1957 Schwinn Traveler Three Speed: An "In-Betweener" Schwinn Light Roadster

 

 

I have finally finished my rather gradually-conducted rebuild of a 1957 Schwinn Traveler tall frame bike. This three speed dates to an unusual period in Schwinn touring bike production. I like to think of this era of Schwinn three speeds as "in-betweener" bikes. They came after the well-known "wing theme" Schwinn and before the equally well-known Schwinns that had the gold lettering and ornate tri-color graphics. These bikes with simpler graphics tend to be less common and less well-known. They're still worth a look though.

For a brief period in the mid-1950s, Schwinn used these rather simple graphics on their bikes. They look like they belong on an 1980s-90s era bike, but are in fact from the mid-1950s. These graphics came after the ornate "wing" theme graphics of the early 1950s but before the ornate gold and tri-color graphics of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Another interesting feature is that this bike comes from the tail end of the period when Schwinn used many fillet brazed joints around the seat mast, and the torpedo tubular fork up front. After this, three speed Schwinn touring bike frames had more welded joints, and had flat "ashtabula" type forks in front. 

 

The brake calipers on this bike are also "in-betweener" parts: they came after Schwinn's use of the 1950s-era "Weinmann" inscribed brakes, but before the more common brakes with "Schwinn Approved" in cursive on them. These have "Schwinn Approved" in a simple block inscription. The brakes are Weinmann 810 models made of aluminum. The brake levers are common 1950s era Weinmann red dots.

 

For the most part though, this is otherwise a nice, straightforward three speed from the 1950s. It has a Sturmey Archer AW rear hub (I replaced the 1957 SW with a 1957 AW alloy model), chrome plated steel Schwinn S6 rims, Torrington double-butted spokes, and a Schwinn script front hub. Fenders are the always eye-catching Schwinn stainless types with a fin on the front fender. I gave the fenders a mirror polish on my polishing wheel, with final finish done by hand.  

 The photo above reminds me I need to wipe all the hand prints off the fenders as the next thing I do. All those smudge spots are finger prints from working on the bike...

It has the classic Schwinn one-piece crank with clover sprocket. Gear ratio is 46 teeth in front and 22 teeth in back, which is a pretty forgiving ratio that I enjoy for general purpose riding. The shifter is a Sturmey window type that I rebuilt a couple of years ago (if you've never used a freshly rebuilt and cleaned shifter with a good spring, it's something worth trying).

This 1957 model is a beautiful green color similar to that on my 1959 Schwinn Traveler. Over time, these two-stage automotive-style colors have grown on me. They probably look kind of gaudy to British or European three speed purists, but I've come to appreciate their mid-century, American look.

My usual choices are present for lighting, saddle, and tires. The rear light is a Soma bullet/torpedo LED, which goes great with any old school American bike up through the mid-1960s. The front is a Kiley LED chrome bullet, which is great for any old style three speed bike.  Tires are Kenda white walls. A classic 1950s American bike deserves white walls. 

 

I even included a little automotive touch - a traditional Chevrolet lapel pin on the saddle bag, which is a reference to the classic 1957 Chevy cars. The bag itself is the reliable, basic Banjo Brothers barrel type.

 

One item remains to be seen, which is whether I put the aftermarket rear rack back on the bike. This bike came with a Joannou-branded West German rack made from aluminum. It's a pretty nice rack. The issue is that the stock clamps that came with the rack were for the larger seat stays of an English three speed. These American three speeds have very thin seat stays with thick tube walls. The original owner made up for this with layers of electrical tape to pad the stay clamps used by the rack. Ideally I would find a smaller set of P-clamps to use with the rack. But then again I generally don't use a rear rack and it's more weight to power up the steep hills around here. We'll see if it stays off the bike...

So the good news is that the bike is basically done and ready for shakedown rides. The bad news is that the season is almost over, so any real riding with it probably won't happen until next spring. Maybe I'll get a shakedown ride or two in before things are done for the year. I'd really like to have this in a "ready to go" state when next season starts.