More Weird X's

[ricobike]

As a continuation of the Weird X on Wasp thread, here are some more weird X's that I've seen in the past and am now questioning what they were for.

I'm restoring a Girls Opal Green Starlet with a serial dated 11/29/55. The bike looks like a completely untouched original and when I took it apart I found an X marked on the fork tube in paint. I've seen this several times before and I have a couple of forks in my parts bin that have this. I've often wondered what it was, I figured maybe a replacement fork or maybe someone just marked it themselves. But this bike looks to be all original so I'm wondering if that's really the case. And I've seen enough of them now that I'm thinking it's a factory marking.

I found 2 other forks that have this marking on them in my stash and I'm sure I've seen this several other times when rebuilding bikes. I've attached a picture of the forks. All the forks in the picture are balloon tire forks. The blue fork came from probably a Wasp with a serial dated 1955 or 57. The red fork that's painted blue I bought off a table at a swap and it was marked that it was from a Wasp also. The radiant red color underneath would probably make it a later fork, probably 59 and up.

Anyone seen these X's on fork tubes before and have any theories on what they are for? A thought I have is that it was a way to keep balloon and middleweight forks from getting mixed up similar to what we were thinking in the Wasp thread.

 

[GTs58]

I've have the same thing on my Rediant Gold 1955 Corvette. The striper was either getting his brush ready or cleaning it. :eek:

 

[ricobike]

I've have the same thing on my Rediant Gold 1955 Corvette. The stripper was either getting his brush ready or cleaning it. :eek:

View attachment 1240246

Hey, there's a thought! They sure must have used big brushes though . Good to see a middleweight fork in the mix, not just for ballooners.

 

[Two Wheeler]

As a continuation of the Weird X on Wasp thread, here are some more weird X's that I've seen in the past and am now questioning what they were for.

I'm restoring a Girls Opal Green Starlet with a serial dated 11/29/55. The bike looks like a completely untouched original and when I took it apart I found an X marked on the fork tube in paint. I've seen this several times before and I have a couple of forks in my parts bin that have this. I've often wondered what it was, I figured maybe a replacement fork or maybe someone just marked it themselves. But this bike looks to be all original so I'm wondering if that's really the case. And I've seen enough of them now that I'm thinking it's a factory marking.

I found 2 other forks that have this marking on them in my stash and I'm sure I've seen this several other times when rebuilding bikes. I've attached a picture of the forks. All the forks in the picture are balloon tire forks. The blue fork came from probably a Wasp with a serial dated 1955 or 57. The red fork that's painted blue I bought off a table at a swap and it was marked that it was from a Wasp also. The radiant red color underneath would probably make it a later fork, probably 59 and up.

Anyone seen these X's on fork tubes before and have any theories on what they are for? A thought I have is that it was a way to keep balloon and middleweight forks from getting mixed up similar to what we were thinking in the Wasp thread.

View attachment 1240218

I have a balloon tire Schwinn that has the same white paint marks on the underside of a fender

 

[GTs58]

I have a balloon tire Schwinn that has the same white paint marks on the underside of a fender

I've seen that a few times.

 

[Two Wheeler]

Hey, there's a thought! They sure must have used big brushes though . Good to see a middleweight fork in the mix, not just for ballooners.

 

[Miq]

Could be a way for the paint team to keep track of something. Like the forks with X’s need to be striped with cream stripes, or the forks with X’s have completed striping and can move on to the next step. Something easy to see so it would be hard to do the wrong thing, like passing unstriped parts on to the the next step and then having to rework them after the fact. Just a guess...

 

[Goldenrod]

A bit of Schwinn history. The Schwinn factory workers met together for breakfast into the 1990s in the suburbs of suburbs of Chicago. I attended one of these meetings and met the worker who's claim to fame was that he won a contest and he was the fastest wheel lacer--pride in workmanship. My friend has several automatic wheel lacers from the factory.