Rusty Klunker
Wore out three sets of tires already!
The ones I have are similar to the middle one only without the groves.
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Wald stem on a 60's Schwinn?
- Thread starter dirtman
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As a kid I had five 26" Typhoons between the ages of 9 and 17. The first one, which was a hand-me-down from a cousin was a '63 model in flamboyant red. I still remember the serial number JA30012.
I got the bike missing its fenders and with a huge basket on the front. The bars were solid rust as was the forged stem. It took a 7/8" stem, I remember because I had bought a new stem and bars from the dealer and it came with the shim. I opted to clean up the original stem and use the new bars.
I fixed that bike up like new, fresh paint, decals, fenders, all original Schwinn, it cost me about $30 to do back then. Its wheels were in good shape and didn't need anything but some cleaning, as were the original Westwind tires. I rode the bike delivering newpapers for two years. It started to pop spokes after the second year so went to the dealer for a new set of spokes, and came away with a new bike, a copper tone 1969. ser. AE36610 rode home on the new bike, dragging the other bike along side in one hand. I dug around stuck some used spokes in the missing holes and sold the old bike a week later for nearly what I paid for the new bike. My parents were livid because I sold it rather than handing it down to my brother. I used the Copper '69 for the rest of that summer, and had enough cash for another bike, I went looking to get a new Varsity or similar bike but this time my parents were there and I left with a new Campus Green 1970 Typhoon, my brother got the old bike but my dad kicked in half the cost of the new one. Both the 69 and 70 models had forged stems, I still have the bars and stem off the 70 because I later bought a new stem, bars, and grips for a Heavy Duti model and swapped out the whole thing as one piece. The thought was I'd wrote down the serial number of the '70 on the wall in the garage, which I still own, it was EF40070, again, that bike had a forged stem.
My next bike was sort of new, I kept my 1970, but while at the dealer getting a new tube, they had a 1972 there that had come in damaged, also in green. Something had fallen on the back wheel and fender and they had put it aside in the back. It needed a rim, a few spokes, and a new fender. I made a deal for it as-is for $38 out the door and I carried it home on my back, along with a new rim, a dozen spokes, and a set of new fenders they gave me with it. I had that bike till a few months ago), the serial number was EH37733, again that had a 13/16" forged stem. Still delivering papers at that point I made that bike my newsboy bike and sold the '69, and gave my brother the '70. A few months later I gave him the paper route and the '72, and I went back to the dealer and bought another brand new bike to use for school, a red 1973 Typhoon that I got on a Christmas sale. I remember that serial number because the serial number happened to be the price on the hang tag (AJ05599). It was on sale from $64.99 down to $55.99.
I had that bike only a short time, I let a buddy borrow it when his motorcycle was in the shop and he got it run over by a truck. He had chained it up to a pole and a truck climbed the curb and mangled the bike. He bought me a new one a month later, that one was green, serial number FK10065, also with a forged stem, chrome fenders etc. I kept that for a few years and traded a buddy for a blue '74 Varsity that he wasn't using, and he wanted the Typhoon for his son.
I just sold the Varsity back to him after 40 some years.
I looked at a black 1970 Typhoon a few months ago, it had a stamped steel Wald stem, a ton of rust, and Schwinn bars. The stem didn't fit well, and my guess was it was just thrown in there to sell the bike as the bars were loose enough for me to work out of the stem by hand. The owner swore up and down it came that way with the Wald stem, and the Hunt Wilde grips it had. I highly doubted it and chocked it up to an old man's bad memory.
It needed rims, spokes, bars, a stem, and likely some paint work so I passed. The owner swore up and down he bought it new and it was 100% original.
The stem and grips were a red flag that made me walk away, (that and he wouldn't budge off of $100 for it). My take was that they likely broke the bolt off in the old stem and stuck what ever they had in there. I've seen a few smaller Schwinns with the stamped stems in the 70's but they all had a circled 'S' on the side of the stem. They were not Wald grooved stems. They may have gone to them in later years, after Chicago closed but I can't picture them just sticking a stem from a department store bike on a model like the Typhoon.
I've owned probably 20 Schwinn bikes over the years, ranging from the mid 50's to the late 80's and not one had a Wald stem.
I think some are confusing the Schwinn stamped steel stem with the common grooved pattern Wald that came on Huffy and Murray bikes with the stamped steel Schwinn stems as in that 1975 cat. scan. I could also see where the non carriage bolt stamped Schwinn stem could also be taken for a forged model at a quick glance in a picture but from the saddle, there's no mistaken the difference.
The stamped Schwinn stems were also longer than the common Wald '314' stem.
I got the bike missing its fenders and with a huge basket on the front. The bars were solid rust as was the forged stem. It took a 7/8" stem, I remember because I had bought a new stem and bars from the dealer and it came with the shim. I opted to clean up the original stem and use the new bars.
I fixed that bike up like new, fresh paint, decals, fenders, all original Schwinn, it cost me about $30 to do back then. Its wheels were in good shape and didn't need anything but some cleaning, as were the original Westwind tires. I rode the bike delivering newpapers for two years. It started to pop spokes after the second year so went to the dealer for a new set of spokes, and came away with a new bike, a copper tone 1969. ser. AE36610 rode home on the new bike, dragging the other bike along side in one hand. I dug around stuck some used spokes in the missing holes and sold the old bike a week later for nearly what I paid for the new bike. My parents were livid because I sold it rather than handing it down to my brother. I used the Copper '69 for the rest of that summer, and had enough cash for another bike, I went looking to get a new Varsity or similar bike but this time my parents were there and I left with a new Campus Green 1970 Typhoon, my brother got the old bike but my dad kicked in half the cost of the new one. Both the 69 and 70 models had forged stems, I still have the bars and stem off the 70 because I later bought a new stem, bars, and grips for a Heavy Duti model and swapped out the whole thing as one piece. The thought was I'd wrote down the serial number of the '70 on the wall in the garage, which I still own, it was EF40070, again, that bike had a forged stem.
My next bike was sort of new, I kept my 1970, but while at the dealer getting a new tube, they had a 1972 there that had come in damaged, also in green. Something had fallen on the back wheel and fender and they had put it aside in the back. It needed a rim, a few spokes, and a new fender. I made a deal for it as-is for $38 out the door and I carried it home on my back, along with a new rim, a dozen spokes, and a set of new fenders they gave me with it. I had that bike till a few months ago), the serial number was EH37733, again that had a 13/16" forged stem. Still delivering papers at that point I made that bike my newsboy bike and sold the '69, and gave my brother the '70. A few months later I gave him the paper route and the '72, and I went back to the dealer and bought another brand new bike to use for school, a red 1973 Typhoon that I got on a Christmas sale. I remember that serial number because the serial number happened to be the price on the hang tag (AJ05599). It was on sale from $64.99 down to $55.99.
I had that bike only a short time, I let a buddy borrow it when his motorcycle was in the shop and he got it run over by a truck. He had chained it up to a pole and a truck climbed the curb and mangled the bike. He bought me a new one a month later, that one was green, serial number FK10065, also with a forged stem, chrome fenders etc. I kept that for a few years and traded a buddy for a blue '74 Varsity that he wasn't using, and he wanted the Typhoon for his son.
I just sold the Varsity back to him after 40 some years.
I looked at a black 1970 Typhoon a few months ago, it had a stamped steel Wald stem, a ton of rust, and Schwinn bars. The stem didn't fit well, and my guess was it was just thrown in there to sell the bike as the bars were loose enough for me to work out of the stem by hand. The owner swore up and down it came that way with the Wald stem, and the Hunt Wilde grips it had. I highly doubted it and chocked it up to an old man's bad memory.
It needed rims, spokes, bars, a stem, and likely some paint work so I passed. The owner swore up and down he bought it new and it was 100% original.
The stem and grips were a red flag that made me walk away, (that and he wouldn't budge off of $100 for it). My take was that they likely broke the bolt off in the old stem and stuck what ever they had in there. I've seen a few smaller Schwinns with the stamped stems in the 70's but they all had a circled 'S' on the side of the stem. They were not Wald grooved stems. They may have gone to them in later years, after Chicago closed but I can't picture them just sticking a stem from a department store bike on a model like the Typhoon.
I've owned probably 20 Schwinn bikes over the years, ranging from the mid 50's to the late 80's and not one had a Wald stem.
I think some are confusing the Schwinn stamped steel stem with the common grooved pattern Wald that came on Huffy and Murray bikes with the stamped steel Schwinn stems as in that 1975 cat. scan. I could also see where the non carriage bolt stamped Schwinn stem could also be taken for a forged model at a quick glance in a picture but from the saddle, there's no mistaken the difference.
The stamped Schwinn stems were also longer than the common Wald '314' stem.
TequilaMockingbird
Look Ma, No Hands!
I recently purchased two 1964 Schwinn Typhoons, one from central Ohio and one from the suburbs of NYC. Both were equipped with a stem identical to the #7551 pictured above.
GTs58
I'm the Wiz, and nobody beats me!
The 1958 Tornado started out as a promotional model and that model evolved into the Typhoon for the 62 model year. From day one these models were the lowest priced models in their class so they had bolt on stands, rolled stems, no chrome fork crown etc... After all the middleweight models were discontinued the Typhoon and Heavy Duty were the only middleweight models offered. Sometime during the later 70's (1978?) it was upgraded with a forged stem.
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