EXP Jawa
Look Ma, No Hands!
OK, so here's my tale. Last fall, someone I know in a local bike club forwarded to me an email from an aquintance of theirs. This individual had an old Schwinn tandem bike that he was looking to give away. He was moving to NC and didn't want to take it. My friend already had 4 tandems and knew I was into old Schwinns, and thought I'd probably be interested.
I originally thought that I would just be a run of the mill Twinn, but the guy described it as having drum brakes. Not a drum brake, but drum brakes, so I thought it must be older. So, my next guess would be a Town & Country out the '50s or so, which I thought would be pretty cool.
However, when I got there, I found something entirely different. It did have front and rear drums, but it was an entirely different frame than the T&C I'd seen pictures of. For starters, it was a dual-mens frame, not his/hers or double mixte. It had drop bars front and rear. It had three-speed gearing, but through a derailer and freewheel, not an internal hub. Cottered cranks, "AS & Co" rear chainring, eccentric bottom bracket up front, and was finished in very dark green with faded gold double-piping on all sections of the frame tubes, with matching "Schwinn" script on the front top & rear downtube. Oh, and it had an early Paramount-style fork (but in a 1-1/8" size), and the whole thing is under 50 pounds. Along the way, the shifter, derailer, brake levers, bars, and pedals had been replaced. But he had all of the original parts in a box to go with it. All told, it was very different from what I expected. So, of course, I hauled it home; it barely fit in the back of my SUV.
Here are pictures I took the next day in the sunlight:
As near as I can tell, the bike is most closely related to an Paramount or Superior. It has, I believe, a fillet-brazed chromoly frame, accounting for why it isn't 80+ lbs, and the components and paint/trim details seem to be consistant with that.
Other helpful details: the dropouts are forward facing, the bike has what appear to be chainguard mounts for both chains, it has S6 wheels, oh, and the serial number under the BB is X003. My best guess right now is that it's an early Paramount Tandem. Or, if Schwinn wasn't using the Paramount name on tandems yet, then this model would become that. But I've no indication of such a model in the old catalogs. Extensive internet searches have turned up nothing; I've seen a few similar bikes, but none with the same frame. I think that it was made about 1945, based on trying to reconcile the various details and features I've described. But that's just a guess at this point.
So, does anyone here have any light that they can shed on this? thanks.
I originally thought that I would just be a run of the mill Twinn, but the guy described it as having drum brakes. Not a drum brake, but drum brakes, so I thought it must be older. So, my next guess would be a Town & Country out the '50s or so, which I thought would be pretty cool.
However, when I got there, I found something entirely different. It did have front and rear drums, but it was an entirely different frame than the T&C I'd seen pictures of. For starters, it was a dual-mens frame, not his/hers or double mixte. It had drop bars front and rear. It had three-speed gearing, but through a derailer and freewheel, not an internal hub. Cottered cranks, "AS & Co" rear chainring, eccentric bottom bracket up front, and was finished in very dark green with faded gold double-piping on all sections of the frame tubes, with matching "Schwinn" script on the front top & rear downtube. Oh, and it had an early Paramount-style fork (but in a 1-1/8" size), and the whole thing is under 50 pounds. Along the way, the shifter, derailer, brake levers, bars, and pedals had been replaced. But he had all of the original parts in a box to go with it. All told, it was very different from what I expected. So, of course, I hauled it home; it barely fit in the back of my SUV.
Here are pictures I took the next day in the sunlight:
As near as I can tell, the bike is most closely related to an Paramount or Superior. It has, I believe, a fillet-brazed chromoly frame, accounting for why it isn't 80+ lbs, and the components and paint/trim details seem to be consistant with that.
Other helpful details: the dropouts are forward facing, the bike has what appear to be chainguard mounts for both chains, it has S6 wheels, oh, and the serial number under the BB is X003. My best guess right now is that it's an early Paramount Tandem. Or, if Schwinn wasn't using the Paramount name on tandems yet, then this model would become that. But I've no indication of such a model in the old catalogs. Extensive internet searches have turned up nothing; I've seen a few similar bikes, but none with the same frame. I think that it was made about 1945, based on trying to reconcile the various details and features I've described. But that's just a guess at this point.
So, does anyone here have any light that they can shed on this? thanks.
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