# Schwinn The World Racer?



## Freqman1 (Jul 10, 2010)

Here is another one of the bikes I received in the collection I recently purchased. I know this is prewar but would like to know if anyone can help me pin point the year and ball park value of this bike. It has 28" x 1 1/2" Allstate Crusaders on it. The serial # is 7353M (yea I know the deal before '48) and it has a New Departure Model C rear hub. Any info is greatly appreciated. v/r Shawn


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## Andrew Gorman (Jul 10, 2010)

Model C's seem to have been in production from 1928 to 1934.  Are the rims steel or armored, and are the tires singletubes or clinchers?


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## Freqman1 (Jul 10, 2010)

I know the outside is steel but not sure if these are clad. I will check it out tomorrow and try to post a pic. Do you know if this is a racing bike or was this just a regular production model? Thanks for the help. Shawn







Andrew Gorman said:


> Model C's seem to have been in production from 1928 to 1934.  Are the rims steel or armored, and are the tires singletubes or clinchers?


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## Andrew Gorman (Jul 11, 2010)

With a coaster hub, it would have to be a road bike, but set up for an enthusiastic rider with the drop bars.


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## RMS37 (Jul 11, 2010)

I’m often better at telling people what they don’t have rather than the more helpful “that is a …” 

This bike doesn’t look like a Schwinn product; check out the pictures in this post:

http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showth...n-track-bike-project-photos&highlight=packard

The frame you have has a different fork crown, seat binder, and the rear stays are not Schwinn pattern. The serial number is also not typical for a Schwinn number which would probably be all numbers for a bike that early but if it were a lettered bike, the letter generally falls at the beginning of the sequence. 

The stay configuration reminds me of Colson or Shelby but I don’t have any good reference photos to check it against.

Regarding 20’s and 30’s American racing bikes:

Several manufacturers offered racing models in their catalogs but these bikes were mostly “boy racers.” A professional racer would have needed a custom frame fitted with European components (no one-piece cranks) to be competitive. Most of those bikes were built by individual builders in small shops with a few produced by (like the BSA equipped Emblem/Pierce Frank Kramer Special.) or for (Wastyn for Schwinn) the larger companies. It wasn’t till the end of the era and the introduction of The Schwinn Paramount that this changed.

As for value, I would guess around $400 with a fairly large plus/minus range.  Many of the real track machines of the period are probably still a bit undervalued which realistically should keep the prices of the boy racers down but a lot of people don’t know the difference so a clean boy racer can bring money above its station on a good day.


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