My current project is a WWII era Schwinn New World. This frame shows that at Schwinn, as with so many other factories in the United States at the start of 1942, war production was commencing. This New World frame is a mixture of electroforge welded and fillet brazed.
 |
| Above: the seat tube joint is welded but the chain stays and downtube are fillet brazed. |
The welded joints are fairly clean, though there is some bumpiness around the welds in a few areas. The electroforge process was highly automated, but also relied on a degree of hand cutting and finishing the excess metal around the weld. The hand finishing, even in peacetime, was less than that of a premium fillet brazed joint. But some of these wartime joints are a little bumpy.
 |
| Above: a headset cup painted black rather than plated. |
The fillet brazed joints are one area where you really see that Schwinn was trying to churn out the last few bikes, and move into war production. The fillet brazed joints are adequate, but show very little or no hand finishing. The integrated seat clamp is roughly finishing and bumpy.
 |
| Above: the seat stay joint is brazed but not smoothly finished, seat clamp is somewhat rough. |
A disproportionate number of these wartime frames are badged for sale at B.F. Goodrich stores. This is one of several 1941-42 bikes that had Goodrich badges and were made by Schwinn. It is possible that Schwinn was rounding out a contract to produce bikes for Goodrich before wartime production commenced in full. Schwinn was not one of the bicycle manufacturers permitted to produce bikes throughout the war (as for example, Westfield/Columbia was permitted).
 |
| Above: braze joints are solid, but a bit roughly finished. |
The reduced level of final finishing does not weaken this frame any, and it remains a good, sturdy frame. However, the sort of attention to detail and hand finishing one would expect of a Schwinn produced in, say 1940 or 1946-47 is not there. It's an interesting artifact of a unique and stressful era of U.S. history.
Nice one! I wonder why Columbia/Westfield was allowed to continue bike production, and Schwinn wasn't. Was it because Columbia was more "established"? I would figure that Schwinn's Cycle Trucks would be very useful for factory floors. Did Columbia produce their own version?
ReplyDelete-Shawn
https://societyofthreespeeds.wordpress.com/
As early as January 1942, the government was preparing plans to select a limited number of firms to build "victory bikes" - spartan bicycles that would serve as transportation for workers in the war effort. This would help get workers to factories and jobs, while reducing the use of gasoline and automobiles. A display of proposed "victory bikes" was made in early 1942 on the National Mall in D.C.
ReplyDeleteInitially, there were to be 12 manufacturers of wartime bikes, with a much larger shift from cars to bikes that would eventually take place. The program was downsized in July 1942 with the War Production Board finding that Huffman and Westfield/Columbia had proposd the best victory bike designs and were best situated to make the bikes. It is likely that some careful lobbying also kept these two manufacturers in the bicycle program.
Schwinn appealed the War Production Board cut from 12 manufacturers to only 2, requesting that it at least be permitted to continue producing replacement parts for victory bikes. The appeal was denied and Schwinn wound up producing artillery shells and general metal fittings. Frank W. Schwinn rather bitterly wrote in 1945 that his company was at a competitive disadvantage because it would have to re-tool for commercial production, while Westfield had managed to keep producing bikes during the war.
The 1942 Schwinn bikes represent finish-out production of rather spartan New World type bikes, using available parts. The headset is a good example of the compromises - no plating, and a much cruder design than the pre or post war close-fitting headsets (there is rather large gap between the cone and the cup in these wartime models). It is very likely these models were made between January 1942 and summer 1942.
Schwinn's bitter prediction did not come true either for the post-war scene. Schwinn's dealer and marketing plans ultimately helped it become the premier maker of American bicycles. The victory bikes did not provide Huffman or Westfield with the huge advantage Schwinn feared. The real winners in the immediate post-war years were the automakers - the period from 1947 through the gas crisis became what many consider the "golden age" of American automobiles.
A much more detailed summary is located here:
Deletehttps://bikebattles.net/2020/03/reconsidering-the-victory-bike-in-wwii/
for anyone interested.
The above article nicely puts how the program evolved (or devolved) due to war production limitations. The idea of having 12 manufacturers build hundreds of thousands of bicycles proved to be somewhat absurd in light of the very strict rationing that was required in civilian markets. Hence the downsized program.
DeleteEven if cycletrucks and victory bikes would have been helpful, the rationing was just too strict to go beyond the limited program that eventually came out of the July 1942 downsize.
"The program was downsized in July 1942 with the War Production Board finding that Huffman and Westfield/Columbia had proposed the best victory bike designs and were best situated to make the bikes."
DeleteI'm guessing "best design" was also "cheapest design". In that case, I can see how Schwinn wouldn't get the contract, as they probably had a minimum threshold for quality. Whereas Columbia and (especially) Huffy probably didn't care that much.
" It is likely that some careful lobbying also kept these two manufacturers in the bicycle program."
Huffy definitely had a good marketing department, making their mediocre-at-best bikes seem appealing. (I remember wanting Huffys when I was a kid, not so much Schwinn.) I've read some old bike touring books from the 1960s and 70s, and Huffy worked hard at inserting themselves into the narrative, promoting bike touring in any way possible, besides actually producing quality bikes, y'know, bikes that people would want to tour on. (Same goes for their attempts to get into racing.)