# Krate handlebar year question



## Grey Ghost (Nov 9, 2022)

Is this the correct handlebar style for my November 1969 Krate?
I know Schwinn narrowed the bars in 1970.

I can’t see any markings on the stem section  except for a vague Schwinn stamping.

These bars seem to be original. They have the typical scratches and dings.

Please don’t tell me that I have the wrong year bar on this bike.
I’m almost done refurbishing this thing, like, by tomorrow.


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 9, 2022)

This has the Weinmann gold dot brake levers on it, not the red dot, so that’s correct.
The clamp markings were pretty well etched in when I loosened them so they have been on this bar for a while.

Could Schwinn have put the newer bar style on this bike since it was the end of the year production?


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## StingrayRider (Nov 9, 2022)

Im my opinion, the 70-up narrow bars dont match the 69 shifter. Probably possible 70-up bars came on a November 69 bike. Still a nice bike to enjoy as it is.


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 9, 2022)

Thanks.

Well, as some people have suggested, they might have been changed at the dealers to clinch the sale if the little bugger wanted the newer style.

They probably were sold with the bike at the point of sale.

My grips and shift lever covers aren’t correct either since I don’t want to shell out $400 for 1969 sparkle orange units.

So, I guess I’ll leave the bars as it came.

I’d like to meet the little bastard who owned this bike.

Apparently, he lived in Kansas.....


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 9, 2022)

If I decide that I can’t live without the correct handlebars, what years are correct?
And, are those years StingRay bars the same thing as the Krate bars?


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 9, 2022)

Well, I can’t UNSEE them any more.

Something deep in my psyche kept telling me something wasn’t right.

I also remember my hands being out really wide on the old stingrays.

I have some 1969 ape hangers coming.

Several more days added to my completion time. Sigh....

One bonus though, now I’ll be able to ride THREE people on my bike, one on the handlebar and one on the bitch seat.


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## coasterbrakejunkie1969 (Nov 9, 2022)

Grey Ghost said:


> November 1969 Krate



I was under the impression that a late '69 stamped bike was most likely built for the following year. A Nov.1969 bike could have been dressed and sold as a '70. Your bars would make sense in that case. I have noticed on my bikes the fork date is more often correct. Not an option to check that in this case.


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 9, 2022)

Well, it’s gonna look like an earlier 69 in a few days!


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## GTs58 (Nov 10, 2022)

This cracks me up. First off, the serial numbers were stamped on the dropouts and then used later to build the frames. Schwinn's new model year bikes were built with the late November and December stamped serial numbers. Over the years I've seen countless Sting Ray models that had the late stamped serials and the new unknowing owners change their new model year Sting Ray into a previous year model. So your bike could be a 1970 model, not a 69. What's the crank date? 
 On the new 1962 Corvette 5 speeds with a November or later 1961 serial number, Schwinn used some 1962 cast dated cranks.


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 10, 2022)

Crank date?
Oh for crying out loud!

Is it on one of the arms?

If it’s on the inside I ain’t gonna tear it apart for that!

I want a 69 Krate and that’s what I’m gonna have!
Serial numbers be dammed!!!!

Thanks for clarifying this though. I take no offense!

You da man.


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## GTs58 (Nov 10, 2022)

It's on the center of the crank. The brake calipers were also dated at some point and I'm not sure when that came into play.


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 10, 2022)

As Stingrayrider mentioned, the narrow bars don’t historically match up with the shifter anyway so putting the awesome 69 bars on makes it visually “correct”. It’s what I remember seeing as a kid, that’s what I’m going for.

So, if the dropout SN#s aren’t necessarily date correct to the actual build date, its a free for all when correctly dating these late year bikes eh?   Apparently, Schwinn may have put a 70 handlebar and a 69 shifter on the same “November 69” bike. If they did, that’s a pretty big mismatch and somebody didn’t care. 

Crank date? Meh, just throw one on from that batch and call it good!

Maybe I got a unicorn Krate and didn’t know it? Ha!
Well, if so, I cut that horn off this baby! 

Maybe that’s why Schwinn changed the SN marking location to the head tube, liability issues and all.
I always wondered why they started putting the SN on the front of the bike where it looked like a big zit on the nose.

Wow, I could have spent hundreds of dollars on “correct” 1969 Orange sparkle grips and lever covers and be putting them on a 1970! 

Glad I passed on that ridiculously expensive option.
Besides, I recall seeing Kool Orange grips and levers on 69 colorline tire models as well as sparkle units, so who knows what Schwinn did for that particular bike? Both could technically be “correct”.


I’m trying to stay faithful to the original and not take too many liberties but I know in my mind what I saw as a kid and am trying to replicate that as best I can.

“This my Orange Krate. Their are others like it but this one is mine.....”


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## Robert Troub (Nov 10, 2022)

Grey Ghost said:


> Crank date?
> Oh for crying out loud!
> 
> Is it on one of the arms?
> ...



It's on the inside .....


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## coasterbrakejunkie1969 (Nov 10, 2022)

Grey Ghost said:


> awesome 69 bars



They are my favorite style


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 11, 2022)

Been looking at several 1969 Krates online.
Many happened to have Nov-Dec SN# codes.
They all looked like original builds.

The Dec bikes had the narrower bars.
One Dec had narrow bars and the 1970 straight cutout shifter. 

The Nov bikes had narrow or wide bars, and all the bikes I saw had the bent handle/ barrel grip shifter.

Looks like Schwinn didn’t put a high priority on continuity towards the end of the model years, at least not in 1969.

I also found a 1969 dealers accessory catalog, not for sale, that had colored pictures of all the handgrips, as well as brake lever grips.
It was neat!

They were offering glitter colors, as well as the monochrome Kool colors, so seeing either of these types on 69, or even 68, Krate wouldn’t have been out of the norm if the buyer wanted to change styles.

I figured Schwinn switched from one color type to the other with no overlap but this wasn’t the case. You could purchase either one at this time.

You guys probably already know this stuff, but I didn’t, and found it interesting.

Seems “period correct” may not necessarily be, on the late month bikes.


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## GTs58 (Nov 11, 2022)

Grey Ghost said:


> Been looking at several 1969 Krates online.
> Many happened to have Nov-Dec SN# codes.
> They all looked like original builds.
> 
> ...



November serials at different dates are on bikes that were built the next year. Check your crank and see if your brake caliper is dated.


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 12, 2022)

Now that’s what I’m talking about!


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 12, 2022)

One decal to go and I’m done!

C’mon mailman.....


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