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Wartime Schwinn New World Bikes - We Know You Have Them - Tell Us About Them!!

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That's it! What do you reckon the original color to be? It had LOTS of brushed on black. I've carefully removed it sanding thru layers, but most places bottom layer is a milk chocolate brown color, with the occasional bit of that orange red on the bottom of the bottom bracket and underside of the fenders.
I guess we can fill in a few more blanks: singe WIRE rear stays. (90% sure it had blackout skip tooth sprocket and New Departure black front and rear coaster brake.) seller sold those parts at the same time and I was not looking. I woud guess the date to be later than 1942, so 43-44.
 
Isn't that black one a beauty? I swear, one could get some panniers and gear, a couple spare tires, and ride that thing across the country. Maybe I'd flip the handle bars.
 
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@Alan Brase Your frame was most likely the red color that's on the inside of the fenders. The clay color you see was the red oxide primer. Check out your head tube. To me it looks like the full blown EF piece with the top and down tube EF joints.

Here's the hubs and crank off the NW with Serial J99657.

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Schwinn script front hub

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Looks like for sure that J serial bike was 1942 at the earliest. Wonder how many of the war time (42-43-44-45) Schwinn bikes used parts from 42 like that crank? Did they try to stockpile some parts in 42 knowing the rationing of bike building was coming? They could concentrate new part production on govt wartime needs, but still build up the few thousand lightweight “victory” bikes those years using the parts they had on hand from 42... Just speculation...
 
Schwinn and several other American makers recognized a couple of years before WWII that "light roadster" or "sports touring" bicycles were proving to be popular in Europe, particularly in Britain. Those bicycles usually offered forward-facing rear dropouts, cable brakes, a choice of various hubs (the three speed Sturmey Archer K or AW is the classic), 26 inch wheels, side-pull caliper brake sets, and a more compact frame than a 28-inch wheel rod brake roadster. The English light roadster designs, in particular, tended to take what we would recognize as their early-modern well before Schwinn began making the New World.

By the late 1930s, the American bicycle market was heavily slanted toward children riding balloon tire bikes. The balloon tire bikes had revitalized a market that was not doing particularly well up to that point. The bicycle manufacturers in the US hoped that cycling would catch on with American teens and adults - that more modern bicycle designs inspired by the light roadsters of Britain in particular could revitalized adult cycling the way the balloon tire cruisers had revitalized the youth market. British bicycles had also been coming into the United States, particularly the Hercules, Phillips, and later the Raleigh bikes.

There certainly was some market for the bikes, but it proved to be disappointing compared to the sort of boom that the balloon tired cruisers had done for the American youth market. The real "boom" in adult cycling in the US would have to wait until the late 1960s and early 1970s. That boom provided quite a boost in the sector of adult riders who sought serious sporting, touring, and commuting bicycles.

The early light roadsters from the US makers we see today are leftovers from a hope the manufacturers had that they could expand the bicycle market into older teens and adults who wanted serious commuting or sporting goods. In that sense, they're the "odd men out" - too late for the cycling boom of the late 19th century, but too early for the boom of the 1960s-70s.
Sir Mike,
You remind me of a question I've had for a while. When did Schwinn introduce lightweight bikes with inner tubes in the tires? The balloon tires were introduced in 1933, and everybody now thinks of these as 26 x 2.125, but from the old ads it looks like Schwinn originally used the term "balloon" to refer to tires with inner tubes, as opposed to the previous one-piece pneumatic tires. But I'm guessing the lightweights with inner tubes came later, as part of Frank Schwinn's efforts to sell bicycles to adults. And the 597mm bead seat diameter was used on some English tires, so is that where Schwinn got it? If they were influenced by the English light roadsters, then that would make sense. I appreciate your thoughts on the subject.
 
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Got a few new additions from @GTs58. Here's a 1940 D serial (D69242) on eBay with a multi-speed Sturmy, 9 hole rack, and nice Mesinger F-70 saddle. It reminds me a lot of @vincev's whacky hand stamped I serial number bike.
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I asked this seller about the hub on this bike. He was already maxed out on pictures for the listing, but he sent me another of the hub. It looks original to the bike.

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@schwinnlax was looking at this one a while back and thought I’d add it to the list tonight. 1946ish multi-gear with maroon paint. Seat and pedals are not right, and there's a few other minor things wrong but it looks like a nice bike.
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Serial B45115.

Gotta be close to Vincev's ladies B serial.
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Schwinnlax's thread: New World Correct Parts CABE Thread The bike was on Minneapolis CL.

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Who else has a wartime New World to add?? :)
 
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