Monday, December 12, 2016

A Guide to Schwinn 3 Speeds

Introduction




Note - July 2024

I have consolidated the Short Field Guide to Schwinn three speed bikes HERE.










3 comments:

  1. Yes! Thanks for doing this.
    -Shawn
    http://societyofthreespeeds.wordpress.com/

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  2. Great to see the 1954 Traveler on here and your other posts. I've been waxing nostalgic recently about my first real bike - a well-used green 3-speed I got at a Police auction in 1964 for use on my paper route. I had remembered some closeup details about it, from having to repair it, but I didn't remember the make until zooming in on a picture from '65. Much of the bike is obscured by me standing astride the top tube and a large Daily News bag covering much of the front, including the head badge, but enough of the graphics on the down tube is visible to see it is identical to that on your '54 Traveler - big smile! Do you know any more about the years those graphics were used? Other info which may say something: 1. my leg covers the seat tube and most of the chain guard, but the light is mounted high (from the steam bolt?) as I've seen on a few other Schwinn and Triumph 3-speeds; 2. the shifter cable runs down to the rear hub from above; and 3. a white brake cable sheath can be seen running along the down tube, but on the opposite side (LH) from the one on your bike.
    Any other info you can relate to me, or point me to, would be greatly appreciated.
    Cheers,
    Paul Whitehouse
    Brookeville, MD

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    Replies
    1. Hi Paul,

      Those "winged" graphics date to the early and mid 1950s (I think used through 1956 or so). So if your bike had those graphics, it probably was an early or mid 1950s model.

      There are a couple of ways to mount headlights, some of which mount on the high bolts on the stem. Adding the chrome "bullet" lamps was common back in the day. Miller was probably the most commonly encountered brand.

      Schwinn's rear brake cable mounting on these bikes was a concession to manufacturing. Running the cable along the downtube was done so that the boy's frame and girl's frame both used the same brake cable lengths and caliper set ups. The boys' frame does not require such a set up, and the English mounted their brake cables along the top tube, running to the rear. But Schwinn wanted to simplify production, so they did the oddball "down tube" rear brake cable even on the boys frame. If you wanted the rear caliper to link to the left (non-drive) handle, you could run the cable on the opposite side (sounds like yours may have been this way?).

      By the way, I lived in Montgomery County, MD for about 5-6 years before I moved to Virginia. I lived in Bethesda just off of River Road (near the funky old Talbert's liquor shop and the Capital Crescent Trail). Great place, but getting really expensive.

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