Year doesn't matter that much. These lightweights could be ordered in just about configuration. Until the dealer talked you onto a Superior or Paramount.
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1949 Schwinn New World...Yes, That One...
- Thread starter HARPO
- Start date
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HARPO
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Looks like a fun project! Congrats on being first and then last and then first again! Fill me in on what Reba looked like, got a close up
Talk about coming full circle!
GTs58
I'm the Wiz, and nobody beats me!
Yah, the whole situation sounded like some kind of love affair. LOL
SirMike1983
Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
It's a pretty late bike to have a quadrant shifter, but that may have been what someone wanted or what was in-stock to be used up. There's such a wide variety of New Worlds. Schwinn stayed for a long time with the quadrant shifter. They must have bought up a pretty large number of them and then used them up right up until about 1950 or so. The stainless wheelset makes it an excellent buy.
rennfaron
Wore out three sets of tires already!
I've never seen a NW with SS fenders, only painted.
Both bikes look the exact same. Yours just didn't fair as well... At first I thought the stem was wrong, but it could be so late that they already started switching to that stem (same one used on early travelers). I think both brake levers are wrong. Grips, pedals, front brake caliper and the saddle is wrong (also missing fenders). I think someone moved over a bunch of parts from another bike that was decked out in crown gear. I agree with @SirMike1983 that the quadrant shifter would probably be original and still pulling from stock on hand. I would say it is original because the shifter cable housing hasn't be swapped out. If someone added that at some point they would not have sourced an original housing (unless they pulled the shifter and line from another bike - it could happen, but if this is an old update no one would have kept that old housing except a collector). I really like these maroon NWs.
fat tire trader
Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
I was also surprised to see that shifter on the bike. I don't agree with the theory that they were using up old stock. I've seen far too may postwar Schwinn lightweights with postwar shifters. It is common for the shifters to be kept with their cables and housing.
rennfaron
Wore out three sets of tires already!
Wouldn't a postwar bike have a postwar shifter?
SirMike1983
Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
The ivory fenders were an option if you wanted the two-tone look. I've seen a few New Worlds with the ivory fenders and it's an interesting variation. Most have matching fenders, but the ivory turns up once in awhile.
Re the shifter - from what I have seen, there seems to have been a transition to the silver-face, solid faceplate shifter in the 1948-49 era. Most of the bikes from that era I have seen were the later shifter. But Schwinn continued using quadrants well after the English had largely moved away from them in the later 1940s. In England, the post-quadrant generation of handlebar shifters appeared before WWII, with the early long-arm and externally sprung Sturmey shifters. Even in 1939 the English were starting to move away from the quadrant. But Schwinn kept using quadrants well after WWII. It certainly could have been moved on from another bike; could have been something someone ordered with the bike at the shop; or original. I don't think we can know for sure. I don't think it's a significant knock on the project, myself.
Re the shifter - from what I have seen, there seems to have been a transition to the silver-face, solid faceplate shifter in the 1948-49 era. Most of the bikes from that era I have seen were the later shifter. But Schwinn continued using quadrants well after the English had largely moved away from them in the later 1940s. In England, the post-quadrant generation of handlebar shifters appeared before WWII, with the early long-arm and externally sprung Sturmey shifters. Even in 1939 the English were starting to move away from the quadrant. But Schwinn kept using quadrants well after WWII. It certainly could have been moved on from another bike; could have been something someone ordered with the bike at the shop; or original. I don't think we can know for sure. I don't think it's a significant knock on the project, myself.
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