Off Center Head Badge

[Oilit]

I picked up this 1955 Traveler needing work. There was no headlight or head badge and the guts of the Sturmey-Archer Dynohub were gone. The front wheel bearings were loose but in good shape so I got them re-adjusted and got a head badge off EBay. The new head badge screwed on with no problems, but you can see it's off center pretty bad, and I've seen pictures of a few other Schwinn light weights from the mid-fifties with the same problem. This could have been a production glitch, but just out of curiosity, exactly when did Schwinn stop using other head badges and has anyone seen an early Traveler with any other head badge?

 

[Oilit]

While I'm at it, what was the original head light on this bike? Does anybody have some good pictures?

 

[rhenning]

Yes that is the correct badge at least that is what my 1953 uses. You can just see it in this photo. Roger

 

[GTs58]

I'm pretty sure the Traveler had the wings badge from beginning to end. Only difference on the later bikes was it was aluminum, not brass.

 

[rhenning]

My other 3 speed Traveler is a 1962 and that bike had the remains of broken plastic Starburst badge on it when I got the bike. Roger

 

[Oilit]

I'm pretty sure the Traveler had the wings badge from beginning to end. Only difference on the later bikes was it was aluminum, not brass.

Thanks! That sounds right. Even if they used a different badge, the screw holes would have probably been the same. I'm just surprised they let this get by.

 

[Oilit]

My other 3 speed Traveler is a 1962 and that bike had the remains of broken plastic Starburst badge on it when I got the bike. Roger

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Those early '60's Travelers were pretty fancy bikes. I've got one in decent shape, but the badge is cracked like someone tried to pry it off. It's rare to find one with the star burst head badge still attached around here.

 

[rhenning]

I do not think the plastic techonlogy was very good when those Starburst badges were made. I have seen pictures but never seen a good one in person on a bike. Roger

 

[SirMike1983]

Cosmetic manufacturing defect. They made thousands of bikes and this one slipped by. Maybe they even saw it at the very end, but figured it was not worth wasting a production piece over the badge holes. Frank W. Schwinn may not have been walking the assembly line that day (he was detail-oriented and would pull parts/bikes/pieces that fell short of his standards). There's a story of him smashing a glass top table in anger with a pedal he had taken apart and found the bearings/surfaces were of sub-par quality.

I recently fixed a Raleigh that had its original bottom bracket spindle, yet the spindle flats for the cotter pins were actually not 180 apart. It had been made that way and whoever owned the bike before did not mind the fact that the crank arms were not 180 degrees opposite (you could ride the bike, but it was obviously not right). It was just a manufacturing defect they let slip by. I replaced the spindle with a different one. I have seen fenders with decals obviously off center and the like too - that's more cosmetic stuff than anything else.

Just call this one a quirk of this particular bike and a part of its character/story. It should ride just as well as any other.

 

[Oilit]

Cosmetic manufacturing defect. They made thousands of bikes and this one slipped by. Maybe they even saw it at the very end, but figured it was not worth wasting a production piece over the badge holes. Frank W. Schwinn may not have been walking the assembly line that day (he was detail-oriented and would pull parts/bikes/pieces that fell short of his standards). There's a story of him smashing a glass top table in anger with a pedal he had taken apart and found the bearings/surfaces were of sub-par quality.

I recently fixed a Raleigh that had its original bottom bracket spindle, yet the spindle flats for the cotter pins were actually not 180 apart. It had been made that way and whoever owned the bike before did not mind the fact that the crank arms were not 180 degrees opposite (you could ride the bike, but it was obviously not right). It was just a manufacturing defect they let slip by. I replaced the spindle with a different one. I have seen fenders with decals obviously off center and the like too - that's more cosmetic stuff than anything else.

Just call this one a quirk of this particular bike and a part of its character/story. It should ride just as well as any other.

It actually rides very well. I heard that Frank Schwinn was getting complaints about those pedals, and went and got one and pulled it apart himself to find the problem. And then started chewing out quality control for letting them get out the door. I can't imagine a "captain of industry" doing that today.