Pre-War New-World Hot-Rod

[nortonguy]

A Schwinn New World that was someone's hot-rod back in the day. As found sitting at a junk shop where it was for sale. Someone took off the fenders, flipped the bars around and had a speedo on it. Bike seems all original except it has a newer rim in the back, a Schwinn Tubular. Front hub is a Schwinn script with Lobdell rim, rear hub is the correct big-arm New Departure D. A name is painted on top of the Messenger saddle but it is too faded to read except for the first name, "Joe". Serial number is H83703, and it looks to definitely have a blued seat post. The bearing cups pressed into the bottom-bracket also look to have a dark finish, but that is it for things that look wartime. It has USA-made Raleigh tires on it. One side of the handlebars is bent and has a non-Schwinn grip, so it took a spill. There is no head badge on the bike, someone pried it off long ago, the junk shop owner said it was gone when he got the bike. Rear sprocket is 18T, so that is a top-end gear to me. I wonder how fast Joe got his bike to go? I wish I could ask him, but if he got the bike new, he would have to be about 100 years old today. And it has the locking front fork with the original Schwinn key in it that works !!!

 

[truss]

love thinking if these machines could talk. the stories theyd have

 

[Miq]

Cool, loved 1941 prewar bike. We need to add it the New World list. Can you please take a pic of the serial number and some other views of the bike? I will reach out to you this weekend.

 

[cyclingday]

Love it!
I’ll take the saddle if you part it out.

 

[nortonguy]

Cool, loved 1941 prewar bike. We need to add it the New World list. Can you please take a pic of the serial number and some other views of the bike? I will reach out to you this weekend.

I will get some more photos of it. I have already broken it down so I can get it ready to ride again, that's the plan. I don't know if the handlebars are the originals or not, but they are not plated, but painted silver, which I thought was unusual for a bike of this era.

 

[byke!punk]

So New Worlds with forward drop outs were made prewar?

 

[cyclingday]

Yes.

 

[byke!punk]

I did not know that. Schwinns are hard man.

 

[nortonguy]

Added several more photos of the bikes parts after taking it apart a bit. Some cleaning and repacking of bearings and it is ready to ride, if the tires hold air, which I have not checked but I am betting they would. Will probably take the tires off the rims just to see how old the inner tubes are. My theory, Joe had the bike new, rode it a lot and had big fun, got old and parked it, died and it ended up at the junk shop.

 

[GTs58]

So New Worlds with forward drop outs were made prewar?

The 1940 New Worlds were the first to have the rear drop out fork ends. During the war Schwinn's frame building also progressed on the New Worlds with the new bottom bracket shells and the EF seat post to the BB shell. In 1943 the two-piece formed and Electro-forged head tubes were made and the top and down tubes were electro-forged to the head tube.