# WAR II Cycletrucks ???? and post war...



## mruiz (Feb 19, 2012)

Does anyone know what years did the Army have Schwinn Cycletrucks, to work on the air fields? I think I saw a picture one time with a Lady delivering parts.
Any kind of reference would help.
Mitch


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## mruiz (Feb 21, 2012)

This is a tuff question, I know. Some one out there should know.
 Mitch


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## Aeropsycho (Feb 21, 2012)

*myth...*

A lot of bicycle critics say that Schwinn and others did not make bikes during the war... I have both Schwinn and a Roadmaster Cycletrucks with "WAR" stamped tires and "M" code Morrow hubs both have black out parts I have seen others I have that photo somewhere your talking about... I am a believer!!!


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## MrColumbia (Feb 21, 2012)

Aeropsycho said:


> A lot of bicycle critics say that Schwinn and others did not make bikes during the war... I have both Schwinn and a Roadmaster Cycletrucks with "WAR" stamped tires and "M" code Morrow hubs both have black out parts I have seen others I have that photo somewhere your talking about... I am a believer!!!




This is more of a question than anything because I am not an expert on this subject. I remember my father talking about having "War" tires because they were the only tire available during the rationing period of WWII. They were made of a different compound than normal tires of the day and did not hold up very well according to my dad. He often told the story of going very fast down a big hill and the tires catching fire. That led me to believe that "War" tires were for civilian use, not military. I know at first it sounds backwards but would they have really put the word "WAR" on tires they were sending to war? Anyone have any knowledge on these war tires and their aplication?


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## mruiz (Feb 23, 2012)

*This is a 1948 B.F G head badge...*









 Frame was renforce, I need the correct  front fender. Thinking OD green.
 Mitch


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## Aerocycle36 (Mar 7, 2012)

The info that I have on military Cycletrucks is that during WW2, all of them were painted blue, can't say for sure what colors were used on the military issue Cycletrucks after WW2, but those would be post war bikes anyway. and most were for the Navy and Air force.  Mine was sold to the Navy without a basket and has never had one on it.


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## curtis odom (Apr 3, 2012)

I once had an all original Schwinn Cycle Truck war bike that came from a defense factory here in San Diego. It was factory painted red and with all black painted parts, complete with both "War Tires". It was too long ago to remember the Morrow date code. The odd difference was the lack of a pull-out front axle, removing the front wheel was hell.


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## mruiz (Apr 19, 2012)

One I find a front fender for mine I should go with Navy gray or Airforce Blue?


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## curtis odom (Apr 19, 2012)

Air Force blue is not appropriate for a war bike.
Can anyone tell me why?


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## Land O' Aches (Apr 19, 2012)

curtis odom said:


> Air Force blue is not appropriate for a war bike.
> Can anyone tell me why?




There was no Air Force during WWII.

"Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947." - Wikipedia


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## curtis odom (Apr 19, 2012)

Bingo!
This brings up a separate question:
Has anyone ever seen a Navy gray bike (official painted)? I have not but would like to paint one but only if it is correct.


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## Wing Your Heel (Apr 20, 2012)

*Cyclist No 3 is an ally of Hitler*

Regarding MrColumbia's question on war grade tyres, in Britain war grade tyres were used at least until 1955. We still had rationing until then, and all sorts of army surplus was sold to use up old supplies.


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## mruiz (Apr 22, 2012)

So now we got a can of worms open. What colors are war time cycletrucks   (red) (OD green) (black)? 
 Any one has a reasonable front fender for sale , for my 48 CT.
 Mitch


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## Bozman (Apr 26, 2012)

My all original 1943 cycletruck was red under the headbadge. 43 dated rear hub and 43 AS crank.


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## mruiz (Apr 27, 2012)

Bozman said:


> My all original 1943 cycletruck was red under the headbadge. 43 dated rear hub and 43 AS crank.




Thank you Bozman
 Mitch


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## MNSmith (May 30, 2012)

There was an air force during the war.  AAF.  Army Air Force.


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## how (May 31, 2012)

Inspite of some of the comments,,the fact is the Military never used Schwinns during WWI or WWII

All military bicycles were Columbia's  Any Schwinn military bike is phoney.


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## MNSmith (May 31, 2012)

how said:


> Inspite of some of the comments,,the fact is the Military never used Schwinns during WWI or WWII
> 
> All military bicycles were Columbia's  Any Schwinn military bike is phoney.




I wouldn't say "never", but they certainly weren't the favored version.  You'd be hard pressed to find a military bought Schwinn.  Schwinn was mostly building other stuff for the war effort.

Bunch "O" Bikes


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## Aerocycle36 (Aug 23, 2013)

*Cycletrucks in the military*

Cycletrucks that were sold to the military were blue. Yes they were sold to the military, Please cite a viable information source that says anything to the contrary. While we're at it, Schwinn also sold a straight bar, thin tire bike to the military as well...


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## kos22us (Aug 23, 2013)

i have an original blue paint cycle truck, although i think mine was civilian, it was pulled out of a basement of old building that was once a drug store many moons ago, original blue paint is fairly nice, the schwinn cycle truck decal on bottom bar is legible & schwinn seat tube decal is pretty decent as well, the seat post clamp also has original blue paint, blank sign plate, the c-guard is a little rough & has lost most of its paint, 43 stamped crank, crank set, bars, g-neck, front hub (eclipse) & rear hub (new dep.) are all black out, original war time tires, takes a large basket which was missing when found it, i since added a prewar small basket which i actually perfer, i been wanting to get some pics of it up here for awhile now but keep getting held up w/ other bikes


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## Aerocycle36 (Aug 23, 2013)

*blue bike*

Mine was also blue with the blackout parts and it has photo documentation of it being used on a military base. Mine was purchased from a lady whose father brought it home when he was discharged from the service. (She has photos of her father posing with the bike outside of a barracks on a military base.) How he was able to "acquire" this bike and bring it home was never explained to me....


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## Bozman (Aug 24, 2013)

Aerocycle36 said:


> Cycletrucks that were sold to the military were blue. Yes they were sold to the military, Please cite a viable information source that says anything to the contrary. While we're at it, Schwinn also sold a straight bar, thin tire bike to the military as well...




Do you have any documents that says that all the military cycle trucks were blue? Also any documents saying that Schwinn had contracts with the military? I'm doing research on the bicycle in WW2 and would love to add this info to my presentation. Thanks in advance. Would love to see the pics of your bike! Especially if you have the wartime photos to go with it.


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## Aerocycle36 (Aug 24, 2013)

*Photos*

As I posted, the lady I bought the bike from has the photos and I wasn't able to get copies, but I'll try. My bike has a layer of red house paint over the original blue paint, it also has a signboard on it and I'm hoping to find some lettering or maybe some clue to the bikes origins on that board when I strip the house paint off. The source of some of my Cycle-truck info is from  "Classic American Bicycles ISBN# 1-58068-001-1" by Jay Pridmore. page 50, paragraph 3. "Schwinn produced a good wartime Cycletruck, used to deliver mail at Navy installations"   AND "Schwinn Bicycles ISBN# 0-7603-1298-2" By Jay Pridmore and Jim Hurd. Page 81 Second column, 2nd paragraph. "By 1942, all commercial bicycle production was discontinued, though Schwinn had a contract for 10,000 bicycles a year for government use. These included a military bike, conspicuously drab, for riding on and around stateside bases. This contract also included a version of the Schwinn built Cycle-Truck" "The wartime Cycle-Truck saw action mostly in mail delivery on Navy Installations"... I also found mention of military Schwinn Cycle-Truck production in the "Standard catalog of Schwinn bicycles 1895- 2004" ISBN# 0-87349-884-4 by Doug Mitchell. As for the  blue color, That information was seen in a book, but I'm not sure which one, (I have dozens of bicycle books)...


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## Bozman (Aug 25, 2013)

Aerocycle36 said:


> As I posted, the lady I bought the bike from has the photos and I wasn't able to get copies, but I'll try. My bike has a layer of red house paint over the original blue paint, it also has a signboard on it and I'm hoping to find some lettering or maybe some clue to the bikes origins on that board when I strip the house paint off. The source of some of my Cycle-truck info is from  "Classic American Bicycles ISBN# 1-58068-001-1" by Jay Pridmore. page 50, paragraph 3. "Schwinn produced a good wartime Cycletruck, used to deliver mail at Navy installations"   AND "Schwinn Bicycles ISBN# 0-7603-1298-2" By Jay Pridmore and Jim Hurd. Page 81 Second column, 2nd paragraph. "By 1942, all commercial bicycle production was discontinued, though Schwinn had a contract for 10,000 bicycles a year for government use. These included a military bike, conspicuously drab, for riding on and around stateside bases. This contract also included a version of the Schwinn built Cycle-Truck" "The wartime Cycle-Truck saw action mostly in mail delivery on Navy Installations"... I also found mention of military Schwinn Cycle-Truck production in the "Standard catalog of Schwinn bicycles 1895- 2004" ISBN# 0-87349-884-4 by Doug Mitchell. As for the  blue color, That information was seen in a book, but I'm not sure which one, (I have dozens of bicycle books)...




Very Cool! This adds some great sourced information for my talk to the public and when I go to reenactments and teach folks about the WW2 Bicycle.

All the Best and I look forward to seeing your cycletruck!


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## JOEL (Aug 25, 2013)

Hurd/Gordon Prewar Schwinn Book Pg 104:

Cycle-Truck Production Numbers:
1939 2060
1940 2466
1941 3134
1942 6364
1943 10,214
1944 10,214
1945-46 NO PRODUCTION
1947 (Jan-Oct) 4482


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## Aerocycle36 (Aug 25, 2013)

*War time vs. military.*

That's where the confusion begins, just because it was built during the war, doesn't make it an actually Military bike, it only makes it a wartime bike. The almost unobtainable thing here is the proof that proves a particular bike was in fact delivered to and in the possession of the military. Military Cycle-Trucks were blue in color, but wartime Cycle-Trucks came in all the usual colors, which would eliminate many of them from having a military pedigree. As I stated earlier, mine has photo documentation that I'm going to try to obtain, and it is covered with a heavy coat of red barn paint. It also has a signboard that I'm hoping has some type of military lettering or numbering on it when the red paint comes off.


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## Ozark Flyer (Oct 1, 2013)

Im curious if any of you guys have a 43 CT in an original color other than Blue.  I too have a 43 model in Blue with blackout hubs, crank, etc.  i dont recall seeing a 43 model in any color but blue.


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## Aeropsycho (Oct 8, 2013)

*Light Blue or Dark Blue?*

Mine is light blue similar to a DX color with blackout parts and M stamped hubs.


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## Ozark Flyer (Oct 26, 2013)

You would probably call it a dark blue but its really a very middle of the road medium blue.  Definately not the light North Carolina blue?  I just took the frame to the auto paint store today and had what little paint it had left under the headbadge matched and formulated for posterity.  I am going back with all the blackout parts but haven't decided yet if I'll keep the original paint color.


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## Ozark Flyer (Oct 26, 2013)

You would probably call it a dark blue but its really a very middle of the road medium blue.  Definately not the light North Carolina blue?  I just took the frame to the auto paint store today and had what little paint it had left under the headbadge matched and formulated for posterity.  I am going back with all the blackout parts but haven't decided yet if I'll keep the original paint color.


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## 37fleetwood (Oct 26, 2013)

Land O' Aches said:


> There was no Air Force during WWII.
> 
> "Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947." - Wikipedia


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## JOEL (Oct 27, 2013)

Can't say that I have seen an original military CT, but there certainly are a lot of surplus handlebars around. They are painted OD green. Have owned two 43 models (by serial number and crank date), both  in red with blackout parts and Gillette war grade tires.


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## Aerocycle36 (Oct 29, 2013)

*Military bars*

Those green torrington bars that are being passed off as cycle truck bars are NOT cycle truck bars.  I've had several dozen sets of them and when I bought them from my supplier, they were still wrapped in bundles of either 4 or 5 bars and were labeled as M-38 Columbia Westfield handlebars. Although they look similar to cycletruck bars they are definitely different. Just a side note, my parts supplier had an elevator shaft in their warehouse half full of these things and I was buying them for 2 dollars a pair. I think their remaining stock of them was bought out by BicycleBones.


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## mruiz (Oct 30, 2013)

37fleetwood said:


>




What color is under the head badge?


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## sideshow04 (Aug 30, 2014)

*Navy Bicycle exists*



curtis odom said:


> Bingo!
> This brings up a separate question:
> Has anyone ever seen a Navy gray bike (official painted)? I have not but would like to paint one but only if it is correct.




I have owned a Schwinn bicycle that had been property of U.S.N., and had its own USN ID# hand-stamped under the bottom-bracket to prove it. As i have collected Schwinn`s, my tastes have mainly been "limited edition" models. These have the Schwinn serial# located in a different location than the "stock" production bikes #s are located,and that of course depends on where the usual location for that year`s common or full-production bikes is. Having said that , I have never seen a limited edition (hereafter "LE")with its serial any other place than on one of the rear drop-outs. But I do not know that is the only "LE" serial # location ever used,just is in my experience that includes at least 25 I have owned ,many more seen. Anyway the USN surplus I owned was painted Battleship grey by Schwinn,was a 10 spd ,with HD 26 inch tires, and most notably,had all steel parts that were usually chrome-plated on standard bikes, coated with a navy blue vinyl clear coat. All aluminum parts,hubs,side-pull brakes,levers were anodized(or a similar process) blue also, which is what drew my "LE" seeking radar to it.I bought all the vintage bikes,Schwinn and others,that I could fit in an 18ft step-van in 8 hrs of loading after removing rear wheels and hanging bikes diagonally from a dropout hooked on the top lip.When loaded  I barely fit in and could only access 1st,2nd,and reverse.All for $180 from a man loosing his house with no place to keep them.Good thing it was only five miles home where these bikes totally filled my homes small yard.So with bikes from a suicide shift 26inch tired Schwinn 10spd to matching black set of Hornets,a 5spd Blue Fastback,a girls "LE" stingray,all H-D parts,with a extra brace from mid sissy bar to mid seat stay on one side,a "big" girls bike,was its "LE" reason for being. She must have been a lot of girl as the frame though double welded,was cracked at BB - chainstay on bottom. So with these (and a drum-braked 5spd Hollywood my fave)the USN bike was a "why" "LE" mystery till flipped over to find "U.S.N. property of,ID#" Then the gray made sense(just the same as OSHA gray found on electrical boxes,etc.for your color for your bike) and the Blue to protect from the ocean salts corrosive properties was a needed thing.(and is just the blue you would expect,that you see on red white and blue americana, license plate frames etc.) So I promise you, the USN did use bikes,in my case for deck transportation on a Battleship,and while I cannot confidently state that "the Navy,Army or any other US armed forces used bikes during the WW2 years,I can promise one thing. Research of the USN ID # on my bike shows it was assigned to BB-37,the U.S.S. Oklahoma. That,along with two of my cousins,brothers Richard and Charles Casto,crew-members of BB-37,found permanent "berth" on "Battleship Row", 7 Dec,1941. So it turns out this bike held a bit of sentimental importance for me,very sad it was lost in a fire. I have no idea how it survived destruction. Was it ashore,salvaged(it would seem unlikely) or no longer in use and sold as "surpluse"? Any way to help you with your project, "Blued" items include,calipers and levers,cable ferrules and adjusters,with blue housings. hubs,nipples,stem,seat clamp,stem mounted shifters.derailers had a coating that looked like syrup or dark honey color,like a vinyl-dip product.Seat post was aluminum that may along with the stem wedge bolt,seat clamp at frame bolt,have been zinc-coated,like chain-link fence poles of old.The oval badge was aluminum letters with the clear blue coating for background with white # at bottom. cranks and the rattrap pedals were also blue,for the style,picture the many bikes with Sugino cranks and rattraps anodized gold,red or blue. The pedals were identical,and the "diamond one piece cranks had the blue clear coat. Chainwheels and gears all had the zinc coating,the chain too.They looked cheaply sprayed with silver as fools do to bikes ,but were very durably coated.The bars were the type found on rental bikes that with the use of a black knob on each side that moved a pin in and out allowed the bars to convert from "drops" to bars as found on 3spd commuters like a Raleigh,blue Schwinn grips but no "glitter" look Spokes had the zinc too. Finally a light brown Brooks saddle with the rail around the rear and up a half inch or so and the only chrome on the bike. I suspect it came with a black "Schwinn Approved" seat that got too hot in the sun and was replaced with a leater seat that did not absorb the suns heat. I think this because the seats clamp and all metal under had gotten a thick brushed on coat of that thick black paint grandpa had along with red,green,and blue all the old steel lawn furniture and such was protected with in the 50s. I hope this helps you and is not inappropriately long for this forum.My name is Bobby Phillips and though I have no photos ,I promise you all above to be fact,and a google search of Casto-family  will show the family data-base with link to Pearl Harbor and BB-37,and more.


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## Ozark Flyer (Aug 31, 2014)

mruiz said:


> What color is under the head badge?




Here is a shot of my 1943 CT.  I matched the blue that was under the head badge.  It had blackout hubs, crank, and steering parts.  Pedal blocks were wood.

I got as close as I could to putting it back the way I found it.  This wartime Cycle Truck looked something like this...


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