schwinn regardless.
 
The "V" in the serial number reads that way to me.Schwinn still made Cruisers in their new Mississippi factory at least through 1986,heres a link for an '86 Cruiser ad...http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1981_1990/1986_crsr_03.html.

Ah yes but the more reason it may be a 3 way hybrid.. Did ya notice the brazed cross bar frame in the topic bike?? and the 1986 ad is showing the china frame. No brazing.

so it's got a mixture of china rims, china or jap fork, china rear rack and who knows what else.

And that's why the 80-81 cruiser 5 is collectable, was the last years Schwinn used old fashion fork and their Mexican made dual railroad tracks stamped in the rims. Moreover, 80-81 was the last of the USA made bikes. I've seen some cruiser 5's made up to 1984 that have the railroad tracks but not the old school forks or brazed frame. which makes this one an odd ball, transitioned. The frame build might be 81 or 82 but the parts it's assembled with clearly are not.

I've been hunting for a fricken 75-84 Mexican dual train track rim fer fricken 6 months! LOL.. just missed an 82-4 single speed 'cruiser' , 2 weeks ago with me rims fer 50 bucks too.

Missed it by 15 minutes! No worries Schwinn put those duel train track S-2's on a bunch of em till about 1984.
 
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Ah yes but the more reason it may be a 3 way hybrid.. Did ya notice the brazed cross bar frame in the topic bike?? and the 1986 ad is showing the china frame. No brazing.

so it's got a mixture of china rims, china or jap fork, china rear rack and who knows what else.

And that's why the 80-81 cruiser 5 is collectable, was the last years Schwinn used old fashion fork and their Mexican made dual railroad tracks stamped in the rims. Moreover, 80-81 was the last of the USA made bikes. I've seen some cruiser 5's made up to 1984 that have the railroad tracks but not the old school forks or brazed frame. which makes this one an odd ball, transitioned. The frame build might be 81 or 82 but the parts it's assembled with clearly are not.

I've been hunting for a fricken 75-84 Mexican dual train track rim fer fricken 6 months! LOL.. just missed an 82-4 single speed 'cruiser' , 2 weeks ago with me rims fer 50 bucks too.

Missed it by 15 minutes! No worries Schwinn put those duel train track S-2's on a bunch of em till about 1984.

Well,As stated above,the frame looks "Electroforged" to me but could be brazed,I cant tell the construction of the one in the ad.Schwinn wasn't buying bikes from China back then, their Asian bikes were Taiwanese, made by Giant and of high quality. I cant say I've ever seen a Cruiser with that style frame made by Giant but there may have been. As stated above,its probably a late Chicago bike,a Murray or Greenville Miss.Schwinn.Greenphantom will probably chime in on this,he'll know.
 
Get the build date from the numbers stamped in the headbadge. The serial number does not tell you when the bike was built.

I believe the Chicago plant was completely closed down in 1983. Schwinn made a deal with Murray to build some Schwinn models, low end lightweights and Cantilever bikes using Schwinn's parts, and their EF tools. After the two or so years the bikes Murray was building for Schwinn were then produced in Taiwan. I'd guess that Cruiser was built in the states but not by Schwinn. It still has the rear guard mounting tab on the chain stay (Taiwan on the seat stay) and the cantilever tubes are not short like the Taiwan POS.
 
I checked the head badge

check for 4 numbers stamped on the badge, from down to up, the 1st number [bottom ] will be year made, 198?. if it aint there, ? who knows then.

The number on the head badge from bottom to top is 1174. So going on what you're saying, it's an 1981.

But after finding the head badge number, I did some more searching and came up with this about head badge numbers.

ON NEWER BIKES:
you can find a 4 digit serial number lightly stamped onto the headbadge.
The first three digits are the numerical day of the year,
and the last digit is the last digit of the year.

EXAMPLE:
3654 is 12/31/84 or 94 or? you determine decade.


If that is true, then 1174 would make the bike an '84 model, built on the 117th day or April, the 27th.

The same site shows serial numbers for later bikes as two letters followed by some numbers. R=1980, S=1981, and T=1982 then the list ends. If the same sequence were to continue, then U=1983, and V=1984. My stamped number has the V in it (preceded by a B) Could the frame have been built in Feb of '84 and then finally assembled in April of 1984?

Ed

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Looks like you have a 1984 Cruiser. And again, the frame sure looks like Schwinn material. Murray supposedly purchase Schwinn's EF equipment and Schwinn supposedly supplied the parts for some of their models. The rear brake bridge is another clue that this is not a Taiwan frame.
The frame could have been built on the day the serial number was recorded but from my research, there is a 50/50 chance it was not. The flat sheet of steel that the head tube was stamped from had the serial number stamped on sometime while it was stamped for the tubing joints and before being rolled and EF together. So with all the frames built with the serial number stamped on the head tube, I would say the frame was definitely not built the same day the serial number was recorded. I had a later 80's Cruiser 5 and it was nothing like the bikes Schwinn produced or the ones that Murray cranked out.


Edit... Other than the items you mentioned, the bike looks original minus the aftermarked fenders and accessories. I do find it odd that there are no other markings other then the guard screening.
 
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