About to buy my first Schwinn - help greatly appreciated!

[gernickie]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post here but I’ve been lurking around this place for quite a while now, happily returning every now and again to fuel my enthusiasm.
My love for vintage bicycles is quite new but growing stronger every day. Somehow I got hooked and I’m particularly drawn to the old Schwinn bikes.

I’m from Germany and old American bicycles are almost impossible to find around here.

After looking around for some time, I eventually found one which I’m going to pick up next week. I’ve got some pictures I’d like to share and I would really appreciate it if you could help me identify the year and model and also point out possible flaws regarding the originality (if possible by merely looking at the few photos provided).

According to the seller, the paint isn’t the same anymore and the saddle (obviously) has been replaced. As I said, I’m quite new to the subject and I don’t really know much about the Schwinns yet, except that they are beautiful.

Thank you very much in advance. I’ll be happy to hear (or read) what you can tell me about the bike.

Also… I apologize for any mistakes in my post.

- Nick

 

[Freqman1]

It is a post war bike. The rack is from a Columbia and the bars and stem are incorrect as well. Not a bad looking bike overall though and should be a pretty nice ride. Welcome to the CABE . V/r Shawn

 

[gernickie]

Hi Shawn!
Thank you very much for the quick reply and also for welcoming me.
As far as you can say from the pictures, do you think the bike has been repainted at one point?
- Nick

 

[bobcycles]

Bike has been poorly redone. Try to base your buying decision on the quality of the bike and the work done
if it's been restored. A bicycle like that should be in the 300 dollar range. Not much more than that.
Patience is key when shopping for these old bikes.

 

[Freqman1]

Hi Shawn!
Thank you very much for the quick reply and also for welcoming me.
As far as you can say from the pictures, do you think the bike has been repainted at one point?
- Nick

The bike is a definite repaint and like Bob said not a good one. Serial indicates either a '52 or '57 (the numbers were used twice) and based on what I'm seeing inclined to believe '52. V/r Shawn

 

[GTs58]

1952 B4 Standard Autocycle with an older repaint. No holes in the fender for a light, so I believe the tank must have been added.

03/04 to 03/31/1952 ------- B33999 ------------------ B78697

 

[gernickie]

Thank you all for your appraisal!

Bike has been poorly redone. Try to base your buying decision on the quality of the bike and the work done
if it's been restored. A bicycle like that should be in the 300 dollar range. Not much more than that.
Patience is key when shopping for these old bikes.

The price we agreed on is 250 Euro, which is in fact almost 300 Dollars. I guess that would be alright then.

Are there any restoration guides around for that particular model and/or year or other helpful hints like color codes if I should choose to get a proper paint work done in the future?

 

[bobcycles]

sooooo .... question? This bicycle is available in Europe ?
Worth the 300 US asking price as shipping a bike there would run at least that much...
feeling better about the deal

 

[gernickie]

I picked the bike up yesterday. It was located in the area of Stuttgart, Germany and the seller was a very friendly guy from the US, who was sad to see it go. He told me that he still rode the bike to work on sunny days and only decided to sell it because he was about to move someplace else with his family. He bought the bike in California about 20 years ago when he was still in college. Back then he paid 350 $ and he said he didn't change a thing since then except from the saddle.

From my first impression, the black paint looks as if it had been applied professionally and on the frame it looks almost flawless as if it might be the original colour. Where there are chips of paint missing on the fenders, there is a hint that they might have been green, though. The paint work done by hand with red and gold when it comes to the "ornaments" on the bike is very poor, as expected.

How did they do those details at Schwinn in the first place in 1952? I suppose, they drew the lines between the main colour and the ivory areas by hand?

 

[GTs58]

Just checked the 1953 serial numbers since some 1952 numbers were also used in 1953 and 57. Your bike's serial number was used in all three of those years. We can possibly rule out 1957 unless for some insane reason the bike was built up from a Wasp model. The 1953 numbers..........
10/15 to 10/16/1953 ------- B63858 ------------------ B75256

You did good on your deal with that ballooner. Schwinn used a mask for the accent colors and the pin stripe detailing was all done by hand.

Here's a link to Tom Findley's catalog scans. http://www.trfindley.com/pg_schwinn_cats.htm