# a "The World" I rescued, need help with a date



## jrassett (Jun 5, 2013)

Hi folks, I found this in an old fellas shed and he gave it to me for $100, I know its not fancy but I had to have it. Any Idea how old she is? Says Arnold Schwinn & Co "The World" on the badge, and I loved the skip tooth sweetheart sprocket. I kinda guessed late 1930's, am I close? Thanks! First pic is "farm fresh", cleaned up better then I thought she would


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## Champy (Jun 5, 2013)

*Schwinn*

Nice find.  Its a post war bike. A serial number and its location would help nail down the year.


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## jrassett (Jun 5, 2013)

R 56325, is that the one ya need? its on the bottom of the frame under the crank


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## Wayne Adam (Jun 5, 2013)

*Bike Date*

Hi,
    Based upon your serial number, Your Schwinn was made between May 3rd & May 5th of 1955.............Wayne


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## jrassett (Jun 5, 2013)

dang, newer then Id hoped.. thanks!!


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## Champy (Jun 5, 2013)

*date*

Hold on a second.  If the serial is on the bottom bracket (under crank) it is earlier than 1952.  Are you sure about that first letter?  Should be something closer to the beginning of the alphabet.


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## Champy (Jun 5, 2013)

*DX*

And the DX style frame wasn't made in 55.


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## Wayne Adam (Jun 5, 2013)

*Serial number*

Yes, your bike is much older than the '55 that I dated it at, but your serial number is a '55 number if it were on the rear drop out.
 I guess they could have recycled the number. The only records for serial numbers on the bottom bracket go from 1948-1952,
 and your number isn't even close. Your bike is probably older than the 1948. However all records prior to August of 1948 were destroyed
in a fire so you will have to contact one of the Schwinn experts. I do think that it is odd that that serial number is a 1955 number
if it were on the rear drop out. 
 Good luck with your research,....Wayne


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## Champy (Jun 5, 2013)

*Serial*

They didnt use R serials in 46 or 47 either.  If its pre 48 the letter would be I,J,K,A,B,C, or D.


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## mruiz (Jun 6, 2013)

1948 or 1949 somewere in there.
 Mitch


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## jrassett (Jun 8, 2013)

well thats interesting.. I double checked the serial number and its definately an "R" so now Ive got a lil mystery. Thanks for the help! Just glad to hear its pre 1950 to tell you the truth


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## REC (Jun 8, 2013)

*R number*



jrassett said:


> well thats interesting.. I double checked the serial number and its definately an "R" so now Ive got a lil mystery. Thanks for the help! Just glad to hear its pre 1950 to tell you the truth




J,
There was a '48 girls bike floating around a while back - possibly with Freqman if I recall correctly (his name appears next to the number), that I added to the list. It is the latest '48 I have on there. I'm going to add yours since you posted it.  

Further note: The number on that one is sequentially 22 frames after yours.

Cool Bike!

REC


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## GTs58 (Jun 8, 2013)

Rec to the rescue.   Cool shed find jrassett. I'm still looking for a Schwinn Ballooner that is as old or older than me.  

Just for the record and for your information. The Schwinn date logged serial numbers have absolutely nothing to do with the actual build date of a bike. At best, it will give you a rough idea of when a bike was built but that number has nothing to do with an actual bike's build date. In 76 Schwinn started stamping their headbadges with the actual day the bike was completed and even that is questionable. The shortest span of time that I have seen from the dated SN on a frame to the build date on the badge was about 35 days. Most of my current examples have a two to three month time span from SN date to build date. On a few of the Schwinn lightweight models there was over a years time from the date coded serial number and the stamped build date. There are a few internet sites and a very large percentage of people that are dumb to the facts and they are misinformed on the subject of Schwinn's date coded serial numbers.


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## Champy (Jun 8, 2013)

I love a good serial number mystery.  Ive never seen a DX with anything close to an R.  Would you mind posting a picture?


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## halfatruck (Jun 8, 2013)

I have a '46 with a serial of B58071, could yours possibly be a 'B'?


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## jrassett (Jun 9, 2013)

heres the serial number, looks like an R to me..


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## Rivnut (Jun 9, 2013)

A Schwinner over on the Schwinnbikeforum just posted a link for typing in your serial number and having the date spit out for you.  It's not perfect but it did 7 of my 8 bikes correctly.  I typed in your R number and was given two dates - Built: 05/03 to 05/05 of 1955 or... built: 04/03 to 04/12 of 1957.  Your picture of the bottom bracket shows a built in kick stand that tells me that it was built after 1946.  Your number however does not appear in 1957.

If you are a member of the Schwinn Forum, the link is in the Middleweight forum in the "48 Schwinn Catalog and serial number tool.

Here's a link to Findley's catalogs that shows a 1955 D11.  Straight lower cross bar.

http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1951_1960/1955_17.html

BUT as was mentioned before, the SN is on the bottom bracket.  If it were a '55, the SN would be on the left rear drop out.  

Go figure:  SN on bottom bracket, D type frame, built in kickstand, sweetheart skiptooth sprocket.    I'm going back to the first years of built in kick stand production  '46 - '48. This is going to take some more research.  Glad it's not mine, I'd be lying awake nights.    Too bad the 1948 and prior numbers were lost in a fire.


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## jrassett (Jun 9, 2013)

just looked through the 1955 Schwinn catalog and the World bike doesnt look like mine, it is similar to the spitfire but the paint, front fender, chain guard and sprocket are wrong from what I can see. The Schwinn site also said they hadnt seen the sweatheart skip tooth used after '54 unless Im misinformed .. on with the mystery!

http://schwinncruisers.com/catalogs/1955.html#world


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## GTs58 (Jun 9, 2013)

No point in looking at the early mid 50's catalogs. Have you pulled the crank to see if there is a casting year? It should be on the side AS & CO is cast in, a two digit number.


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