# Schwinn Script Front Hub Question



## GTs58 (Dec 3, 2016)

Does anyone know when Schwinn outsourced their front hubs that had the _Schwinn_ script in cursive and to what manufacturer? I usually don't collect any Schwinn middleweights later than 1963 so this hub strikes me as odd. The old style script on the Schwinn made hubs with the added APPROVED in block letters. The hub was laced up to a center stamped S-7. This looks like the Schwinn made hub but apparently it's not.


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## PCHiggin (Dec 4, 2016)

Probably Union Of Germany. The axle is probably Metric M8X1.The hex could be Metric M14-15 (I have both) or SAE 9/16" They did make Metric threaded axles with an SAE hex.I have one just like yours,its on a center stamped S-7.It has a 9/16" hex on one side and an M14 on the other....I think they outsourced all of their hubs.


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## GTs58 (Dec 4, 2016)

The hub in my picture is a spitting image of the Schwinn made hub other than the *Approved* engraving. Schwinn built many of their hubs including the front and rear expander brake hubs and all their bearings, races, axles and cups. Before the Weinmann caliper brakes and levers were used, Schwinn made those too.
I'm still confused about this Schwinn hub being copied and made out of house.


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## SirMike1983 (Dec 4, 2016)

PCHiggin said:


> Probably Union Of Germany. The axle is probably Metric M8X1.The hex could be Metric M14-15 (I have both) or SAE 9/16" They did make Metric threaded axles with an SAE hex.I have one just like yours,its on a center stamped S-7.It has a 9/16" hex on one side and an M14 on the other....I think they outsourced all of their hubs.




Could be. I had a middle weight with a hub like that several years ago and it did look Union-made to me-- a lot like a Union front hub I had in my parts box.


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## GTs58 (Dec 4, 2016)

The Union made hubs do not look the same as the Schwinn made hubs.


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## PCHiggin (Dec 4, 2016)

Well, A Metric hub that old,most likely isnt domestic.Maybe Sachs?


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## PCHiggin (Dec 4, 2016)

Try searching @ Schwinnbikeforum.com


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## GTs58 (Dec 4, 2016)

As a twice times banned member from the SBF there is no way to do a search there as a non member. It would take a visual search going thru all the sections and threads. After being a member there for some time this topic was never discussed. I did find something interesting though. The earlier Schwinn built front hub was replaced? and listed as a Schwinn Approved hub in the April 1962 parts catalog.


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## PCHiggin (Dec 4, 2016)

Did you check the pitch of the threads? I doubt Schwinn was using Metric @ the Chicago factory.The Approved stamp means it was sourced, not made by Schwinn,right?


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## SirMike1983 (Dec 4, 2016)

GTs58 said:


> The Union made hubs do not look the same as the Schwinn made hubs.




That's the multi-piece shell Union. They also made a single-piece shell hub with different spacing.


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## PCHiggin (Dec 4, 2016)

Ok, Good luck


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## stpeteschwinn (Dec 4, 2016)

"As a twice times banned member from the SBF there is no way to do a search there as a non member."...Truly a shame , but she did us a favor.


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## GTs58 (Dec 4, 2016)

stpeteschwinn said:


> "As a twice times banned member from the SBF there is no way to do a search there as a non member."...Truly a shame , but she did us a favor.




She has actually managed to do more than that. She has actually buried that site in the ground. As of now, there have been a whopping 8 posts for the entire day. It's truly a shame that Ric handed the ownership over to her and Don. Don? Donald and Hillary? LMAO


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## GTs58 (Dec 4, 2016)

SirMike1983 said:


> That's the multi-piece shell Union. They also made a single-piece shell hub with different spacing.




I've searched high and low and no luck finding a Union one piece front hub that resembles the Schwinn made hub. This is as close as it gets.


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## OptimusJay (Dec 5, 2016)

GTs58 said:


> She has actually managed to do more than that. She has actually buried that site in the ground. As of now, there have been a whopping 8 posts for the entire day. It's truly a shame that Ric handed the ownership over to her and Don. Don? Donald and Hillary? LMAO




hasn't been a post in the Middleweight section for nearly a month.  I remember when you, Rich, Jeff, Brian, Jim, myself, and several others kept the Middleweight section plenty active - with quality posts too!

Jay


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## SHO2010 (Dec 5, 2016)

My 1961 3 speed Racer has that hub and the brakes also have the Schwinn script on them.


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## GTs58 (Dec 5, 2016)

SHO2010 said:


> My 1961 3 speed Racer has that hub and the brakes also have the Schwinn script on them.




Which hub, with or without the APPROVED marking?


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## juanitasmith13 (Dec 5, 2016)

Mostly, above, you are telling/showing things I've seen. My 2 cents... the outsourced hubs have always been, for me, 8 x 1 metric thread/pitch, regardless what wrench you think works. I think all were German out-source; yet, NOT ALL were 'Union'. ALL say 'approved'. I also feel the ones marked 'Germany' were the ones not 'Union'; Union usually just said 'approved'; some have the little shield. Each time the script changes, whether vertical or horizontal, or, a difference in font... signal a different supplier... still German, tho. If you have a hub with original components made by 'Union', the axle will have that little Union 'shield' looking mark near the center of the axle where there are no threads [I'm primarily talking front hubs on middleweights: S-7]. If needed, I could show several examples; most I can tell you the year of the bicycle... It would require some dis-assembly...


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## GTs58 (Dec 5, 2016)

Do your hubs have the _*Schwinn*_ stamped axle and bearings? If it was the approved version I would guess no. I know Schwinn outsourced hubs from Bendix, Atom and Union along with others, but Schwinn made this particular hub in house until it was outsourced for some reason. When and by what jobber?  As it shows in the April 1962 parts catalog above it would have to be around that time or earlier. My 62 examples do not have the Approved hub, they are the Schwinn built hubs.


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## SHO2010 (Dec 6, 2016)

GTs58 said:


> Which hub, with or without the APPROVED marking?



I don't see approved on it.


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## PCHiggin (Dec 6, 2016)

Well,Lets drag this out even more.Does anybody know what  Euro suppliers,other than Union, Schwinn used for front hubs? I mentioned Sachs but I dont know if they made them or not.The plot thickens.


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## 1956Phantom (Oct 12, 2022)

PCHiggin said:


> Well,Lets drag this out even more.Does anybody know what  Euro suppliers,other than Union, Schwinn used for front hubs? I mentioned Sachs but I dont know if they made them or not.The plot thickens.



I have one of these Schwinn APPROVED script front hubs laced into a Chrome S-2 wheel removed from a 1962 Wasp. The Hub looks just like the old style Schwinn script hub except for the capital block lettered word APPROVED stamped on the opposite side of the Schwinn script. Interestingly, the axle says Schwinn approved Germany and is dated 1 - 61. The axle also has the Union shield pressed into it. Does anyone have an earlier dated Hub of this type?


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## GTs58 (Oct 12, 2022)

I have multiple early Schwinn script hubs and never paid any attention to the axle dates. Years range from 1953 thru 1963. Is your axle 5/16"? When Schwinn stopped making their hubs I'd bet they stopped making their axles also.


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## SirMike1983 (Oct 13, 2022)

In the past year, I rebuilt several Schwinn script front hubs that turned out to have Union guts. A couple were traditional looking Schwinn script hubs with the word "approved" in small letters stamped into the shell. Another couple were traditional Schwinn script hubs without the "approved" but still had Union guts. All were from the late 1950s and early 1960s. The parts interchanged with other Schwinn hub parts I had on hand.


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