# Hand stamped serial number D9147



## Bikeymikey (Jun 23, 2021)

My first time in a forum. Bought this bike at auction a couple years ago.  Still not for sure what it is or what year it was made.   Seat, grips, tires, of course, are not original. I do have the chainguard and kickstand somewhere.  I wanted to share and learn more about it. Thank you for any replies.


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## Oilit (Jun 23, 2021)

At first glance, I'd say a pre-war Schwinn New World, but the paint's been stripped and a lot of parts changed. @Miq @GTs58


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## Bikeymikey (Jun 23, 2021)

Oilit said:


> At first glance, I'd say a pre-war Schwinn New World, but the paint's been stripped and a lot of parts changed. @Miq @GTs58



Thanks for the reply. That is what I have deducted it to, but I didn’t think the forward facing dropouts were until after the war.


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## Oilit (Jun 23, 2021)

Bikeymikey said:


> Thanks for the reply. That is what I have deducted it to, but I didn’t think the forward facing dropouts were until after the war.



Most Schwinns didn't get the drop outs until after WWII, but the lightweights were the exception. Check out @Miq's list - the first year (1939) had the forks, 1940 on were drop-outs:








						Wartime Schwinn New World Bikes - We Know You Have Them - Tell Us About Them!! | Lightweight Schwinn Bicycles
					

@49autocycledeluxe picked up this late J serial wartime VW1M recently.   Classic VW1M wartime bike with no kickstand and single wire rear mudguard brace, nice collection of blackout parts, and the previous owner removed the War Tires from it.  Too cool @49autocycledeluxe !!  😎  Added...




					thecabe.com


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## GTs58 (Jun 23, 2021)

Welcome to the Cabe.  👍 

Looks like a 1940 New World. All the ones with the three piece crank have hand stamped numbers and the one piece crank shell has machine stamped numbers. I don't recognize your fork though, appears to have a flat sloping shoulder. Were you getting ready to paint it at some point?


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## Miq (Jun 23, 2021)

@Bikeymikey Cool New World Klunker!  I’m with @Oilit and @GTs58 in thinking it’s a 1940 D serial New World frame with 3 piece crank.   Do you have any guesses for the original color?

This hand stamped D serial is a good example of the I overlaid with O stamping we’ve seen on some other bikes like @vincev ’s D serial New World.  Can be confusing looking on some bikes. 🧐  It looks like the D is a composite of two stamps.


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## GTs58 (Jun 23, 2021)

@Miq That is one beautiful D stamped by a real artisan! A zero and then a perfectly placed letter I, just unreal! 🤣


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## Miq (Jun 23, 2021)

Yes these guys using hand stamps. 😎




Chicagology


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## SirMike1983 (Jun 24, 2021)

They had production down to a timed science in terms of spending more time on cleaning and finishing the more visible areas of the frame. The brazed joints around the bottom bracket, and later the electro forge joints behind the bottom bracket, are often rougher than other joints on the frame in more visible locations. The serial number on the bottom bracket was often roughly stamped because it was generally not a visible part of the bike. And on the electroforged bottom bracket shells, the stamping might have been more regular than the three-piece crank shells, but the seam where the weld took place was often not polished down. "Time is money", as they say. The more visible areas were often well-cleaned and polished to present a smooth frame where appearances counted more for the buyer.


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## Miq (Jun 24, 2021)

Agreed on their desire to spend labor dollars and focus attention on the parts of the bike that the customer cared the most about or that were the most visible to them. But something still doesn’t add up with the difference in stampings between the 1 piece crank bikes vs the 3 piece crank bikes.  Schwinn is investing in automation to reduce labor hours and speed production.  The BB are starting to get electroforged and machine stamped for the 1 piece crank bikes around this time.  But for some reason they are still sending the 3 piece crank BB shells down a line with guys using hand stamps to overlay an I and an O stamp to make a composite D.  That doesn’t jive with the automated, labor reducing mind set we see them taking. There’s got to be something else going on.  Something we don’t know about or understand yet.


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## GTs58 (Jun 24, 2021)

Miq said:


> Agreed on their desire to spend labor dollars and focus attention on the parts of the bike that the customer cared the most about or that were the most visible to them. But something still doesn’t add up with the difference in stampings between the 1 piece crank bikes vs the 3 piece crank bikes.  Schwinn is investing in automation to reduce labor hours and speed production.  The BB are starting to get electroforged and machine stamped for the 1 piece crank bikes around this time.  But for some reason they are still sending the 3 piece crank BB shells down a line with guys using hand stamps to overlay an I and an O stamp to make a composite D.  That doesn’t jive with the automated, labor reducing mind set we see them taking. There’s got to be something else going on.  Something we don’t know about or understand yet.




There has to be a good explanation and reason for the hand stamping but it's probably buried somewhere! The one piece crank shells had machine stamped serials starting in 1937! And honestly, I don't remember seeing machine stamped BB shells for the three piece crank on the post war pieces until the late 40's. Looks like the three piece shells were machine stamped in 1949. @Oilit 's 49 New World. 
And another note. There are no U serials listed on the 1949 SN list or for the 48 thru 51 numbers.


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## Oilit (Jun 25, 2021)

GTs58 said:


> There has to be a good explanation and reason for the hand stamping but it's probably buried somewhere! The one piece crank shells had machine stamped serials starting in 1937! And honestly, I don't remember seeing machine stamped BB shells for the three piece crank on the post war pieces until the late 40's. Looks like the three piece shells were machine stamped in 1949. @Oilit 's 49 New World.
> And another note. There are no U serials listed on the 1949 SN list or for the 48 thru 51 numbers.
> 
> View attachment 1435574



I've wondered about that as well. @Bicyclelegends posted pictures of two Continentals, one with a "U" serial (machine stamped), and it looks like that bike has a 3 speed hub. I asked him if there was a date on the hub but I never heard back. His thread:








						Old Continentals, what do I do with them. | Lightweight Schwinn Bicycles
					

Old Continentals, what do I do with them.They have some valuable parts but want to clean and fix them up but torn on how. In my little brain I think should I keep them separate or combine them and make 1 cool one and which way do you go they are both so different and condition varies. Any...




					thecabe.com


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## Miq (Jun 25, 2021)

There is also a pic of what the 3 piece machine stamped D looks like in that thread. It doesn’t look like an I and a O 😛


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## GTs58 (Jun 25, 2021)

Miq said:


> There is also a pic of what the 3 piece machine stamped D looks like in that thread. It doesn’t look like an I and a O 😛
> View attachment 1435641




I'm up in the air about this one being machine stamped. Sure is a mess if it was, but it has a great looking D! 1948? What's the 4th and 5th number? The #6 looks like a double stamped made up number like the old D's. 🤣  Definitely a funkadelic #6.


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## Miq (Jun 25, 2021)

Definitely not easy to read the last two digits. 🔍 🙃  The stamp was not lined up with the surface of the BB very well.  Schwinn just can’t get this right.😛


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## Oilit (Jun 30, 2021)

GTs58 said:


> I'm up in the air about this one being machine stamped. Sure is a mess if it was, but it has a great looking D! 1948? What's the 4th and 5th number? The #6 looks like a double stamped made up number like the old D's. 🤣  Definitely a funkadelic #6.





Miq said:


> Definitely not easy to read the last two digits. 🔍 🙃  The stamp was not lined up with the surface of the BB very well.  Schwinn just can’t get this right.😛



From the serial list, Schwinn went from 5 digit serials to 6 digits in September 1948, which I'm guessing was for the bikes with one piece cranks. On the three piece cranks, it looks like when they changed from hand stamping to machine stamping they also went from 4 digits to 5. Maybe there's a connection? Or maybe not, but either way it's interesting.


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