1940 Schwinn New World

 

The second project completed over the winter is this 1940 Schwinn New World three speed bike. This bike has the typical early Schwinn three speed features: fillet brazed frame, Schwinn-built brake calipers and levers, AS&Co. cottered cranks, wire fender braces, red glass rear reflector.

 

The bike has an unusual, 23-inch frame on the usual 26-inch wheels. These early tall-frame men's bikes are difficult to find today. 

 

Saddle is a Brook B67 "antique" style - dark brown with lace-up sides. Tires are Kendas with Schwalbe Tubes. Saddle bag is an Acorn brand (very nice, made in USA).  

This kind of a "noodle frame". It flexes a fair bit when climbing or in tight turns. That is somewhat typical of early, tall frame New Worlds. These bikes have pencil-thin seat stays and relatively light-duty rear dropouts. 

These early bikes are also known for their glass rear reflectors. They are somewhat fragile, but they add some character to the bike. 

Overall, this bike gives a good picture of the earliest days of modern, American-made three speed "lightweight" touring bikes. The bike is relatively light in weight and the frame has a hand-built quality to it. It is a pleasant rider, but not as robust or easy to repair as later bikes. 

 Pedals are the venerable Torrington #10 types. They are simple and robust, though a bit on the large and heavy side for a light weight bike. They were typical of the pedals used on American bikes of the late 1930s and early 1940s. I like them quite a lot, and enjoy that they have a local connection - they were made only a few miles away from my home.

The same goes for the spokes. The wheels are a set I built: later Schwinn S6 chrome steel rims, Torrington spokes, and a good hub set: 1939 Sturmey Archer AW rear three speed and a Schwinn script front hub.

Without further delay, here are the basic specs:

• 23-inch fillet brazed steel frame
• 26-inch (597 mm) wheels and tires
• Sturmey Archer AW rear, dated 1939
• Schwinn script front hub
• Schwinn-built calipers and levers
• AS&Co cottered crank set
• Kenda tires, Schwalbe tubes
• Kiley LED headlight, Ascher bag-mount LED tail light
• Brooks B67 "antique finish" saddle
• Acorn saddle bag
• Spiral-dome bell

 

 

Spring Rides - 1964 Schwinn Traveler

 

Not much to report from the past couple rides. The 1964 Schwinn Traveler is always a good rider. People who are new to vintage bikes often gravitate to the oldest bike in a collection or to rarer bikes. But the oldest and rarest bike is not necessarily the most pleasant riding. 

This 1964 Traveler is not the oldest bike I have and it is certainly not the oldest 3-speed bike out there (not even close). But it is a very comfortable, reliable rider. It's also in nice shape and an attractive machine. I like the understated graphics and deep, black paint.

 

 

1948 Raleigh Sports Tourist - Model 23

Good weather to start this week, but that is supposed to last only a couple of days. The lawn mowers are back out and about. I love the smell of freshly cut grass... 

 

Here is one of the bikes I re-built over the winter - a 1948 Raleigh Sports Tourist. This bike combines the Sports frame, 26 inch wheels, and cable brakes with the "Tourist" elements of a chain case, front dynohub, and light set.  The bike appears as "Model 23" in the catalogue.

 

The Model 23 Sports Tourist is very much a "commuter" type bike. It is better-equipped than the basic Model 35 budget Sports, or even the moderately-equipped Sports Light Roadster (Model 22). 

 

This bike is on the heavy side to be a "road" or a "sporty" type bike. It offered the commuter a weather-resistant bicycle that could be ridden to work or class in regular clothing. This bike is aimed at the short or medium length trip to work, class, shop, or the post office.  

 

The bike was available with the old-style, long-arm "trigger"/"flick" shifter, or  the top tube "quadrant" style shifter. For now, I have a good, old quadrant on the bike. I may try converting it to a refurbished long-arm trigger shifter in the future, but for now the quadrant is there and gives good shifting.

 

One of the challenges of these bikes are the old, cloth-covered cable housings. These housings love to dry out and crack. If you're lucky, the are simple, small cracks where the cables take a turn. If you're unlucky, the housing will begin to fray, leaving a mess. If the covers are particularly bad, I replace the whole cable assembly with something newer. But if they can be saved, I use black-colored heat shrink (available online) to bandage the larger cracks. The sections on the bike where you see larger cable covers are the heat shrink "bandages" on the covers. They blend in reasonably well, though they do make the cover look a bit bigger in those areas.

Raleigh pattern cables are fixed-length and not meant to be disassembled. I lubricate them by hanging them up and dropping some Tri-Flow lubricant down the cable cores. Tri-Flow is a thin oil with a teflon component. It helps lubricate old brake cables that need to stay intact.  

This bike has the old-style Sports lamp bracket on the handle bar stem and the old-style, glass lens headlight. The tail light is a bit later type, the original being totally missing when I got the bike. 

 The lighting is still the old-style, incandescent type. I prefer LED lights because they give you the most lighting you can squeeze out of the low-output GH6 hub. But given the age of this bike and the very old-style, glass lens headlight, I stuck with original lighting. This bike will not be ridden at night. 

The headbadge is the original, old-style Raleigh type. It has some wear on it. I suspect the bike may have had a front basket for awhile, which may have rubbed a bit on the lower part of the badge.  

When I cleaned the mechanical areas and bearing surfaces, I found this bike probably did not have many miles on it... or else it was very well-maintained. The bearing surfaces were smooth, with very little wear. 

There are still a few things to consider on this bike. The 1947-48 catalogue shows this bike's standard shifter as the old-style, long-arm shifter, with a cloth-covered shifter cable. I may do that eventually. The top tube quadrant was an option for a more traditional set up. The quadrant is lower-maintenance and easier to fit. (See my article on refurbishing the finicky, early flick shifters). Going to the flick shifter will also mean finding a length of good, cloth-covered shifter cable (not easy). I probably have some of that in a bin somewhere around here... We will see if I make the return to catalogue "standard"...

 

I also need to play a bit with the saddle height. I have the bike set up as an upright commuter, with the bars a bit higher than the saddle. I think that works well for this bike, but I may need to raise the saddle just a bit. I can see why these bikes were such popular machines for the short or medium length trip to the office or college campus. It would make a very comfortable commuter. I find my more spartan Raleigh 35 better for longer trips over the road or in hilly country. 

Without further delays, here are the specs:

• 23-inch men's frame
• 26 x 1 3/8 wheels with Westrick Raleigh Pattern rims and stainless "R"-stamp Raleigh spokes
• Michelin World Tour tires, Schwalbe tubes 
• 1948 Sturmey Archer AW rear hub
• 1947 Sturmey Archer GH6 front hub ("black side", pre-1951 type)
• Original, cloth-covered cable housings
• Original chain case with all the various sliders, clips, etc. 
• Incandescent bulb lighting - I did not convert this bike to LED. 
• Brooks B66 saddle
• Raleigh industries pedals with "spurs"
• 48-tooth chainring, 22-tooth rear cog 
• Acorn saddle bag 
• Lucas bell