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

[Schwinn Sales West]

I worked with my nephews last weekend for a way of repairing and strengthening the fragile wire braces on the early bikes. We had a couple cracked and broken braces to experiment with.

It's possible to weld them with donor material from the head of a nail or similar (then smooth and drill/bore a hole). One of my nephews is a union welder who does that for a living, which is helpful because these pieces are very thin and fragile. It's hard for a weekend amateur to do this smoothly.

Just welding them back together does not give a satisfactory result. You need additional steel to reinforce the weak spot. We used the head of an old nail as donor material to reinforce the thin area, but probably any bit of decent steel would work. It's possible to reattach the braces with just welding it, but you're back to the problem of a weak area. Adding steel and then re-boring the hole creates a brace much stronger than original.

The welder needs to be on a very low setting - it's easy to burn through the limited material at the flattened spine.

Given how tricky it was to get a satisfactory and smooth weld, I have one other method I'll be trying - braze a steel washer to the inside of the spine as a sort of reinforcing ferrule. Welding is kind of heavy-handed for how fragile these braces are.

You want to use a TIG welder for best heat control on thin materials.

John

 

[SirMike1983]

If it's going to be welded, the TIG worked better. The stick welder tended to just burn through the material. There's not much metal there to work with.

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

If it's going to be welded, the TIG worked better. The stick welder tended to just burn through the material. There's not much metal there to work with.

We don't always have access to the best tool to use. The 110 volt MIG welders are pretty common today for home shop use.

When welding "very thin" materials it helps to back up the welded area with a piece of smashed 1/2" copper tubing. Clamp the flattened copper tubing to the area to be welded. The welding wire will not stick to the copper, and the copper helps dissipate the welding heat to help prevent "burn through".

John

 

[Miq]

Two 1948ish bikes in one day? Wow!

@Cabby @WillWork4Parts you guys scored! Both of these bikes are very complete. They will clean up great with OG paint and decals.

The prewar "wire" type brace is def a weak spot in the design. The pencil thin brace makes the mudguards look like they are floating, but the stress riser stamped center hole mass-produced fabrication method makes them weak. This is epecially a problem when they are unattached and the long arms transfer a lot of force on the weak spot. I 3D printed some supports that I used on the broken braces on my gramp's 41. Hard to believe that was 7 years ago.

 

[Cabby]

Here is a pic of the Mesinger seat on my ‘48 !

 

[SirMike1983]

Those saddles are difficult to find in an intact condition. They were often swapped out (they're not especially comfortable to ride compared to a Brook leather saddle) or they deteriorated over time.

 

[Miq]

@JSchwinn has been putting some nice New Worlds for sale lately. Thank you @Oilit for the heads up on this 1940 I+O=D serial. Beautiful hubs.

JSchwinn also put up this 1940 Blue New World with gold pins. Another I+O=D serial bike in a cool color.

We saw similar slat replacements on this one at classiccyleus

 

[Miq]

 

[elginkid]

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F216625 is a blue New World the same color as would be expected of a Continental. It has a Continental-style head set with hex top cup. It came from Facebook Market in excellent shape. The stem, bars, and saddle are later parts. The bars and stem look to be off a later Racer model. Stock, it has a single-speed New Departure Model D coaster brake. I plan to build a second set of rider wheels for this bike with a 3-speed hub and to add period correct Schwinn Built hand brakes and levers so I can ride the bike. I'll also replace the stem, bars, and saddle. Frame is a standard-sized, men's type.

How about a New Departure 3 speed conversion, and a front drum brake? That would be a pretty spectacular look.

 

[elginkid]

This bike is on Facebook Marketplace in Cincinnati.