1951 Arnold Schwinn Admiral

[parkrndl]

Was gifted this from a coworker who didn't want to see it go to scrap. The plan for now is just to make it a rusty rider. Serial number makes it a 1951, which would be my oldest Schwinn.

The gent who gave it to me has lots of memories of it, like delivering newspapers on it in all kinds of weather including snow. He also remembers the time in the late '60s or early '70s that the Steelers were doing well, so he and his dad went outside and had at it with black and gold spray bombs. I kinda want to try removing the spray paint to see if there's any of the original paint under it, but considering the amount of rust on it I'm not real optimistic about my chances for success.

Anyway, the wheels turn, the headset is free, the chain isn't bound up too badly anywhere, and the tubes even hold air (though the front tire started to split right away so I aired it right back down). Should be an interesting summer project.

Is the Admiral name a department store line or something? Today someone who knows better than me told me that anything post-war that still had a skiptooth drivetrain was likely low-end department store type stuff.

 

[GTs58]

Looks like a complete bike other than missing a rear fender brace, so you're ahead of the game. The rear cog needs to be replaced for riding and the front isn't in the best of shape. The 1" drive on post war Schwinns was used on the middle and lower end bikes, but they were not department store junk. By 1955 the 1" pitch drive was phased out on Schwinns.

 

[1817cent]

You can straighten out that rear carrier with a 2"x4" and a couple of C clamps.

 

[AS-1]

Life's too short to ride around on a dented, bent up, rusty old bike. Any bike that carried newspapers in the snow deserves to be beautiful again. Go for it, Man! You'll never regret making that thing perfect!

 

[buickmike]

Lots of potential .Given the fenders are still intact.. Could the chain be stretched to the point rear wheel can't be centered in stays. ? Small problems. Only thing I see bad about this machine is that seat . Although it's original I wouldn't want to spend all day riding it. Looks like a set of tires and tubes get it back in style.

 

[buickmike]

I found this seat pad after a brutal downpour .Looks like it's labelled Blackburn and available at Walmart.. locked it onto bucket type long spring and off I went

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

Looks like a complete bike other than missing a rear fender brace, so you're ahead of the game. The rear cog needs to be replaced for riding and the front isn't in the best of shape. The 1" drive on post war Schwinns was used on the middle and lower end bikes, but they were not department store junk. By 1955 the 1" pitch drive was phased out on Schwinns.

Agree, it is worn.

But not only is the rear sprocket worn (longer pitch) both of the sprockets AND the chain are worn (stretched). The only way to fix the problem is to replace all three at the same time. You might want to try any just clean everything first, but keep the worn chain and sprockets together and see how they do. The riding symptom is a catching or snaping noise sound anytime you apply heavy driving pressure to the pedals.

John

 

[parkrndl]

Finally had a little time (VERY little) to devote to this. Really, all I did was replace the tires with slightly less crusty ones, do a couple of patchwork fender brace repairs, move the seat and handlebars, and wipe it all down. Because it all needs to be blown apart and greased, I didn’t ride it any further than up and down the driveway. It does in fact make all those snap crackle pop noises you all mentioned. Gonna make a good summer project.