1954 Blue Schwinn Tiger

[Oilit]

When @Tim s posted his early Corvette, I was struck by the seat post decal, the early version of the "Art Deco" type which I had never seen on any middleweight before that. So I've been keeping an eye out and this Tiger popped up on EBay a few weeks ago. The serial number was used in 1957, and that's how the bike was listed, but this serial was also used late in 1953 and with the early brake handles, early head badge, early seat post decal and a 1954 rear hub, this one has to be a 1954. One thing I didn't expect, the serial was stamped in October 1953 but the hub is dated June 1954, an eight month difference. I have a balloon Jaguar with a serial stamped the same week as the Tiger, but the Jaguar's hub is dated January 1954. I can only guess that there were some snags getting middleweight production up to speed. The wheels on the bike now are replacements, in the seller's pictures you can see that the rims were pretty far gone and she said the front wheel was junk. But I did get the original rear wheel with the bike.
The seller's pictures:

 

[Oilit]

And the bike as it sits, with some more detail shots:

 

[Oilit]

And here's Tim's bike, and a thread that @Pantmaker posted showing the two versions of the "Art Deco" decal side-by-side.

Early Schwinn Corvette | Middleweight Bicycles

I first saw this bike when I was picking up my Schwinn 5 speed Corvette. The bike was in the process of being restored and not for sale at the time. The owner/ restorer is a good friend and later indicated that he would sell me the bike. We both were going to Memory Lane and arranged to make the...

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The two Ballooner Jag graphics | All Things Schwinn

I was geeking out earlier tonight over the differences in the two different seat tube graphics that graced the short lived Ballooner Jaguar. I thought I'd post a pic so others could geek out too.

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[Olds442]

I’m glad you bought the bike. So impressive that you caught the details and knew what it was. Will you just detail this bike? Or a resto? Any outcome, glad it’s yours, and looking forward to later pics.

 

[Oilit]

I’m glad you bought the bike. So impressive that you caught the details and knew what it was. Will you just detail this bike? Or a resto? Any outcome, glad it’s yours, and looking forward to later pics.

Eventually I'd like to get it back as close to original as possible. First I need to remove a lot of dirt and rust. And find some better rims.

 

[Adamtinkerer]

In a box somewhere, I have copies of Bicycle Journal from March '54, announcing the new Corvette. And I own a '54 serial 'vette as well. They're out there!

 

[GTs58]

In a box somewhere, I have copies of Bicycle Journal from March '54, announcing the new Corvette. And I own a '54 serial 'vette as well. They're out there!

I would really like to see that! Some of these first middleweights had 1953 serial numbers but they had mid 54 dated Sturmeys. Schwinn didn't normally stock pile frames for months on end but there may have been some type of parts shortage for these early built middleweights. The most logical part that may have been in short supply could have been the middleweight Weinmann brake calipers.

 

[Oilit]

I'd like to see the article and your Corvette as well. Three-speed?

 

[soddruntlestuntle]

When @Tim s posted his early Corvette, I was struck by the seat post decal, the early version of the "Art Deco" type which I had never seen on any middleweight before that. So I've been keeping an eye out and this Tiger popped up on EBay a few weeks ago. The serial number was used in 1957, and that's how the bike was listed, but this serial was also used late in 1953 and with the early brake handles, early head badge, early seat post decal and a 1954 rear hub, this one has to be a 1954. One thing I didn't expect, the serial was stamped in October 1953 but the hub is dated June 1954, an eight month difference. I have a balloon Jaguar with a serial stamped the same week as the Tiger, but the Jaguar's hub is dated January 1954. I can only guess that there were some snags getting middleweight production up to speed. The wheels on the bike now are replacements, in the seller's pictures you can see that the rims were pretty far gone and she said the front wheel was junk. But I did get the original rear wheel with the bike.
The seller's pictures:

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Nice Tiger, love that blue. I've posted about this elsewhere, but I too have an early-production middleweight: my Corvette is stamped December of '53, with a hub date of 5/54. I sadly managed to wipe off what was left of my seat tube decal with overly exuberant cleaning shortly after purchase, so what you see is a reproduction.

 

[Oilit]

Nice Tiger, love that blue. I've posted about this elsewhere, but I too have an early-production middleweight: my Corvette is stamped December of '53, with a hub date of 5/54. I sadly managed to wipe off what was left of my seat tube decal with overly exuberant cleaning shortly after purchase, so what you see is a reproduction.

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I like that green, you did a good job on that one. And your hub date is right for one of the early bikes, there are serial numbers from late 1953 but the earliest Sturmey hub date I've seen on a middleweight is April 1954, one month after the article @Adamtinkerer mentioned. There's got to be some earlier ones out there, but not many.

'54 Tiger on Ebay | All Things Schwinn

Here's a 1954 Tiger on Ebay, the seat's been replaced and somebody cut the handlebar stem, which is going to make removing the end in the head tube interesting, but what I can't figure out is why the fork steering tube extends up so high. Anybody seen this before? The seller says it's got 26"...

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