# 64 changes?



## mrg (Dec 1, 2021)

May have been ask here before but couldn't find anything ( the "search" sucks here ) , working on a couple of 64's and trying to get the stuff right, when in 64 did they switch the fork top bearing cap/nut to the newer style?, seems like alot of the changes came early to mid yr.?, non crimped square sissy bar?, 36 to 28 S2?, also I know it was later but when did they change to the Chicago badge?


----------



## 60sstuff (Dec 1, 2021)

mrg,

I agree, not much deep research on this site pertaining to changes throughout the years.
The old Schwinn Forum from yesteryear had lots of good information.

I have a list of changes from 1963 - 65 dealing with design changes on the early Stingrays I made decades ago.
Most were derived from one owner Survivor bikes and the Schwinn Reporter.

I’ll pull out my folder later today.

I can start with this pertaining to the cool small cone top bearing cap.

My Red H3, Lime L3 and Opal E4 were built with the “small“ top bearing.

I’m not sure how much further this small top bearing was used, as I have an H4 Lime with the revised “large“ top bearing.

Chris


----------



## nick tures (Dec 1, 2021)

mrg said:


> May have been ask here before but couldn't find anything ( the "search" sucks here ) , working on a couple of 64's and trying to get the stuff right, when in 64 did they switch the fork top bearing cap/nut to the newer style?, seems like alot of the changes came early to mid yr.?, non crimped square sissy bar?, 36 to 28 S2?, also I know it was later but when did they change to the Chicago badge?



i believe 67 is when they changed the badges to Chicago and no  registered r badge


----------



## 60sstuff (Dec 1, 2021)

Here’s a bit more information on the questions above.
This is the best info I have for now. The two ‘64 Stingrays I’m showing were purchased from the Original owners.

My E4 Opal was built with the Non-Crimped strut with a small round drain/vent hole at the bottom. This strut requires the long Q-bolts.
It has the 36 spoke wheel and the small headset bearing.

My H4 Lime was built with the Crimped strut and small bottom hole. This strut uses the short Q-bolts.
You can also see slight impressions on both inner rear corners of strut from the bending procedure. This is not seen on my E4 Opal, or my ‘63 struts.
This bike came with the 36 spoke rear. I’m sure the 28 spoke showed up around September/August of ‘64.
Also this H4 now has the large headset bearing.

Here are some old blurry photos of the different square back struts I used to have back when I was doing lots of research on the early Rays.
As you can see, there were several types of bends, crimps, drain holes and PERSONS stamps.
The very early (1963) strut was stamped PAT PEND at the bottom with a very small drain hole.
The last version of the square back strut had a rectangle drain hole at the bottom which was carried over to the High Loop strut.

Speaking of ‘63, they came with a cadmium plated kick stand as shown on my L3 Lime.

Chris


----------



## mrg (Dec 1, 2021)

2 reasons for these questions, 1st is dating my og bike in pic, as told here in other threads I added the fenders, metal flake seat cover, slick, rack & lite ( think I put a longer neck also ), everything else was og, wish I could blow up the pic better but I think my mom took it with her "Kodak instamatic" but looks like a 36 spoke rear & a non crimped sissy bar and can't tell about the top bearing cap but in my memory ( damm 55 yrs ago ) I think it was a big bearing, hell I took it apart to paint many times, good chance the F4 frame I got back a while ago is my OG frame ( long story I've told here before ), the lime F4 I have now has the large bearing and seems pretty OG ( except vintage ad ons some kid did just like I did ), also has a 1951 3 spd laced into the 36 rear, still wish I knew why they took og line paint off the top bar and wrapped it with lime tape because the rest of the paint is 9++ ?, oh well!, don't know if this makes a difference but all of my 64 Super Deluxe have had large bearing caps on the springers. 2nd reason I'm working on a couple of nice og paint, L4 Violet & H4 Coppertone that people switched parts over the years. 1st pic me aroung 65, next 2 pics the F4 when I picked it up 5 or so yrs ago and last with a couple of changes I made.


----------

