Dating an Early Schwinn Admiral

[DrRumack80]

This c.1910 Mead Sentinel was originally mine. I acquired it from Dave S. many years ago and sold it last year to Ed from Philly. I think it bears some resemblance to your Admiral, especially the seatstay bridge and the rear dropouts. Unfortunately, I did not note the serial number on this one.

Link to Ed's post on this bike

Sold - Antique 1910 Mead Sentinel Men's 28" TOC Bicycle | Archive (sold or withdrawn)

Up for consideration is this as found antique 1910 Mead Sentinel Boys 28" Wood Wheel TOC Bicycle... This original survivor is in fairly nice overall condition with a few surface stretches / blemishes, Troxel saddle has few edge cuts and tires are dry rotted... Rear rim also has a mind spin hop...

thecabe.com

 

[DrRumack80]

I did add more to my post last night but I didn't hit the save button before leaving. lost it all.

This is the March 1980 Reporter. Mark Mattie posted this on ebay.

The total in that section looks like 395,992 and said an average of 24626 per year.

At 396k, the math does not work. 195,992 / 24,626 = 7.9587 years. @Archie Sturmer has it right.

 

[cyclingday]

Those numbers are wild guesstimations, at best.
Here’s a confirmed late 1898/99 Model 22 Roadster, and they had only built a little over 13,000 bikes by then.
So the 24,000 bikes annually was just wishful thinking.

 

[Freqman1]

I’ve read contemporary accounts of Schwinn’s projected and actual production numbers and think this was a marketing ploy.

 

[GTs58]

At 396k, the math does not work. 195,992 / 24,626 = 7.9587 years. @Archie Sturmer has it right.

I posted some lit here that Schwinn didn't start making bikes until 1896. The company was established in 1895, so I assume no production that year.

 

[DrRumack80]

I posted some lit here that Schwinn didn't start making bikes until 1896. The company was established in 1895, so I assume no production that year.

I remember seeing that. Makes sense, in that the first year would have been formation and tooling up.

 

[GTs58]

I posted this a while back and I'm sure not everyone saw it. Estimate of 5 to 7K built at the beginning.

Schwinn History With One Click | All Things Schwinn

I just came across this great timeline of collected news on Arnold, Schwinn & Company. Plenty of information all on one site. https://chicagology.com/chicagobicycles/chicagobicyclehistory/schwinn/

thecabe.com

 

[New Mexico Brant]

I posted some lit here that Schwinn didn't start making bikes until 1896. The company was established in 1895, so I assume no production that year.

There is a trade journal account that infers bicycles started leaving the plant late 1895. They had produced 3,000 units by May 1896.
Again, we would be naive to think all bicycles leaving were numbered using Schwinn’s serial number system. They made it during their first fifteen years as a jobber manufacturer.

 

[Freqman1]

There is a trade journal account that infers bicycles started leaving the plant late 1895. They had produced 3,000 units by May 1896.
Again, we would be naive to think all bicycles leaving were numbered using Schwinn’s serial number system. They made it during their first fifteen years as a jobber manufacturer.

I've seen that account but if memory serves the company wasn't even formed until Oct 1895. I know orders were taken but I suspect the very first production bikes didn't leave until after the first of the year. Again, Ignaz being the master promoter probably let on that bikes were flowing in '95 but other than a few pre-production machines I highly doubt it.

 

[New Mexico Brant]

View attachment 1960615
Those numbers are wild guesstimations, at best.
Here’s a confirmed late 1898/99 Model 22 Roadster, and they had only built a little over 13,000 bikes by then.
So the 24,000 bikes annually was just wishful thinking.

The Germans are great at documenting numbers. We know this from WWII. Why would Ignaz and Frank over misrepresent this with the known issue of royalties could still possibly be due to Pope as late as 1910? Also Schwinn was not publishing any if these stats.