# 1941 (?) Schwinn what do I have here.



## 49autocycledeluxe (Sep 6, 2021)

picked this up the other weekend like you see in the first picture. put grease on the front bearings, new tubes, swapped a tire, air, and different bars. 

has scallops only on one side.. I am pretty sure they are BFG scallops. 

I'm guessing it is the same as the bike in the ad, but BFG.. 

I need a dogleg crank. looks like I have the same seat and stem. maybe pedals.. 

wondering what these wheels could be. rims have been painted and no sign of a name or markings.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Sep 6, 2021)




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## Freqman1 (Sep 6, 2021)

Interesting that it looks to have an electroforged bottom bracket. I'm thinking '42? Hard for me to tell on the rims but possibly flat Lobdells. V/r Shawn


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## GTs58 (Sep 6, 2021)

Is that shot of the BB and serial number from that DX? I just choked on my Pepsi.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Sep 6, 2021)

GTs58 said:


> Is that shot of the BB and serial number from that DX? I just choked on my Pepsi.



I had to go check. yes, it is the same bike.


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## GTs58 (Sep 6, 2021)

That's the first 1942 balloon model I've seen with an electro-forged BB shell. Is the seat mast electro-forged to the BB shell?


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Sep 6, 2021)

I thought I had pics on my phone. I'll go take some.....


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Sep 6, 2021)




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## 49autocycledeluxe (Sep 6, 2021)




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## 49autocycledeluxe (Sep 6, 2021)

had to go wipe the dirt off and take a look again. must be electroforged.  just the seat mast.


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## GTs58 (Sep 6, 2021)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> had to go wipe the dirt off and take a look again. must be electroforged.  just the seat mast.




To my eyes it looks like a nice fillet brazed joint, like the downtube joint.  Dark paint doesn't make it easy. Interesting piece and I'll have to check the numbers out, but I think that's the lowest one so far that has shown up with the EF shell.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Sep 7, 2021)

I was going to wait  until I got a dogleg crank to do the bearings but pulled the crank to see what was up in there. only the seat mast is part of the electroforging. the others are all fillet brazed. did some googling on Schwinn frames and found out they even made their own tubing. rolls of steel came in one end of the factory and bikes left at the other end is how Sheldon Brown put it. 

I took pictures inside the bottom bracket and loaded them on my computer and then my internet went out so I don't have them here at work.

looked inside the bottom bracket of a non Schwinn I have and the tubes were protruding into the shell through holes, then brazed on the outside.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Sep 7, 2021)

spent some time last night removing the blue paint from the wheels. came off pretty easy with a wire brush though someone sanded down a big part of the front wheel  😡 ... probably the same person who sanded off half the scallops


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Sep 7, 2021)

here you go. this is all interesting. I never really thought much about how these were put together before. I'd like to see pictures of the machines that made these... wonder if these individual pieces ever show up for sale having never been built.


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## GTs58 (Sep 7, 2021)

Looks like the seat tube was EF to the shell!  Interesting!! A few months ago I was only seeing the J serials with the EF seat post tube


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## GTs58 (Sep 7, 2021)

Lets go a little deeper and see what we can find. The head tube, down tube and top tube joints look pretty clean from what I can see in the pictures. Is the head tube also Electro-forged or are the joints filet brazed? Have you had the fork out yet?


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Sep 7, 2021)

head tube is electro-forged. 

was there a discussion recently on these frames? mine has a flat spot on the top tube while others do not. 

I have one of the wheels down to original paint and pinstripes. no markings anywhere.


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## GTs58 (Sep 7, 2021)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> head tube is electro-forged.
> 
> was there a discussion recently on these frames? mine has a flat spot on the top tube while others do not.
> 
> I have one of the wheels down to original paint and pinstripes. no markings anywhere.




I think the discussion was on a straight bar frame, not the DX. ?? So the head tube was full on EF? Any pics of the inside like those fabulous BB shell shots?


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Sep 7, 2021)

no pics tonight.  looks just like the piece I have seen in those frame parts displays. that electro-forging must be quite the process to see. what year did they start doing this?


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## GTs58 (Sep 7, 2021)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> no pics tonight.  looks just like the piece I have seen in those frame parts displays. that electro-forging must be quite the process to see. what year did they start doing this?




We are figuring that out right now! I was thinking in early 1943 using the wartime New Worlds with the J series serial numbers. Never have I seen a balloon bike during this time that was EF'd. Crank dated or no? I have a 43 crank with 7" legs that was attached to a sweatheart ring. I was assuming it was off a New World but all those seem to have the 6.5" legs.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Sep 7, 2021)

crank has been ground on so no date. "AS & Co." is not there unless you know to look for it.  I think this crank is much later. it is less abused than the rest of the bike.


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## GTs58 (Sep 7, 2021)

That's disappointing! (sucks)


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