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1961 Schwinn Speedster... fenders?

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bloo

I live for the CABE
I drug this middleweight out of storage the other day. It was my dad's bike. He got it used. As long as I can remember it had chrome (or maybe stainless) fenders on it, but they were dented and the front one didn't fit right. Sometime in the 80s I bought him some new Wald fenders, also chrome.

I was just looking around on the CABE at the serial number lists, and on some other site that has old Schwinn catalogs hoping to figure out what year it is. I came up with 1961. As it turns out, every catalog picture of a Speedster middleweight has painted fenders. Was Chrome optional? Or is it a safe bet this bike had painted fenders on it when it was new?

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No chrome fender options on the Speedsters. At least from the factory. Looks like you're missing the washer on the rear axle.
 
Good catch. I'll have to get it one when I put tires on. Is there anything special about that washer? I think i saw an old posting around here with the middleweight fender widths listed from the catalog. The width of the painted ones was a little different than the chrome. Do you know how they measure? Is it the absolute width or do they bend the tape to follow the curve?

I think I like the catalog picture better than I like it with chrome. This one is a 59.

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Someone has also upgraded the seat to one with a crash rail. The rear axle washer has knurling on one side that 'bites' into the frame so the axle won't slip.

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Someone has also upgraded the seat to one with a crash rail.

My dad did that in the mid 70s. On the original one the cover had shrunk, and there was about an inch of bare metal pan poking out the front.

That’s a nice one though, shouldn’t be too hard to find a nice set of correct black fenders.

That would be nice but I have my doubts. I looked through the classifieds here at what's been sold, going way way back. Lots of chrome and blue, red, green, etc middleweight fenders sold here but I didn't see a single black one. Odd because I remember seeing similar black middleweights all over back in the day. Not a huge priority anyway I guess. I just saw the catalog pic and really liked the way it looked.

Yep, like Gary said. Painted fenders only on the Speedster. Here’s my 61.

That is beautiful. I really like it in green. How wide are your fenders? They look like they are dimpled to clear the fenders, making them wider than mine by quite a bit.
 
All you have to do is post for some under the Wanted section, something will come up. Welcome to thecabe by the way.

Sean
 
Started tearing it down to clean up and grease everything. New tires will be here soon. As expected, the crank is 1961. How about these pedals? Are these original or even Schwinn? I remember seeing these everywhere in the 70s. Look at how the end plates clamp around the rubber pads. They are marked "Made in Germany" on the back side.

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