# 1941 New World race bike



## prewarmachine (Nov 8, 2020)

Finally got the stones to try an OA bath on my 41' Schwinn New World. Did a test run on a girls bicentennial stingray with similar rust stains. Never tried it before, so quite nervous. Didn't want to ruin a great bike.  Attempted to go with the 1 Tbsp per gallon, but only had a 1 tsp measurement. Thought I went under on the OA concentration, but after 30 minutes, this is what I had.  Wanted to preserve some aged look rather than bleaching away all of the patina so I pulled it out. Wd-40 and wax followed after the pictures.


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## GTs58 (Nov 8, 2020)

Looks great for only 30 minutes! And excellent comparison shots.


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## Oilit (Nov 9, 2020)

That's a good start to what should be a great bike!


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Nov 9, 2020)

do you have the whole bike? very cool.


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## prewarmachine (Nov 9, 2020)

This is what I have to work with. 
I'm an idiot as well...I had the wrong Morrow date codes! This has a K4 stamp, so 1941 hub if I'm not mistaking again (would love someone to confirm that!). Frame has the brazed on "D" bolt seat clamp too.
Trying to determine if the wood wheels are correct or just laced in for an unknown reason.
Torrington bars and 4 star pedals.


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## jimbo53 (Nov 9, 2020)

Beautiful bike and great job with the OA!
I have a 1941 New World with identical frame and drop pista style bars, but with fenders and chain guard. Also has street pedals, Brooks style Mesinger saddle, New Departure coaster hub and 26 x 1.375 clinchers, which I was able to get a NOS pair: Uniroyal Touring. Has Schwinn wheels so need their proprietary sized tires. I took it to a swap meet this last weekend at a local Velodrome and one of the local track bike stars fell in love with it. Took it for a few laps on the high banks and came back all smiles!


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## prewarmachine (Nov 9, 2020)

#jimbo53 those pictures are very helpful! It looks like you have a very nice original bike. Nice to see the stem and bars look correct. Fenders with rod braces might be on my list soon.
The sprocket is very unique. I see yours has the offset and additional crank holes like mine, just 1/2" pitch.
I just noticed mine has no chain guard marks. Maybe mine never had one.
What wheels are on that bike? Schwinn Superior script? And do you have a serial # by chance?


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## bloo (Nov 9, 2020)

prewarmachine said:


> I just noticed mine has no chain guard marks. Maybe mine never had one.




I think that is probably right. jimbo53's bike has a dog legged crank, as it would to clear the chainguard and yours appears straight.

The 1940 catalog showed a straight crank (217) for the New World Racer, and a dog legged one (215) for ladies and New World.


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## prewarmachine (Nov 9, 2020)

Thanks for looking that up bloo! Seems to make good sense with the chainguard difference!


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## Oilit (Nov 10, 2020)

And if I had to guess, I'd guess the wood rims are correct. Schwinn was still offering wood rims at least as late as 1948. Check out the spec's on the Paramount and the rim options available for the rest of the line in the 1948 catalog:
https://bikehistory.org/catalogs/1948.html


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## prewarmachine (Nov 10, 2020)

That's very interesting. I would have figured the singletube wood rims would have been long gone!
I'll have to think hard about choosing a set of wheels for this build.


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## Freqman1 (Nov 10, 2020)

prewarmachine said:


> Finally got the stones to try an OA bath on my 41' Schwinn New World. Did a test run on a girls bicentennial stingray with similar rust stains. Never tried it before, so quite nervous. Didn't want to ruin a great bike.  Attempted to go with the 1 Tbsp per gallon, but only had a 1 tsp measurement. Thought I went under on the OA concentration, but after 30 minutes, this is what I had.  Wanted to preserve some aged look rather than bleaching away all of the patina so I pulled it out. Wd-40 and wax followed after the pictures.
> 
> View attachment 1298509
> 
> ...



I've used a lot of OA and never ruined a bike. I think people get nervous when they see the word "acid". A grapefruit probably has as much acid as OA. I never measure----just fill up the kiddy pool and dump some in. The bike came out nice. I'd go with the wood wheels just to add more cool factor to it. V/r Shawn


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## SirMike1983 (Nov 10, 2020)

This was an interesting find with a number of unusual features. If you like oddball Schwinn lightweights, this is a good one. The OA bath worked just fine on it. You may want to blast the inside of the frame with some frame saver or fluidfilm to preserve. OA can be a problem with some of the oxide red paints (turns them pale pink) but it depends on the paint and condition of the bike. Test on an inconspicuous area before soaking if in doubt. The OA really brought back the white on this one.


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## jimbo53 (Nov 10, 2020)

Your bike seems to be set up more for racing than recreational riding-no fenders or chain guard, and the wooden rim/single tube tire wheel set would be more for racing due to their lightness and higher psi. Also, the pedals look to be for racing, too. The frames were seamless Cro-moly fillet brazed, which would also indicate a bike built more for speed than cruising.


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## prewarmachine (Nov 10, 2020)

Just noticed in the 1940 catalog bloo posted, it looks like it has a 28" wood one piece racing rim listed.  I think wood is going to be the only way to go on this one.  I'll try to keep posting as the progress comes along.


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## Mercian (Nov 11, 2020)

Hi,

to confirm, Morrow date code K4 is last quarter 1941.

Best Regards,

Adrian


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