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Schwinn canti-tank shape differences

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What's funny is, I assumed when I saw it, it was a year difference thing and changed in 55 but when I started doing searches online to confirm that, it was all over the board! Some had points in the late 40's while some had rounded fronts in the late 50's and vise-versa.....It was so much non-consistency that i had to start this thread to see if I was crazy or not.
May not be that noticeable in the pictures but in person its very obviously differ
thank you for pointing it out........
 
I know exactly what you are talking about. I noticed this little feature long ago and have argued with the Schwinn prewar teacher about this. I was under the impression that he didn't believe the pinched tanks were different from the more ballooned other type. If you notice on some original bikes with Springer front ends with the pinched type were better equipped to not ding up your tank ....so no bump stops had to be used on postwar bikes. It is a fine tweak to keep your tank from getting dinged up. If the non pinch type is on board with the springer set up then your tank is at risk of some damage from the fork bumping into it when the kickstand is used the fork naturally swings over the the left leaving tank open to big punch from the upper part of the fork, but some Springer bikes did have the non pinch type just not sure if the tanks were added on by accident from the factory or there were certain years that they used this feature...should make for fine conversation either which way. At the end of the day Schwinn did weird stuff....but this idea made a lot of sense.
 
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I know exactly what you are talking about. I noticed this little feature long ago and have argued with the Schwinn prewar teacher about this. I was under the impression that he didn't believe the pinched tanks were different from the more ballooned other type. If you notice on some original bikes with Springer front ends with the pinched type were better equipped to not ding up your tank ....so no bump stops had to be used on postwar bikes. It is a fine tweak to keep your tank from getting dinged up. If the non pinch type is on board with the springer set up then your tank is at risk of some damage from the fork bumping into it when the kickstand is used the fork naturally swings over the the left leaving tank open to big punch from the upper part of the fork, but some Springer bikes did have the non pinch type just not sure if the tanks were added on by accident from the factory or there were certain years that they used this feature...should make for fine conversation either which way. At the end end of the day Schwinn did weird stuff....but this idea made a lot of sense.
Ok so NOW we're getting somewhere! Thanks for chiming in as I was starting to think I was just splitting hairs...
That actually makes sense too because the "pinched-style" tanks seem a bit more strong with the more pronounced raised rib where the fork naturally hits. That same spot on the "balloon'd-style" tanks is more of a dent-magnet since its rounded a bit more.
I knew there had to be something to it because worn out stamping dies would not have made this shape difference in such a wide variety of year models and would have been a time when it was changed out.

I think the only reason someone would even notice this would be having a row of phantoms or tankers all together like I did. If you saw them day to day like we normally do it would never really register to you.

Now a new Schwinn detail for us to obsess about...haha
 
Maybe the difference between a McCauley Products stamping and a Wald mfg. stamping.
Both companies made the fenders and racks.
Maybe they stamped the tanks too.
My guess would be, that they did.🤔
 
When I got into restoring old Riviera’s, it became obvious that more than one supplier was tasked with making parts. Wheel covers look the same, but have different heights And bolt together differently. Seat belts have the same logos but one supplier put the logo on the lift handle, the other supplier put the logo on the fixed part.
 
Tank I recently sold... Pinched type

IMG_20210916_102641.jpg
 
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