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Schwinn identification

Old 07-20-21, 12:44 AM
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Spellscape
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Schwinn identification

And now about Schwinn
I understand this is ot Paramount :-) but are those good bikes (I know Varsity was one on most produced model) ? Any estimation on year?
1st






2nd




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Old 07-20-21, 12:44 AM
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Old 07-20-21, 01:00 AM
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The green one looks like approximately 1971, and the ladies model looks like about 1975.

Surely these didn't turn up in Ukraine(?).
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Old 07-20-21, 01:01 AM
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Oh yes they are here and red one has 27 wheels
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Old 07-20-21, 05:23 AM
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Amazing two Varsitys made it to the Ukraine! Both should be equipped with 27" wheels. They are basically the entry level road bike for Schwinn of that era. If you post the serial numbers (IIRC on the left rear dropout) we can date them more exactly. The woman's model might have a 4 digit number stamped in the headbadge. If there is one, post that as well, it is a date code. I doubt the green one has it because Schwinn started using that system in the mid to late '70s.
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Old 07-20-21, 09:49 PM
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SCHWINN began placing the serial number on the HEADTUBE beneath the oval headbadge, on the right side of the head.. directly above the front fork, at some time during 1970.

Prior to 1970, going back some years to at least the early sixties, the serial number was near the rear dropout.

SCHWINN BEGAN EMPLOYING THE "two-letter" SERIAL NUMBER SYSTEM DURING THE MID-SIXTIES.
Essentially what you have is "two-letters" followed by numbers.
Okay, here is an example: BG040171
------the FIRST LETTER tells you the MONTH..............(B) = February.......................The SECOND LETTER tells you the YEAR......(G)=1971

******Schwinn DID NOT USE the LETTERS "oh" AND "eye" BECAUSE THE LOOK TOO MUCH LIKE "one" AND "zero".*************

1st LETTER (month):
A = JAN
B = FEB
C = MAR
D = APR
E = MAY
F = JUN
G = JUL
H = AUG
J = SEP
K = OCT
L = NOV
M = DEC

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++
2nd LETTER (YEAR):
G = 1971
H = 1972
J = 1973
K = 1974
L = 1975
M = 1976
N = 1977
P = 1978
Q = 1979
R = 1980

F = 1970
E = 1969
D = 1968
C = 1967
B = 1966

I may be mistaken but I think you may come across some 1970 Schwinns that have the "two letter" serial number on the rear dropout as was done from mid sixties thru 1969. Many 1970 SCHWINN bicycles will have the "two-letter" serial number on the right side of the headtube, below the badge & just above the front fork.
------This is why I segregated the mid-sixties to 1970 from the 1971 onward in the column above, that reasoning and to more highlight that Schwinn skipped the letters "eye' and "oh".

I think that some time during the 1976 model year that SCHWINN began stamping a production date code into the white oval Schwinn badge. I think this began in 1976 but I just don't remember when, might have been '75 but I think it was 1976.
YOU CAN google exactly how to decipher this code of the very tiny numbers stamped within the oval Schwinn badge......badges before 1976 will not have a stamped code!
You CAN google exactly how to read Schwinn serial numbers through the decades by just googling Schwinn serial numbers, determining what year....age... etc..

Google something like 1961 Schwinn Catalog, --or-- Google something like 1971 Schwinn Catalog,.............AND YOU SHOULD HAVE LINKS FROM THE waterford SITE WHICH APPEAR......................waterford HOSTS ALL OF THE SCHWINN CATALOGS GOING BACK ABOUT 80 YEARS.
There you can simply wander and scroll through and see how the models and names and colors offered changed/differed through the years. It is probably the best first resource when you are trying to learn what Schwinn was doing in any particular era or a few consecutive years that any bike you might be interested in was produced.
As with all year model catalogs, as with Automobile year catalogs of the past, NOT EVERYTHING IS EXACT, BECAUSE OF THE LAG-TIME BETWEEN PHOTOGRAPHING, EDITING, PRINTING THE CATALOG & BROCHURES versus When The NEW YEAR's MODELS ACTUALLY COME OFF THE PRODUCTION LINES AND HIT THE SALES SHOWROOMS, so you might have pictures there that might have something that might have changed, colors offered are More or perhaps some particular colors were deleted or replaced with another totally different color in the line-up. It gets really nearly impossible to know exactly in how things changed year to year on such things, especially when for example you are looking at really ancient early post war, late 1940's year models and such. The sixties and seventies probably are easier to determine many of the color changes and mechanical changes, and pedals, seat, and handlebar, etc and offered accessory changes. It isn't that anyone particularly is concerned with the changes so much except those that go nuts about the '62 Corvette 5 speeds, and those kids' Stingray & Krate models of 1963 to about 1974. You also have certain folks that really dig the ancient coaster brake Schwinns with all the tanks and bogus trash that is added to the front fork, which does essentially nothing useful, and they go nuts over what they deem as an original boys bike that came all blinged-out like that from Chicago from circa the late 1930's through about the early sixties. They simply use the girls bikes as parts-sources to provide better looking(improved condition) parts which are the same as seen on the boys model. YOU ALSO HAVE FOLKS WHO CHERISH AND ENJOY THE PARAMOUNT models THROUGH THE YEARS, but there are not the numbers as with the coaster-brake single speed balloon bike freaks. The VARSITY, CONTINENTAL, SUBURBAN, COLLEGIATE , and even the Super Sport does not currently enjoy the same type of zealot following. More folks find the Panasonic imports and even both the Japanese made Le Tour and the later stateside, Chicago version, much more interesting to chase down than any of the electroforged "lightweights" like the Varsity-Conti-Collegiate-Suburban, and more interesting than what many with no knowledge of Schwinns often think of as being a Varsity like bike, with the Super Sport, when it is not, but that is why the Super Sport has little to almost zero demand like the Varsity, etc because folks think it is just another typical electroforged with its one-piece Ashtabula crank......most don't even know that the SS has differing geometry from the Varsity/Conti/Sub/Collegiate....... .....most that don't know just assume that it is a Varsity variant with just a name that is more cool than Varsity or Continental.
Have fun with your Schwinns.
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Old 07-21-21, 10:31 AM
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Schwinn Varsities in the Ukraine? Awesome. The chrome on Schwinn components is pretty good so the little rust that you have on the rims should come out with some chrome cleaner or, the internet favorite, aluminum foil. Wax over the rusted are after cleaning it to keep the rust away.

The bikes look like they are in good condition.

Have you ridden them yet?

How did they get to the Ukraine? Any ideas?
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Old 07-22-21, 06:06 AM
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Originally Posted by Velo Mule
Schwinn Varsities in the Ukraine? Awesome. How did they get to the Ukraine? Any ideas?
in the year 2000, the church on the campus of my alma mater (Andrews University) made a plea for members to donate bicycles for a college in Russia. Somebody had arraigned for a shipping container to go to Russia so students could get around better. I got involved to help out. What was donated were a lot of lower end bikes with 26 X 1 3/8" or 27 X 1/4" tires. Among them were old Chicago made Schwinns. They were awesome compared to the others in that most of them could be maintenanced to be almost like knew again. Because of problems with Russian customs, the shipment went to Ukraine instead.

Of course used bikes with those old tire sizes requiring a lot of time and expense fixing up wasn't practical. Instead we raised money to buy bicycles made in Ukraine at the XB3 company in Kharkov. These were donated to pastors that could use a bicycle to better get around. Eventually the XB3 company quit making the kind of bicycles we needed (and eventually quit making bicycles altogether). We started making the bicycles on a college campus in Bucha just west of Kyiv. This project has lots of interesting stories.

One way we raised money between 2001 and 2008 for our project was to do a week-long bike ride somewhere in Ukraine. We would be feed and stayed in churches.along our route. I was surprised one time when parked outside a library in a town in the boonies in Ukraine was a yellow Schwinn Continental. I sure wondered at the time how it got there.
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