# Need Help Identifying a Vintage Schwinn



## wewentfast (Sep 13, 2017)

Hi, new here.

My 75 year old neighbor, who was a racer back in his youth, gave me this bike. He bought it in Bloomington, IN back in the late 60s (in this exact condition, and with the handlebars upside down!) and hasn't touched it since.

Seems like it's a cool old track bike. I'm a mountain biker and occasional road rider with a bunch of modern bikes in my garage but I've never worked with vintage. What do I have on my hands here?

I've found a shop in town that specializes in vintage rebuilds (and has been around for 6 decades) but I found this site and thought I'd check in here.

Thanks,

Brett
@wewentfast




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## keith kodish (Sep 13, 2017)

Serial number would help. Looks like a late 40's Superior. Picture of the bottom bracket might have it,or rear drop outs.

Sent from my SM-J700P using Tapatalk


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## REC (Sep 13, 2017)

Paramount maybe? Not an expert on these at all... Just appreciative of the work they did on the frames...
Lugs look right (like the ones on mine) Yours appears to be an earlier model obviously...
Are the numbers on the label tape off the bike, and if so, located where?
Mine:



REC


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## kreika (Sep 13, 2017)

Welcome to the Cabe! Good luck finding info!


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## Schwinn499 (Sep 13, 2017)

I'm no expert but I don't recall ever seeing "windowed" lugs on any era paramount or Schwinn for that matter.


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## Schwinn499 (Sep 13, 2017)

I stand corrected.

A quick Google search turned up this picture of an apparent late 50s Paramount Waterford restored.


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## Schwinn499 (Sep 13, 2017)

I dug up a few things, seems to be a 50s Oscar Wastyn built track bike. I'm assuming this is why the uncommon lugs.

https://www.google.com/amp/brothers...esmithy-1955-oscar-wastyn-track-bike-1955/amp


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## Schwinn499 (Sep 13, 2017)

Here's a good thread on the subject.

http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ies/903299-old-schwinn-paramount-tourist.html


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## wewentfast (Sep 14, 2017)

keith kodish said:


> Serial number would help. Looks like a late 40's Superior. Picture of the bottom bracket might have it,or rear drop outs.
> 
> Sent from my SM-J700P using Tapatalk




That last photo shows a label which I'm assuming is the serial number. Where would I go to look that up?


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## ccdc.1 (Sep 15, 2017)

wewentfast said:


> That last photo shows a label which I'm assuming is the serial number. Where would I go to look that up?



The serial number on that bike will have just three numbers, and will be one of three places: under the bottom bracket or on either the drive side or non-drive side rear dropout. The number on the tape is not a serial number; it is the Nervex bottom bracket casting/model number.


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## wewentfast (Sep 15, 2017)

ccdc.1 said:


> The serial number on that bike will have just three numbers, and will be one of three places: under the bottom bracket or on either the drive side or non-drive side rear dropout. The number on the tape is not a serial number; it is the Nervex bottom bracket casting/model number.




Thank you very much for the information. "666" appears on the drive side of the dropouts. Haven't found the serial number yet but I'll you all know when I do.


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## wewentfast (Sep 15, 2017)

ccdc.1 said:


> The serial number on that bike will have just three numbers, and will be one of three places: under the bottom bracket or on either the drive side or non-drive side rear dropout. The number on the tape is not a serial number; it is the Nervex bottom bracket casting/model number.




Got a little more info this morning on the bike.

It has 3(!) layers of paint on it and they think it was originally white.

“666” also appears on the steer tube of the fork.

That weird label sticker on the bottom of the frame is is also stamped into the frame at the bottom. Why would the # from the Nervex bottom bracket be stamped into the frame?


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## MarkKBike (Sep 15, 2017)

I enjoyed this topic.

My first road bike was a Schwinn, and I currently have about 5 of them in various stages of completion (nothing rare or expensive, just more common ones). I don't know why I keep buying them, but there just too hard for me to pass up when I find them at garage sales. I occasionally find the time to get one of them fixed up, and then either sell them off, or give them away.

When you posted this, I did not think your frame was a Schwinn, but decided to kept my mouth shut, and watched this thread develop. Your frame set ended up being pretty cool, and was definitely a very nice find! It was fun reading though the replies, and learning a little bit more about the hobby.

You should definitely clean it up, and get it back on the road. It will be a nice ride! I'm also a Mountain biker, but my interests have really started to shift in the past year. I'm now spending most my riding time just leisurely cruising around my local town in the evenings. Since I started riding locally, I'm still finding new interesting routs, and scenic sites to snap a few photos nearly every trip.


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## ccdc.1 (Sep 15, 2017)

wewentfast said:


> Got a little more info this morning on the bike.
> 
> It has 3(!) layers of paint on it and they think it was originally white.
> 
> ...




Saw your post that the number is 666 (being on the fork and the dropout is a match)....that is a Schwinn Paramount number. Puts the bike around the mid 1950's. The Nervex number appears on all Nervex bottom brackets...the numbers represent the angles between the spigots and the size of the tubing. The earlier series of Paramounts had the "A" or "P" prefix to the serial number, but in the 50s the serial numbers were just a sequence of three digits.
It's a good find. I have Paramount #338 and #826 from that same era. The Nervex Serie Legere lugs are a bit unusual for Paramounts (my #826 has the same lugs), but they did use them for a period in the 1950s. The restored white frame shown in another reply is serial number 688, so it gives you a good benchmark. Good luck with it!


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## wewentfast (Jan 1, 2018)

Hi, all. So I got the bike back just before Christmas. Baynesville Bicycles in Parkville, MD did a wonderful job and spent a lot of time consulting with Richard Schwinn on the parts and pieces. He believes the bike was not made in the factory but was a custom build made in a machine shop sometime between 1941-1947. Still sorting all that out. 

I'll get some better photos taken soon (it's so damn cold here right now) but this photo is Jim with the bike. He was the guy who gave it to me. He was so happy to see it get restored. I opted to leave the brake on it that Jim installed 50 years ago. I'm not comfortable riding a fixed gear bike.


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