Schwinn scripted brake levers.

[cyclingday]

Ok, let me get this straight, and then I'll never bring this subject up ever again.
So, just for the record, Arnold Schwinn & Co. never made a right hand brake lever with the script facing out.
Is this correct?
If so, I find that to be completely bizarre, since most of the bikes they produced with a hand brake, had the lever located on the right side of the handlebar.

Above, is an original left handed brake lever with the script facing out.
There were reproductions made of this lever for the right side of the bars,(examples at the top) but the script was upside down compared to the example above.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I find it hard to believe that AS&Co would have done this originally.
Why produce only a left hand version of the scripted lever?
If that's just the way it is, then ok. I'll move on.
But, I'd like to be clear on this subject before I toss it into the back of my mind.
Thanks for letting me rant. I feel better already.

 

[Freqman1]

I asked this same question a year or so ago and got the same answer. It still makes no sense to me either Marty! V/r Shawn

 

[spoker]

there are 3 instances where left hand brake levers are used,dual drum,55 and 56 americans came from the factory with front rim brakes with the handle on the left,there was a 2 speed manual handle on the right,optional front rim brakes for ballooners starting in 1949 had the brake lever on the left for correct cable routing and locating wire for the cable,this wire often missing on used setups, hooked on to the stem to act as a cable guide

 

[WES PINCHOT]

View attachment 668438 View attachment 668439 Ok, let me get this straight, and then I'll never bring this subject up ever again.
So, just for the record, Arnold Schwinn & Co. never made a right hand brake lever with the script facing out.
Is this correct?
If so, I find that to be completely bizarre, since most of the bikes they produced with a hand brake, had the lever located on the right side of the handlebar.View attachment 668433
Above, is an original left handed brake lever with the script facing out.
There were reproductions made of this lever for the right side of the bars,(examples at the top) but the script was upside down compared to the example above.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I find it hard to believe that AS&Co would have done this originally.
Why produce only a left hand version of the scripted lever?
If that's just the way it is, then ok. I'll move on.
But, I'd like to be clear on this subject before I toss it into the back of my mind.
Thanks for letting me rant. I feel better already.

NO ORIGINAL BRAKE LEVER SCRIPTS UPSIDE DOWN!!!!

 

[spoker]

NO ORIGINAL BRAKE LEVER SCRIPTS UPSIDE DOWN!!!!

i would think that upside down one was a screwup

 

[WES PINCHOT]

i would think that upside down one was a screwup

NOT BY SCHWINN!

 

[GenuineRides]

Who says that the Schwinn script has to face outward to look good and be "correct"? I think it can face inward on the right side handlebar and appears just fine also. Schwinn probably figured this to be rather universal and a cost savings, along with less of an inventory and ordering nightmare for all their applications.

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[WES PINCHOT]

Who says that the Schwinn script has to face outward to look good and be "correct"? I think it can face inward on the right side handlebar and appears just fine also. Schwinn probably figured this to be rather universal and a cost savings, along with less of an inventory and ordering nightmare for all their applications.View attachment 668655


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I BET SCHWINN NEVER GAVE IT A THOUGHT!

 

[GenuineRides]

Manufacturing logic would have an engineer design and draw the lever, as they like it, then send it through as a prototype to be built and tested by manufacturing or an outside vendor/supplier. They would have a die cut to stamp the steel (very expensive in those days, no CNC machining). To create another separate die to run a left and right just to have the Schwinn script to read out and right side up probably wouldn't get past the manufacturing cost accounts or the supplier. They are told to keep costs low to make money on the low bid they submitted to get the job. Plus the manufacturing crew on the floor and the assembly staff want less parts to keep track of. Also if you look at some of the parts catalogs from the 40's you see all kinds of parts with the Schwinn script shown all over the part as line drawings, but we know many don't appear that same way once they hit manufacturing and get put into production. I'll have to pull some parts catalogs to see if this lever is shown in one of the old parts catalogs.


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[cyclingday]

I agree completely with that logic, but what I'm puzzled over, is why, since 90%of the bikes Schwinn produced during this period, that came with a handbrake, had the lever located on the right side of the handlebar.
Why they didn't put the script on the right side of the right hand lever?
That would've meant, that 90% of the bicycles sold with a handbrake, would have the name Schwinn clearly visible on the brake lever.
Instead, what they chose to do, was to put the Schwinn script visible on only 10% of all the bicycles they sold,
It just doesn't make any sense.
The only thing that I can see as a possible reason for what they actually did, was that the capital S in the script fit the lever better on the left side than it did on the right.
It could be as simple as that.