# Schwinn Continental Clubman...I think??



## TLSell (Apr 9, 2022)

Hi all! I had to sign up today to make this post, because I know nothing about bikes except how to ride them (I'm a stoneware kinda guy). I didn't even know what "Schwinn Lightweight" was 6 hours ago, and still might not know lol. I'm a WI picker and a friend came to me with some stuff to consign and sell for him. Of those things is this bike. He told me his father said it was a 1952. If I'm right about what it is, he might not want to sell it. My research led me here. Any thoughts would be awesome! Thanks in advance


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## GTs58 (Apr 9, 2022)

Very nice well preserved Clubman! There should be a date on the rear hub shell and the serial number will most likely be under the crank. 8 ball on the shift lever? ha!


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## TLSell (Apr 9, 2022)

GTs58 said:


> Very nice well preserved Clubman! There should be a date on the rear hub shell and the serial number will most likely be on the left rear drop out above the axle nut. If not there, then it's under the crank. 8 ball on the shift lever? ha!



Thank you. I've read there are not many examples out there? So I thought I'd share for future research purposes at a minimum. I have not viewed this bike in person yet, but will in the somewhat near future. I'll take whatever pics I can to help preserve the history of it for you bike gurus lol!!


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## GTs58 (Apr 9, 2022)

I corrected my previous post on the serial location, having a bad day. 🙃  I've seen maybe 10 of these that have shown up here and on one other site. Either above or below the serial number there will be CM stamp which I believe indicates the bike was built as a Clubman. Some of the ones I've seen haven't survived quite as original as this one and the current owners had no idea what they had.


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## J-wagon (Apr 9, 2022)

@SirMike1983 
@rennfaron


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## SirMike1983 (Apr 9, 2022)

The Clubman is an uncommon model that was a little more sporty than the average utility "lightweight". Part of the issue is how small the market for an adult-oriented, sporting bike was in the US in the 1950s. I don't know how many of these Schwinn sold back then, but probably not very many. We rarely see them today. The automobile was king of the American road in those years. This one looks like a 1950s era bike to me. The few I have seen were early and mid 1950s era bikes. I don't recall that any were the larger frame size that you have there. As GT mentioned, take a look at the rear hub shell for a month and year date code.  That older model of shifter  usually appears on 1940s era bikes. I'm wondering if maybe it was a retrofit, but see what the hub shell says first. There was a handlebar click shifter more commonly used in the 1950s. Part of the challenge in dating the bike is how unusual the Clubman is today. But maybe the hub shell will send you in the right direction. It's a very nice, very unusual piece for anyone who likes old Schwinn road bikes. If your friend likes old road bikes, this one is a keeper because good luck finding another one in that size, color, and condition.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Apr 12, 2022)

now I have seen 2 of those, there was a gold one on here a while back and I saw it in person at the bike swap in Stockton.


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## TLSell (Jul 11, 2022)

Hi,
Just wanted to follow up with some more specific info and pics for future historical reference. Based on the serial number/date of manufacture sheet on this site...looks like it was made in early to mid September 1955. I still haven't viewed the bike in person, but I asked my friend to take some more pics for me and here they are. 
Tim


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## J-wagon (Jul 11, 2022)

👍Fenders look stainless steel, handlebars look aluminum? Check magnet. I think rims S6 but not stainless steel version due to looks like rust.


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## Schwinny (Jul 11, 2022)

A few parts may have been replaced, but definitely a Continental Clubman. The crank chain ring is the give away, It seems to be unique to the Clubman.
Pretty rare bike. There are a few here in several threads and we love to see them.
If you were to sell it, here in the sale forum would be the place. There are several Schwinn Lightweight lovers here.
The things that I see that are unusual are ;
The handlebars, The front hub and the pedals. Ive never seen a chrome shifter hub cab, that's pretty cool, and the saddle is an old high quality replacement.
We've discussed the quadrant shifters on these late bikes before as they were generally gone by the 50's, but that one looks like its been there all-along.
Pretty nice bike and it would clean-up real well.


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## TLSell (Jul 11, 2022)

Thanks everybody! Fascinating stuff for sure!! If you have any other specific requests for pics of stuff or whatever...I'll check this once in a while and can always ask my buddy for them.


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## GTs58 (Jul 11, 2022)

I'm Totally baffled again! This makes two 1955 Clubman builds? But dating it just by the rear hub? 🤨

The Continental and the Clubman were said to be discontinued in 1954.






The BB shell is a Tandem shell and Schwinn has used these on various lightweights.

*01/19 /1949--- T001000 ----- T001217 -(TDM)  *This is the first set of numbers that were recorded and the shells were made then the serial was machine stamped.
Here is the last of the Tandem shells that were recorded in *1950*. So the shell on this piece would have been made and stamped sometime between these recorded stampings. Your build time using the 1955 serial list is incorrect. Those serial numbers are short a digit. There are 5 numbers after the T for those numbers. There is really no way of knowing when this Clubman was actually built.    

*07/18 ------------------ T002347 ----- T002490 -(TDM)
07/19 ------------------ T002491 ----- T002662 -(TDM)*
07/19 ------------------ G206545 --------------- G206149
07/20 ------------------ G206150 --------------- G209531
07/21 ------------------ G209532 --------------- G211886
07/24 ------------------ G211887 --------------- G214820
*07/24 ------------------ T002663 ----- T003035 -(TDM)*


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## SirMike1983 (Jul 11, 2022)

I wonder if the wheels are a later replacement given the apparently chrome rather than stainless rims and possibly later hubs. That might explain the lower tier wheels with a later date stamp than the bottom bracket shell.


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## GTs58 (Jul 11, 2022)

SirMike1983 said:


> I wonder if the wheels are a later replacement given the apparently chrome rather than stainless rims and possibly later hubs. That might explain the lower tier wheels with a later date stamp than the bottom bracket shell.




Ever seen that shifter on a 1955 Schwinn, or even on a Clubman? I believe this is the 1953 catalog page and it specs chrome S-6 rims.


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## SirMike1983 (Jul 12, 2022)

Not for 1949 and later. The striped quadrant is a 1940s era shifter, later than the flat faced quadrant and the black print quadrant. But the New Worlds, Continentals, and Superiors I have owned that had quadrant shifters all dated to no later than early 1948. The 1949 and later models I've owned all had handlebar click shifters. The 1949-50 had the short-lived Silver face shifters with black writing, followed by the common window shifter. After 1950, also the common window shifters. Some shifters include the "idiot proofing" solution of the Bottom gear lock out rivet. A number of shifters produced by Sturmey Archer in the 1950s for the US market (particularly Schwinn and Columbia) of the window variety have lock-out installed below the "Low" gear and above the "Bottom" gear because not all shops in the US knew to set up the three speeds on gears 2,3,4 (not started on gear 1 or bottom). 

Not a huge deal if the parts were changed, especially fairly early in the bike's life. Usually these kinds of bikes were well-ridden because that's the kind of owner you get with a sporting machine. Good paint on this one too.


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