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my 1950 Schwinn Traveler (?) project

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The decal package with the word Traveler on the seat tube and bright fenders.

my bike has New World on the seat tube as well. if there was a Traveler decal on the chain guard it is gone now. Travelers were 3 speeds with chrome fenders. they also came with a generator light and seat bag.

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I have seen later ones with Traveler on the downtube decal, probably on the seat tube as well but the photo did not show that.
 
I see. I agree that the subject bike looks exactly like the bike shown in the advertisement. So, that's what a Traveler was in 1950! My later Traveler is perhaps a 1954. It was my first full sized bike in 1959, and in pretty worn down ragged shape. My dad saw value in it at $25 and it was a great learning experience for me as he pulled apart the front hub and bottom bracket and bought new parts from the Schwinn dealer. Even then, 1959, he was complaining about the tire price of the genuine Schwinn tires. Interesting that mine also came with generator lights. I figured them to be dealer installed. Putting them on felt like throwing out the anchor.
 
I see. I agree that the subject bike looks exactly like the bike shown in the advertisement. So, that's what a Traveler was in 1950! My later Traveler is perhaps a 1954. It was my first full sized bike in 1959, and in pretty worn down ragged shape. My dad saw value in it at $25 and it was a great learning experience for me as he pulled apart the front hub and bottom bracket and bought new parts from the Schwinn dealer. Even then, 1959, he was complaining about the tire price of the genuine Schwinn tires. Interesting that mine also came with generator lights. I figured them to be dealer installed. Putting them on felt like throwing out the anchor.
The Traveler always had lights as standard, while the New World never did, and it looks like the metallic paints were available on the Traveler from the start. I think the New Worlds were always enamel. But mechanically the only difference is that the New World had a three-piece crank as an option, the Travelers were always one-piece. And the three-piece cranks are interesting, but I'm not sure they offered a real advantage.
 
The Traveler always had lights as standard, while the New World never did, and it looks like the metallic paints were available on the Traveler from the start. I think the New Worlds were always enamel. But mechanically the only difference is that the New World had a three-piece crank as an option, the Travelers were always one-piece. And the three-piece cranks are interesting, but I'm not sure they offered a real advantage.
The 3 piece cranks were probably just to mimic the British bikes. Couldn't have been worth the effort
 
The Traveler always had lights as standard, while the New World never did, and it looks like the metallic paints were available on the Traveler from the start. I think the New Worlds were always enamel. But mechanically the only difference is that the New World had a three-piece crank as an option, the Travelers were always one-piece. And the three-piece cranks are interesting, but I'm not sure they offered a real advantage.
Agreed. I didn't exactly know the changeover date. I can remember as a 12 year old kid sombody telling me my 54 was not as special as the one that said "WORLD", so my whole life I have suffered from "WORLD" envy! I overcompensated in 1974 by buying a brand new Paramount P13. Which now hangs hangs 2 feet from the headboard of my bed. I did ride the Paramount a few thousand miles, but the 3 speed Traveler probably 20,000 miles as a kid. Yes, mine had the Flambouyant Green. Which my stupid ass removed as a 12 year old. Maybe in my dotage it will get restored. Gonna do the New World and 1940 Superior first. (This is my life in a paragraph. The Traveler perhaps the biggest single factor. It set me free!)
 
My experience is the three-piece crank is a little lighter and runs a little smoother than the one-piece, condition being equal. But the one-piece works perfectly fine when cleaned and greased properly. The one-piece has the big advantage today of being easier to get parts. "Schwinn" marked original three-piece crank parts like cups, spindles, and the cranks/sprockets are hard to find in good condition, whereas a post-war one-piece crank set is still pretty common.
 
My experience is the three-piece crank is a little lighter and runs a little smoother than the one-piece, condition being equal. But the one-piece works perfectly fine when cleaned and greased properly. The one-piece has the big advantage today of being easier to get parts. "Schwinn" marked original three-piece crank parts like cups, spindles, and the cranks/sprockets are hard to find in good condition, whereas a post-war one-piece crank set is still pretty common.
I've experimented a little bit with this situation and I prefer the one piece. That is.... considering the type, not the brand. I've been using a 1pc BB with cageless bearings and a shoulder less cone on each side that uses a plastic disc in place of the standard full flange cone. the plastic disc fits tight enough into the race, its sold as water proof. That setup weighs a little less than a Steel Union 3pc BB and arms I have and you get tired of waiting for it to stop spinning if spun with no chain.
I think I paid $14 for the BB setup and just added 2 extra bearings on each side to take up the cage space.
I read all that somewhere a few years back. Tried the BB last year and went cageless a month back.
Of course I cant leave well enough alone so....
 
What makes this a Traveler and not a "New World"? I've got one of each, a 1943ish New World and a 1953 Traveler.
The NWs discontinued in 1949/50. The NW essentially turned into the traveler in 1950 and like @GTs58 said it got new look: decals plus other stuff like a light kit and a saddle bag, and some of the components changed with the times. 1950 ushered in a new line of lightweights which are the Traveler and World models (the world was the base model of lightweight at the time). Many of us technically call the early traveler a "world traveler" because of the decals and because the Schwinn ads at the time termed it the "World Traveler." Some of the early price lists also state World next to Traveler. World eventually dropped from Traveler and it was just referred to as Traveler and the decals also reflected that. New world, world, traveler, continental were obviously all associated terms that they were trying to push early on with the lightweights. The very early World Travelers (1950-51) also received the same exact New World head badge that you found on all the New Worlds during the 40s.
 
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Meant this as reply to a quote re the paint being a brand new 1950 thing: Not so sure about that. That red/burgundy paint looks EXACTLY like the paint on my 1946 Continental. Indeed, it does look 2 stage. I often felt the blue Continentals from 1946-7 looked 2 stage as well. So, not disputing that it is 2 stage, only that Schwinn was trying it 4 years earlier. I think the Continental production volume was quite low. Perhaps a few hundred per year?
 
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