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

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looks like a Traveler.. here's what is left of the r.
It's a Traveler, but at this time they would be referred to as the World Traveler.

A 1952 would indeed make sense with that brake set. The fenders, grips, and shifter are add-ons from a later time. 1955 would be the latest bike I've seen with the Schwinn-built brake set, but I think you're onto something using the 52 serial number.

I've always been somewhat interested in the weird period of 1953-54 when you see oddball parts on some of the bikes - Brampton shifters and hubs, and the short-lived Birmingham style English brake sets.
It's definitely a '52 because the head badge aligns with this very narrow window of time when that unique variant of the brass winged head badge showed up with the vertical notches in the wings. And ya, the earlier ones still retained some of the equipment that you previously found on the New Worlds. The badge right before this brass badge was the New World badge, which lived on the World Traveler from '50 to '52.

The brake line housings would have been redone on this one because at this time they were still using the cloth covered lines, which deteriorated quickly if the bike wasn't kept well.

And @SirMike1983 I also see those SA Dynohubs and SA light kit pop up a lot around this period, which can be hard to find, especially the lamps. I also see the Union version of the large cap pedal show up a lot around this time, but not firm on that. I once bought a Traveler (not in great condition) just for the Brampton shifter/hub setup—extremely hard to find.

Something not pointed out, but I know a lot of the guys looking at this know this, that gold color does not pop up that often. And locking forks are also somewhat uncommon on Travelers. I see them every now and then. Uncommon head badge, color and fork option.
 
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It's a Traveler, but at this time they would be referred to as the World Traveler.


It's definitely a '52 because the head badge aligns with this very narrow window of time when that unique variant of the brass winged head badge showed up with the vertical notches in the wings. And ya, the earlier ones still retained some of the equipment that you previously found on the New Worlds. The badge right before this brass badge was the New World badge, which lived on the World Traveler from '50 to '52.

The brake line housings would have been redone on this one because at this time they were still using the cloth covered lines, which deteriorated quickly if the bike wasn't kept well.

And @SirMike1983 I also see those SA Dynohubs and SA light kit pop up a lot around this period, which can be hard to find, especially the lamps. I also see the Union version of the large cap pedal show up a lot around this time, but not firm on that. I once bought a Traveler (not in great condition) just for the Brampton shifter/hub setup—extremely hard to find.

Something not pointed out, but I know a lot of the guys looking at this know this, that gold color does not pop up that often. And locking forks are also somewhat uncommon on Travelers. I see them every now and then. Uncommon head badge, color and fork option.
When did they introduce stainless fenders on the Traveler? I know the first couple of years were chrome.
 
Picked this up last weekend.
Hub says 48. Has a Bxxxxx serial number. I'll get a picture or edit this later.
Complete bike ... paint is in rough shape.
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Picked this up last weekend.
Hub says 48. Has a Bxxxxx serial number. I'll get a picture or edit this later.
Complete bike ... paint is in rough shape.
That one was listed for sale a really long time. Seller originally wanted a hefty price but then kept reducing over time. You'd be surprised how much that paint might come back. Watch out for the pins as they wipe away quick.
 
An early 50s maroon World I was messing with. I taped off one side to show before/after. Meguiar's cleaner and fine cut polish. What looks like faded-beyond-repair-paint is just a top layer of heavy oxidation that needs to be cut, revealing some nice paint below (not always the case, but many times it is). Tedious, but good results. Gotta watch when doing it because you can burn through that thin layer of paint pretty quick. That's why I use fine or extra fine cut. It takes longer but you have more control and more time to see if damage will happen.

Also, if there is light to medium rust on the surface I go over it first with steel wool and WD-40. Then I clean. Then move to polishing. You don't really want to polish rust or anything else that heavily embedded in the surface because it will just get loosened up, break off and you'll just end up with tons of light to medium scratches in the surface. Heavy rust I put in an OA bath.
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@hzqw2l this area to the right of the quadrant shifter is a really good area to start with. It was somewhat protected by that tape and the paint below looks closer to the original. I would get some goo-off and/or a heat gun and get that stuff off to show that entire area beneath. Then start working the paint adjacent to it to see how close you can bring that adjacent paint close to that protected paint. That will give you an idea of total transformation and how long and how much effort it will take (if you wanted to go all the way with it).
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@hzqw2l this area to the right of the quadrant shifter is a really good area to start with. It was somewhat protected by that tape and the paint below looks closer to the original. I would get some goo-off and/or a heat gun and get that stuff off to show that entire area beneath. Then start working the paint adjacent to it to see how close you can bring that adjacent paint close to that protected paint. That will give you an idea of total transformation and how long and how much effort it will take (if you wanted to go all the way with it).
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Thanks.
As soon as it warms up here I'll probably do a tear down and see if the paint is salvageable.
 
You have high standards for your paint... that red actually looks pretty good to me. It will clean up. It has an upgraded wheelset with stainless rims. That is a relatively late bike for having a quadrant shifter. From what I have seen, the handlebar flick shifters began appearing on on the New Worlds in sometime in late 1948 or early 49. The quadrant is actually easier to find than the fairly rare solid silverface (no window) flick shifter.
 
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