Old Continentals, what do I do with them.

[Lightweightbikes]

You may want to renew your Want ad in the classifieds. What parts specifically are you looking for? I have some stuff left over from when I was working on and riding the early Continentals a few years ago.

Well my bike is a 54 I need a gooseneck caliper brakes and right side butterfly pedal torrington let me know thank you and a rear freewheel schwinn complete or if you have cog parts

 

[Lightweightbikes]

I have a 74 and a 79 ..... but components... they seem to cross over... what are you looking for....continental is kinda like the chevy suburban... been around the block! And tons of components cross over! If your a purist..,, I can’t help.., unless you want ... brakes and and pads and center pull red dot brakes and the like!

Well thank you my model is a 1954 nothing new need to finish my project a 2 piece gooseneck calipers a schwinnn freewheel rear

 

[Lightweightbikes]

Hi how are you I have a 1954 I need a few things calipers for that year gooseneck 2 piece and a help with a butterfly torrington pedal rights idea 79 won't fit nothing to my model let me know thank you

 

[Lightweightbikes]

Side

 

[Bill in Bama]

I guess you want 54 components... alas i can not help!

 

[Jim sciano]

Well folks, hoping someone could shed some light on this mystery continental that I picked up. Or, if there is another thread for these, please let me know. This continental has a decal set that I have never saw before on one of these. The painted fenders is also an oddity as well as the a s & co sprocket. Has a pencil stand and a non dated three speed. Rims are chrome, not stainless. I know the bars and grips are wrong. Seems like it would fall in line as a first year continental but I was wondering if anyone has spotted this style decal on a continental before, especially the down tube decal? A very gentle refurbishing is in order but it’s going to be awhile before I get to it. Can’t wait, I think it’s a pretty odd duck. Reminds me more of a superior than a continental.

 

[RustyHornet]

Well folks, hoping someone could shed some light on this mystery continental that I picked up. Or, if there is another thread for these, please let me know. This continental has a decal set that I have never saw before on one of these. The painted fenders is also an oddity as well as the a s & co sprocket. Has a pencil stand and a non dated three speed. Rims are chrome, not stainless. I know the bars and grips are wrong. Seems like it would fall in line as a first year continental but I was wondering if anyone has spotted this style decal on a continental before, especially the down tube decal? A very gentle refurbishing is in order but it’s going to be awhile before I get to it. Can’t wait, I think it’s a pretty odd duck. Reminds me more of a superior than a continental. View attachment 1452257

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I saw you post this one on Facebook and came over here to see if I could find something. Might try this thread. Lots of good information in here, post it up. It’s close enough to this time period someone in here will know!

Wartime Schwinn New World Bikes - We Know You Have Them - Tell Us About Them!! | Lightweight Schwinn Bicycles

Please help us gather some more info on wartime Schwinn New Worlds (or other lightweights). We know many of you have these unique bikes and they all have an interesting story to tell. We are already starting to get an idea of what serial number New Worlds have the transition from brazing to...

thecabe.com

 

[rollfaster]

@Schwinn499 @Eric Amlie @SirMike1983

 

[rennfaron]

Kind of a weird mix up of lightweight parts that appear original...

K serial would be late wartime, I think 1945 (edit - I was looking around and K also seems to run into '46 and '47 and here)... That would make this a very early continental if so... Continental didn't "officially" launch until 1946 (as far as I know) and when they did, they looked very different than this one...

At first it looks like a continental: larger diameter tubes, double adjustable stem/neck, typical saddle style on these, T10 pedals, seat post clamp typical to higher end lightweights (not NW), badged continental... But then there are some oddballs: Superior/New World chainring (not the standard continental one), fender style that was exclusively New World during the 30s/40s, additionally those are the blade style fender braces and not the wire ones that were found on the 40s continentals (@GTs58 noticed that one), chain guard paint style exclusive to the New World during this time period (continental would have the all chrome with paint infill, same striping style as the New World... (edit: just noticed the rear brake line routing follows the top tube and I was looking through my archive and that seems standard for the New World, but the 40s continentals always follows the down tube back to the rear, because on top of the continental guard there was a brake line housing clip to hold it in place, but the NWs didn't have this until later, but the 1946 continentals did. Every original 40s continental I have archived follows the down tube and has the guard clip... See ad below).

Then the decal package makes me think early paramount/superiors. I feel like I have seen a continental decal like this before but need to look around to find where, if so. Also notice the "Schwinn" portion of the decal is very similar to the way it was done on the New Worlds and not how it was done on the Paramount/Superiors (as far as I know, still looking...)

 

[SirMike1983]

Fork looks different from the post-war Continental too - this one is missing the fender brace tab on the backs of the legs. It looks almost like a pre-war Superior style fork.

Perhaps it's a case of using up parts on-hand right after WWII and applying the Continental decal before the Continental model was standardized with the more familiar parts we are used to seeing. It has parts on it from a variety of models.