# 1941-42 Schwinn New World



## Just Jeff (Aug 20, 2020)

This is my first venture into lightweight bikes, so I figured this was a good bike to start with. I’ve been wanting a skinny tire bike to ride for a while now and prewar bikes are my favorite. When I saw this one for sale here on the CABE, and it was very close to my house, I jumped on it.
My initial hope was to do a little cleaning and then ride it. But while cleaning it I decided to delve into it further.

Here are the pics I took last Sunday when I picked it up.


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## Just Jeff (Aug 20, 2020)

On Monday I started the disassembly for cleaning.
I was very happy with how well it came out. Surprised how much of the original pinstriping there was hiding under the grime. I was also surprised to find blackout bottom bracket bearing cups. Nothing else was blacked out though.


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## Just Jeff (Aug 20, 2020)

I found some damage to the paint on the top tube. My best guess was that it had a multi speed rear hub at some point in its life.


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## Just Jeff (Aug 20, 2020)

After the cleaning on the painted parts and cranks was done I put it back together to see how it looked


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## GTs58 (Aug 20, 2020)

I'm surprised at how red this was originally! I always thought these were a maroon color and the red under the badge tells the truth.


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## Just Jeff (Aug 20, 2020)

With the bike cleaned up to my liking, the wheels weren’t up to snuff. Time to clean them up! Starting with the rear wheel. And look what I found hiding under all the caked on dirt and grease!
Cleaned up quite nicely. Not perfect, but I like it so far. And hot damn! A DD hub! Now the paint damage on the top tube makes sense! But now I want the rest of the parts to complete the hub

The shiny brake arm was not with this originally. I’ve had that for a while now and just decided it needed to be on this bike (the original one didn’t have much chrome left anyhow)


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## Just Jeff (Aug 20, 2020)

I would have never guessed the original color was so light after seeing the rest of the bike


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## Just Jeff (Aug 20, 2020)

And one last update as of tonight. The rear wheel is nice and true now


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## rollfaster (Aug 21, 2020)

Nice job, bet this thing will glide effortlessly now.


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## St33lWh33ls (Aug 21, 2020)

Nice work, love the color combination, something cool about vintage paint with some patina.


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## Miq (Aug 21, 2020)

Great bike Jeff.  It’s cleaning up nicely!  Love seeing more pics of it in this thread.


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## Goldenrod (Aug 21, 2020)

Iam


Just Jeff said:


> This is my first venture into lightweight bikes, so I figured this was a good bike to start with. I’ve been wanting a skinny tire bike to ride for a while now and prewar bikes are my favorite. When I saw this one for sale here on the CABE, and it was very close to my house, I jumped on it.
> My initial hope was to do a little cleaning and then ride it. But while cleaning it I decided to delve into it further.
> 
> Here are the pics I took last Sunday when I picked it up.
> ...



stunned.  What a great professional job.  Everyone knows that the hat-in-the-ring decal was from USA in the French air force?  Dumb question.  The thing that looks like a counter on the front axle is not a counter?


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## Just Jeff (Aug 21, 2020)

It is a mileage counter. Neat little accessory. Mounts to the axle and has a little tab to actuate it


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## jpromo (Aug 21, 2020)

Nice bike! I've had a couple of these early New Worlds (still have a Maroon '41) and I love the way they ride. The forks on them seem to really absorb the road. A collector may have had it in the past and harvested the DD setup sans the shell. These shells bring some coin themselves because most DDs were just sold as a conversion kit, versus a factory offering which the DD shell denotes.


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## jpromo (Aug 21, 2020)

Just saw that you bought it on the Cabe. No intention to throw shade at anybody if they did buy it for the two-speed (though, it could have been gone for 30+ years at this point)  I got my only DD kit from a New World and now it is on my Hawthorne 5-bar.


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## SirMike1983 (Aug 21, 2020)

Goldenrod said:


> Iam
> 
> stunned.  What a great professional job.  Everyone knows that the hat-in-the-ring decal was from USA in the French air force?  Dumb question.  The thing that looks like a counter on the front axle is not a counter?




94th Aero Squadron, U.S. Air Service in WW1. This was the "Hat in the Ring" Rickenbacker squadron. The image was well-known to Americans for a number of years because the 94th was considered an "elite" unit and Rickenbacker was the "Ace of Aces" and a celebrity. He led a very colorful life and was well-known from 1918 through his death in the 1970s. The image is a rebus of the phrase "Throw One's Hat in the Ring" - to join the fight. It suited both the 94th for WW1 and it served Schwinn in that Schwinn was "throwing its hat in the ring" of lightweight, adult bikes.

You are correct that Americans flew with the French Air Service earlier, and some even flew with the British.


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## Just Jeff (Aug 21, 2020)

@SirMike1983 

thanks for the little history lesson! Always fun to get more insight on these details.

@jpromo

I bought it as a 1 speed, so it’s not a problem for me. It will stay a 1 speed unless I can find the parts to convert in back to its former 2 speed glory.  I was genuinely surprised To find the DD hub.And after seeing that the paint loss/damage on the frame made total sense.


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## Just Jeff (Aug 21, 2020)

Front rim is now apart. And after cleaning a few of the spokes I may have hit a wall. The front wheel is not as nice as the rear was. The spokes have a lot of deep pitting so I may need to just bite the bullet and buy some new spokes. I’m still waiting on my new tires/tubes to arrive anyhow. I’ll just have to “dirty up” new spokes to match the rest of the wheel


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## jpromo (Aug 21, 2020)

Just Jeff said:


> Front rim is now apart. And after cleaning a few of the spokes I may have hit a wall. The front wheel is not as nice as the rear was. The spokes have a lot of deep pitting so I may need to just bite the bullet and buy some new spokes. I’m still waiting on my new tires/tubes to arrive anyhow. I’ll just have to “dirty up” new spokes to match the rest of the wheel




Let me know length and I will send you old cadmium spokes for the cost of shipping. I have all varieties of 26" takeoffs and I can't imagine I don't have the correct size.


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## Just Jeff (Aug 21, 2020)

@jpromo

Thanks for the generous offer, but I decided to just get new stainless double butted spokes for both wheels. In the meantime, a friend had a set of used spokes that he just replaced, so I ran to his place at lunch to get them. With my temporary placeholder spokes in hand I just reassembled the cleaned up front rim and hub. And now the wheel just needs to be trued. I really wanted to see what it looks like fully cleaned up as I get very impatient waiting on parts to arrive.


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## Just Jeff (Aug 21, 2020)

Front wheel definitely has more crust than the back does, but I like it. Oh yeah, one more part to add to this one.
The devil’s in the details after all...


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## jpromo (Aug 21, 2020)

Just Jeff said:


> Front wheel definitely has more crust than the back does, but I like it. Oh yeah, one more part to add to this one.
> The devil’s in the details after all...




That is a seriously cool ornament!


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## Miq (Aug 21, 2020)

Love the spine on him.  

My 41 front wheel has the cycle counter nub too but not the counter anymore.    Must have been popular.


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## Eric Amlie (Aug 22, 2020)

Nice work shop you have there!


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## Miq (Aug 22, 2020)

The blackout BB cups make me think it’s a 42 bike.   Early wartime when Schwinn still had chrome parts on hand for almost everything.


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## Just Jeff (Aug 22, 2020)

@Eric Amlie 

Thanks. I’m fortunate that my boss lets me work on the bicycles at work when it’s slow

@Miq

I would agree on it being a 1942. I just wish it had a few more blackout parts on it. It was very tempting to put a complete set of bottom bracket blackout parts on it. I resisted and left it as found though

@jpromo

when I saw the devil riding inside a tire for sale on eBay, I knew I had to buy it. I got a couple other different ones that were for sale too, so they may show up on other builds in the near future


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## Just Jeff (Aug 22, 2020)

I ran into a problem with the front hub. I need to find new bearings for it. I was not aware, but apparently there are 2 different sizes of bearings/races on the Schwinn script hubs. And unfortunately I don’t have an extra set of the smaller ones that this hub uses


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## Just Jeff (Aug 23, 2020)

Was a good day at the swap meet today. Scored a couple new tires and a Schwinn script front hub! So now I can finish my front wheel! And the tires will make it rideable now too


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## Just Jeff (Aug 24, 2020)

The handlebars were bent, so a swap out of bars was in order. New tires went on pretty easily. And finally, I decided to give myself a little more top speed by swapping my hub gear out. Went from a 24 down to a 20. I like it. So now, the last thing I need to do is shorten my chain a little. Too bad my chain breaker tool is at home, and I’m at work


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## fatbike (Sep 3, 2020)

Just Jeff said:


> This is my first venture into lightweight bikes, so I figured this was a good bike to start with. I’ve been wanting a skinny tire bike to ride for a while now and prewar bikes are my favorite. When I saw this one for sale here on the CABE, and it was very close to my house, I jumped on it.
> My initial hope was to do a little cleaning and then ride it. But while cleaning it I decided to delve into it further.
> 
> I would like to locate a similar one.
> ...


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## fatbike (Sep 3, 2020)

Fun bike and it looks great! 







Just Jeff said:


> The handlebars were bent, so a swap out of bars was in order. New tires went on pretty easily. And finally, I decided to give myself a little more top speed by swapping my hub gear out. Went from a 24 down to a 20. I like it. So now, the last thing I need to do is shorten my chain a little. Too bad my chain breaker tool is at home, and I’m at work
> 
> View attachment 1254437
> 
> ...


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## Just Jeff (Sep 3, 2020)

@fatbike 

thank you. I’m really enjoying this bike. Quiet and easy to pedal, even up the hills near my apartment! I’m very happy I bought this one. I’ve logged 100 miles on it so far on my after work rides


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## fatbike (Sep 3, 2020)

A simple bike. 







Just Jeff said:


> @fatbike
> 
> thank you. I’m really enjoying this bike. Quiet and easy to pedal, even up the hills near my apartment! I’m very happy I bought this one. I’ve logged 100 miles on it so far on my after work rides


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