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Is this repop?

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Pantmaker

I live for the CABE
At some point I just need to sit down and learn for myself the real from repop in this whole category. Opinions on this bike? Is it worth a couple hundred bucks?
Schwinn Sting Ray bike  3 banana seat.png
Schwinn 2Sting Ray bike   banana seat.png
Schwinn Sting Ray bike   banana seat.png
 
Not my area of expertise either, but I believe that is one of the Wal-Mart Black Friday bikes.
 
What color is that? It's not Lime or Campus, looks more like a Radiant Green. Must be a repop or repaint. If I'm not mistaken, the Black Friday bikes were $88 new.
 
look at serial number of the frame to see when it was made. could be possible it is an original frame with some original parts that was rat rodded with crap stuff like the front wheel, stem, seat, fork. If the tire was original it would say USA on it.
Here are some tips to determine repop from original:
Few ways to tell. look at serial number, if it doesn't match data base then not original. Second, look at fork. If the springer fork has a hole in which a brake unit can be mounted then it is reproduction, Schwinn springer forks never had this hole. Next look at seat pan, should say persons, if not then its repop. Other ways are look at rims, should be stamped Schwinn, handle bars and stems were always stamped with dates as well.
 
The quickest way to tell the difference between stingray repops and older is the head tube joints.. Schwinn's are rounded and smooth where as all others including the repop are flat angled.

here's an example of typical Schwinn joinery. They were fillet brazed into the the mid to late 40's and after, Schwinn designed a system which eletro-welded along with the modern trend of other manufactures that copies the appearance. For that single reason no other bikes after, some time near 1950 looked the same. The greater majority of standard bikes by other makers before WWII were fillet brazed also. I.E. all Post war Schwinns that mimicked the brazed appearance are unique for it, no other manufactures made the style. until they stopped making them at the Chicago factory circa 1983. . The only exception was the frames made for the 1995 phantoms. They are truly limeted:

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And here's an example of others yet, this one is also better than others while not smooth either the welding is tight and balanced.

The repop welding is no where close to as good as this. :

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Once you can recognize the difference you can pick em out even in some of the worse photos.

Whenever I was a kid in the 1960's your stingray fake could be spotted a mile away for this single feature!

You didn't show this area in your photos and had you, presto bingo repop!
 
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