As I piece together a handful of bikes here I can't help but remember a bike I had back in the late 60's. I had gotten is as a fenderless mess from the kid who delivered newspapers. The bike had chrome S7 rims, a short piece of the original rear fender that had been bobbed off just past the seat stays, red and white S saddle, and a winged tip style chainguard that said Typhoon. It had been passed along with that paper route for years. It still had two good original Westwind tires on it, the chrome was good all over, only slightly peppered with rust, and it had an old script Schwinn Approved front hub and a Bendix red stripe rear hub.
It was the first bike I completely repainted. I was working at a place with a huge glass bead machine at the time so I stripped down the frame and bead blasted it to bare metal. A trip to the local Schwinn dealer back then netted me everything I needed to restore it. The original CG said Typhoon, so it got fresh Typhoon decals. The bike was flamboyant red.
I was thinking the other day that the bike may not have been a Typhoon at all, one thing that sticks in my mind is that the headbadge the dealer had given me was too small, it was a good 1/4" or so too short, or at least the holes missed by that much. I had to go back and to try and get a larger one but was told they were no longer available even back then. I found that wrong headbadge the other day in the garage, and used it on a '67 Typhoon I picked up the other day. The bike I repainted way back then kept its original badge which I straightened and repainted as best I could back then.
The original badge was aluminum and looked just like the smaller badge but about 25% or so larger.
I also seem to remember it being a larger frame, taller than any of the middleweight bikes I have now.
Thinking back, I was lighter then but already at least 6ft tall, and I don't ever remember thinking it was too small for me, in fact I remember having to lean the bike a bit to get on it where as my current Typhoons are all a bit small for me and I've added wider handlebars and an extra long seat post. I need to run with about 8 inches of seat post showing, which made me reconsider the safety of that after seeing a few bent posts. I since resorted to turning myself a solid post on a lathe at work out of chromoly bar stock and then a dip in the zinc plating tanks down the street at a place that rebuilds auto parts.
I don't recall what the serial number was, or ever trying to decode it, but had taken the bike to the local dealer when I bought all the parts. The seat tube if I remember right was 20" and the bike had what was then the current top tube Schwinn script and not the older more cursive style.
I can't recall what ever happened to that bike after all these years but seem to remember it still being at my pops house in the early 80's and still looking like a new bike. I lost track of it after that and it disappeared by the time we cleaned out the place years later. Its one of the things that pushed me into fixing up older bikes and making it sort of a hobby back then, something that was rekindled when I found one of my current Typhoons in a dumpster one day while at work. But the more I think back about that first one the more I think it may not have been what I had thought it was back then.
I have no doubt it was a middleweight, and considering the source, it was unlikely anyone swapped out the wheels or anything major on it By the time I had gotten it though it had been through a half dozen owners, all using it to deliver papers on. The original bars were wide cruiser type, not the narrower bars that came on Typhoons then, it had the clover style chain ring and the then new fenders I used likely came from current stock in the latter 1960's. I seem to recall the whole repaint, new fenders, and new grips only cost me about $20 including the factory Schwinn primer, silver base and red top coat. I think I bought 4 cans of each. For some reason the bike seemed a lot older then for some reason then it likely was, considering that Schwinn had only made a middleweight for about 14 years or so a that point.
Decal wise the bike was the same as the bikes that were currently on the showroom floor.
I can see that it couldn't have been a 1962 because it had a typical curved cantilever frame.
For some reason I seem to remember it being a darker red than what I now know as Flamboyant red but that could just be me. I do remember the new paint being a dead on match for the old paint on the steer tube but it was lighter than the paint on the frame so it may have either darkened with age or been sprayed over with something at some point, which again makes me think because all the decals were clearly intact before I bead blasted the frame.
What year did they change the headbadge screw hole spacing and badge size?
What years used a large aluminum badge?
One thing that don't jive in my mind is that it definitely had a larger headbadge and that I seem to remember it was likely a Kingsize model from the 60's. Did the the two features ever co-exist?
It was the first bike I completely repainted. I was working at a place with a huge glass bead machine at the time so I stripped down the frame and bead blasted it to bare metal. A trip to the local Schwinn dealer back then netted me everything I needed to restore it. The original CG said Typhoon, so it got fresh Typhoon decals. The bike was flamboyant red.
I was thinking the other day that the bike may not have been a Typhoon at all, one thing that sticks in my mind is that the headbadge the dealer had given me was too small, it was a good 1/4" or so too short, or at least the holes missed by that much. I had to go back and to try and get a larger one but was told they were no longer available even back then. I found that wrong headbadge the other day in the garage, and used it on a '67 Typhoon I picked up the other day. The bike I repainted way back then kept its original badge which I straightened and repainted as best I could back then.
The original badge was aluminum and looked just like the smaller badge but about 25% or so larger.
I also seem to remember it being a larger frame, taller than any of the middleweight bikes I have now.
Thinking back, I was lighter then but already at least 6ft tall, and I don't ever remember thinking it was too small for me, in fact I remember having to lean the bike a bit to get on it where as my current Typhoons are all a bit small for me and I've added wider handlebars and an extra long seat post. I need to run with about 8 inches of seat post showing, which made me reconsider the safety of that after seeing a few bent posts. I since resorted to turning myself a solid post on a lathe at work out of chromoly bar stock and then a dip in the zinc plating tanks down the street at a place that rebuilds auto parts.
I don't recall what the serial number was, or ever trying to decode it, but had taken the bike to the local dealer when I bought all the parts. The seat tube if I remember right was 20" and the bike had what was then the current top tube Schwinn script and not the older more cursive style.
I can't recall what ever happened to that bike after all these years but seem to remember it still being at my pops house in the early 80's and still looking like a new bike. I lost track of it after that and it disappeared by the time we cleaned out the place years later. Its one of the things that pushed me into fixing up older bikes and making it sort of a hobby back then, something that was rekindled when I found one of my current Typhoons in a dumpster one day while at work. But the more I think back about that first one the more I think it may not have been what I had thought it was back then.
I have no doubt it was a middleweight, and considering the source, it was unlikely anyone swapped out the wheels or anything major on it By the time I had gotten it though it had been through a half dozen owners, all using it to deliver papers on. The original bars were wide cruiser type, not the narrower bars that came on Typhoons then, it had the clover style chain ring and the then new fenders I used likely came from current stock in the latter 1960's. I seem to recall the whole repaint, new fenders, and new grips only cost me about $20 including the factory Schwinn primer, silver base and red top coat. I think I bought 4 cans of each. For some reason the bike seemed a lot older then for some reason then it likely was, considering that Schwinn had only made a middleweight for about 14 years or so a that point.
Decal wise the bike was the same as the bikes that were currently on the showroom floor.
I can see that it couldn't have been a 1962 because it had a typical curved cantilever frame.
For some reason I seem to remember it being a darker red than what I now know as Flamboyant red but that could just be me. I do remember the new paint being a dead on match for the old paint on the steer tube but it was lighter than the paint on the frame so it may have either darkened with age or been sprayed over with something at some point, which again makes me think because all the decals were clearly intact before I bead blasted the frame.
What year did they change the headbadge screw hole spacing and badge size?
What years used a large aluminum badge?
One thing that don't jive in my mind is that it definitely had a larger headbadge and that I seem to remember it was likely a Kingsize model from the 60's. Did the the two features ever co-exist?