Old Schwinn Excelsior X found in shed

[Schwinndemonium]

Die cast headlight cover and lens

Here's what your headlight cover should look like. The originals were usually made out of chrome plated diecast metal. They either had a clear plastic, in the later bikes, or glass lens in the front. The whole battery tray assembly in the top of the fender is replaceable. They make reproductions for this assembly, as well as the switch. Schwinn called this fender mounted headlight, quite simply a "Fenderlight".
Here is a picture of my original unit on my 1949 B-6.

Jim.

 

[kngtmat]

That is a sweet bike.

 

[jkent]

B6

Why can't i EVER find a bike like that. Sound like he has no idea what he has. Someone needs to let him know before it's jerked up for pennies on the dollar or painted over. Don't part it out! Don't paint over it! Don't resto mod it! A bike that nice should only be properly restored to it's former GLORY!!!

 

[greenephantom]

The B-6 is the cantilever frame. The B-107 (tank, fenderlight, 6 hole Schwinn rear rack) and the B-97 (no tank, no fenderlight, no rear rack) are the straightbar versions, which is what you have. Judging by the lack of specific scrapes on the cream paint up front, I'd say you have the B-97 that was upgraded with a fenderlight.

The seat is very likely a big deal. Pretty much any original Schwinn heavyweight parts from this era that are still in decent condition are valuable to some degree.

I'm not going to speculate as to the exact value of your find, but it looks to be in pretty good condition, and the painted bits are all there. But I think it would be safe to say that if you wanted a nice new internally geared modern cruiser, that you could easily sell your existing bike and pay for a nice new one quite handily,and perhaps have some cash to spare.

Cheers, Geoff

 

[bricycle]

Why can't i EVER find a bike like that. Sound like he has no idea what he has. Someone needs to let him know before it's jerked up for pennies on the dollar or painted over. Don't part it out! Don't paint over it! Don't resto mod it! A bike that nice should only be properly restored to it's former GLORY!!!

...have you read the prior posts on this thread?

 

[silverbrad]

Wow, this is awesome and I think I may have just found my new pet project. FYI, if the next post from me is from a pissy woman, it'll just be my wife blaming all of u for my lack of attention to her! So when you say don't paint it, r u saying no touch ups? Or don't repaint the whole thing? (which I don't plan on.) I love the paint on this bike but some areas r a little banged up. (obv for an item of this age) I appreciate all the info, I'm leaning towards updating it for my own personal usage. Are there catalogues or websites that sell Schwinn specific modern parts to keep the og look? Ideally I'd love it to look as close to original as possible but I don't wanna baby it, I wanna ride it. Thanks again for all the helpful info so far...

 

[silvercreek]

I think that particular model Excelsior bike has a fairly sought after head badge also.

 

[silverbrad]

Just read the last two posts before mine, so resto-mod is a bad idea. Here's the thing, I'm willing to put in time, money, blood, and sweat... But no tears. Ive been thru this with a classic car and the reward is wonderful but the parts situation drove me to drink (more) are parts available if I go the original route? Or am I gonna be searching eBay every day to find a one in a thousand part? I'd def wanna understand the value of what I have before I go forward... Thanks AGAIN!

 

[silverbrad]

Just read the last two posts before mine, so resto-mod is a bad idea. Here's the thing, I'm willing to put in time, money, blood, and sweat... But no tears. Ive been thru this with a classic car and the reward is wonderful but the parts situation drove me to drink (more) are parts available if I go the original route? Or am I gonna be searching eBay every day to find a one in a thousand part? I'd def wanna understand the value of what I have before I go forward... Thanks AGAIN!

 

[MagicRat]

Its not rust and chips and dents and dings...ITS PATINA (History in every one of them)

Polish it and ride it with pride!