Reynolds 531 

But that would make it a Schwinn Continental!

pastorbobnlnh 

...or Varsinental!

capnjonny 

I looked through my forks and thought I would use one from a later model Bianchi then found a Raleigh fork the right size that was even lighter so that is what I am going with. The old forged Schwinn fork outweighs it by about a pound.

I stripped the frame to metal and primed it over the weekend and am painting it today in Rose gold Metalic. I bought 2 cans of that color for another build but didn't use it so it goes on the Varsity.

SirMike1983 

The base model 3-speed New World / World / Racer bikes went through several iterations of forks. The base model fork initially had a sloping crown and came on the fillet brazed New Worlds. They bend fairly easily but care has to be taken when using the frame/fork arm tool on them because the blade tubes deform fairly easily. The crown is the easiest way to identify this fork - it's semi-flat and slopes gently down toward the outside edges. The blades are an oval profile.

The pre-war style sloping crown New World fork:



Schwinn was one of the bike companies that was not selected for extended wartime production, but in an appeal was granted the ability to complete bikes from leftover stocks of parts during the war. Contrary to popular notions, Schwinn produced a fair number of bikes from the remaining stocks during the war, including New World bikes (many under the B.F. Goodrich badge). It was early in the war that electro-forge welding came into use for the New World and the base model fork changed to a type with torpedo-shaped round tubular blades. These resemble the post-war forks but are a little wider and somewhat more crudely built. These also bend fairly easily, but the blades are somewhat more forgiving to straighten because they are round and do not deform when worked with the frame/fork arm as easily as the pre-war type fork.

War era wide torpedo tube fork:



After the war, the torpedo tube/blade type fork was refined further. It was narrowed a bit and had small indentations added for wheel clearance. These are similar to the war era forks in that they do get bent, but they can be straightened fairly easily with the frame/fork arm and some care. There are limits to how far you can re-bend, but it's a fairly heavy, workable steel fork. The 1948 New World would have this design as stock.

Post-war type torpedo tube fork with indentations:



Early in the 1950s, the fork was revised once again, with the indentations for wheel clearance made larger and running most of the way down the tubular blades. The handle otherwise like the late 1940s era forks. Early in the 1950s, the "New World" transitioned to being just the "World" model, and then the name was phased out entirely.

The "Racer" effectively became the base model later in the 50s. The Racer eventually received the flat ashtabula blade fork that Schwinn became famous for. They are heavy and have more flex side-to-side, though are fairly strong fore/aft and not overly hard to repair. They usually bend at the steerer tube, and one popular repair was to use a modified bumper jack (sometimes sold as the "Little Brute" straightener) type tool to push out the bend.

Originally the New World/Superior/Paramount line up were aimed at adult riders, with the vision being people using them for recreation or transportation was was done in Britain or Europe. It did not catch on as well as was hoped and eventually the marketing was more youth-oriented by the 1950s.

capnjonny 

I stripped all the hardware off the New world today and polished the head badge. I'll probably leave it without paint as that would be a real PITA to do properly. It looks to be brass plated as there is an area where the plating is worn off. The bare frame weighs 8.53 lbs and the fork 2.47lbs. Material is drawn straight guage high ten 10 10 steel. The original color was black and I will probably repaint it that color. I found some fenders in my stash that fit reasonably well. Smooth with no ridges. It would be nice to find a front with the peak but these will do.

The Varsity got a clear coat this morning.. I'll let it dry a couple days before I start hanging hardware on it. I found a Schwinn Varsity down tube decal on E bay but I think I am going to pass on it and just keep the head badge.
I have 4 bikes in the quay at the moment waiting their turn, a Schwinn Colegiate and Racer, a Early Stump Jumper and a Fuji Del Rey. The Stumpy is probably worth more than all the rest put together. The last one I did sold for $800.
Badges? We don't need no stinking Badges!

SirMike1983 

After you do your prep work, red oxide primer followed by black paint. It would have had gold box stripes originally as well, but even just a nice coat of black would be a nice improvement. Original paint and primer are often hiding on the steerer tube. The nice thing about black is it's a bit easier to get it in the ballpark than trying to dead-on match a blue, green, or red. There are custom Schwinn type paints available still, but they're quite expensive.

From a 1947 New World -

capnjonny 

Sir Mike,
Why red oxide rather than Rustoleum grey or black spray?

Is there something special about Red oxide that I should know?

I removed the paint from the frame/ fork yesterday( about 1 1/2 hr using a sliding box cutter kife and sander . today I am going to sand blast the corners.

SirMike1983 

I use the red oxide to follow the original combination of red and then black. The black spray paint will probably adhere just as well to grey or black primer, so personal choice if you don't want to be bound by the original combo.

Iowa10Speed

If you need new S-6 tires, I recently shopped and settled on a "kit" from thebikesmiths.com - 2 Kenda tires, tubes and rim strips for $52 + $7 shipping. They also sell on eBay and/or Amazon but their website had the lowest total cost.

As far as I could find, Kenda is the last company making S-6 sized tires.

SirMike1983 

The only easy to find option for the 597mm S6 wheels today are the Kendas with straight treads and advertised "For Schwinn". I have those on most of my old Schwinn lightweights. I usually get them from the BikeSmiths. The white walls can be hard to find, but the blacks are usually available.

Previously, and apparently on occasion, a thinner Kenda "club" type tire was marketed for the 597mm wheels, being 26 x 1 1/4,. And Schwalbe previously (and apparently on occasion) has made tires for this size as well, again 26 x 1 1/4 club type tires. These are both thinner than the common Kenda S6 tires, which are more a 1 3/8 type. I don't know if these thinner options are even being made any more.

capnjonny 

I finished sand blasting the New World frame yesterday. Here are some pictures showing the brazed joints. Note the straightened forks! I was going to paint the frame black as that was the original color but I changed my mind am now going to paint it Burgandy with cream fenders. I did a mixty frame that color a few years ago and really love the color.

I started assembling the custom Varsity yesterday and ran into a couple of problems. First, the VO porteur bars I wanted to use were 22.2 mm and would take bar end shifters but were too large for any brake levers I have. Also, the bottom bracket inserts may not work. They are smooth faced, not the recessed type I saw on the u tube how to video. None of the bottom bracket spindles I have are long enough and if I do find a longer one at the Bike Exchange today the chain line might be wrong. I am going to also look for a long cassete bottom bracket but might have the same issue there. I saw another vid that used a different type of adapter sold by Sunlite that might work. Anyone have any guidence?

SirMike1983 

Schwinn did offer white contrasting fenders as an option, which usually shows up on black bikes. But I suppose one could order a maroon bike with the contrasting fenders for an extra cost.

A black one with contrasting fender option -

Sierra

How are the top & down tubes attached to the head tube? I see no brazing.
Is there still paint there hiding the brazing?

SirMike1983 

Late 1940s New Worlds are of a hybrid construction. Some of the frame joints are electro forge welded, similar to later bikes like the Varsity, and some are fillet brazed. Electro forge welding on some of the joints began fairly early in the history of the New World, around 1942 apparently with the I-series serial number bikes. But the process could not yet be applied to all of the frame joints. The joints where the electro forge welding process proved to be a challenge continued to be fillet brazed well after WWII. That's why when the frame is stripped you see brazing on some joints (the fillet brazed parts) and not on others (the welded parts).

Electro forge welding discussed:

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/varsity.html


Several of us who visit the Classic and Antique Bicycle Exchange website have been compiling a registry of New World bikes and looking at the evolution. Dozens have been documented dating to the era between 1939 and the early 1950s. "Miq" at the CABE has been keeping the chart up to date.

Latest chart here:
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/wa...151709/page-80

capnjonny 

I sprayed the frame and fork on the Schwinn New World today. Rustoleum Burgandy over Clean metal primer (off white) I have a 1971 Schwinn hump back Racer in the shop at the moment with Chrome fenders. They look like they would work for the New World. Could they have been an option in 1948. The chain guard looks like it might be the same one used on the New world also.

I am thinking of building the Racer into a Manta Ray look alike. I have a Shimano 3 speed top tube mounted stick shift and ape hanger bars and part of a banana seat. A friend of mine did that with a Schwinn Corvette and it looks cool.

capnjonny 

To Lattz and Pastor Bob
I tried sending you both private messages but for some reason they didn't go through so hopefully you both will see them here .

Pastor Bob,
As you know, I am restoring a 1948 Schwinn New World.
Despite good advise I went ahead and stripped the frame, straightened the fork, and now have repainted everything in Burgandy Enamel.

I can't help my self.

Now that I am committed to a full resto I am going to re spoke the wheels. My friend Jack who gave me the bike is no stranger to Surmey Archer 3 speed hubs but he couldn't get the 2 speed New Departure hub working properly. I am going to put the bike back together and ride the wheel as is. If the hub needs work would you be willing to look at it for me and fix it if possible? There is a whole box of Sturmey Archer 3 speed hubs at the bike Exchange but I would rather use the 2 speed for authenticity. I have a large collection of freewheels, If you are looking for one I have some french, italian, and english units in addition to the standard japanese items..

Lattz
If the offer still stands I would really appreciate it if you could trace the New World down tube decal for me. I think I can get the seat tube decals from Bike Bones but can't find that one anywhere.

If either of you want to contact me directly here is my E mail

e mail 143cabinets@att.net

SirMike1983 

Burgundy is a good pick. Schwinn's dark red was a popular color in the 1940s, and your color looks pretty good on there. Original fenders would be steel with a bladed front fender painted to match the frame.

Lattz

Hi @capnjonny here is how the decal would look like in a quick and dirty interpretation. While doing it a few problems came up. Since I did another decal for a friend, I asked and my printshop cannot print in gold color, so you'll need to find somebody who does, or have only the red printed on a golden base foil. An alternative solution would be if you would have the letters cut and use them as a paint mask, then you could spray the logo with model pain or even rattlecan. What do you think?


Also, we might need to rework the red outline and come up with something, which contrasts a bit more from the burgundy. Not a must, just for consideration.
Red outline looks great on black or cream bikes, but yours is painted already, plus decal can be changed as many times as you need.

SirMike1983 

If this helps any - from my 1947 New World.

Lattz

These help a lot, thank you. Whenever you have some time, could you measure how big is it in millimeters or send a photo with a measureing tape on it? That way I could properly size the logo for capnjonny .
Do you also happen to have a picture of the round AS tubing logo? My ref picture reads "Genuine Seamless Steel .....<tubing? ref is torn at that point>", saw another decal simply putting it as "Chrome Molybdenum". Thanks!

Sierra

This one?

Lattz

Yeah that's the one!!! and scanned..... thanks! Do you happen to have measurements?

Sierra

Let me know if you need something different.

SirMike1983 

On the round tubing decals: there are a couple of different variations. The Cr Mo decal was used on the higher-end bikes that had Cr Mo fillet brazed frames. The "seamless tubing" decal is a bit different in that was specific to the fillet brazed New Worlds, which were seamless tubing but were not made of Cr Mo. This would generally be the 1939-42 era New World frames, prior to the introduction of the hybrid construction brazed and welded frames.

Here is a mostly intact one from a 1941 New World I had. The edges were a bit tattered but originally would have been around 26 to 27 mm or so in diameter. It is similar in size, lettering, and color to the Cr Mo decal, but obviously the text is different.



Velocals, I believe previously reproduced these decals but they have gone out of business. They are of limited use in that they apply to kind of a narrow group of bikes.

In 1942, the New World frames transitioned to a hybrid construction of some joints being welded and some being brazed, so the seamless tubing decal goes away.


--------------

The down tube decals on the New World vary. Below is an example of the common type post-war Schwinn New World decal for the down tube, with a ruler next to it. The decal is just a hair over 21cm long. The height is 23-24mm ish for the capital letters.







----------


Also keep in mind that some of the alternatively badged New Worlds, such as the B.F. Goodrich and the "Planes & Trains" type have different downtube decals. For example the 1941 Planes and Trains variation has a full-sized "Schwinn" downtube decal without any mention of "New World". The headbadge also only says "Schwinn" with no mention of New World.






My 1942 B.F. Goodrich war era New World has no downtube decal at all.

capnjonny 

I just got back on the forum and didn't know you folks had sent me more info on the Schwinn New world Decals. Thank you all. With this info I should be able to have decals made. I asked around at the Bike Exchange and one of the members has a brother that belongs to a local maker space that has a decal maker.

I am going to send him this info and see if he can come up with something.

I was able to purchase the seat tube wrap and medalion so all I need is the down tube decal.

If anyone happens to have a front fender just taking up space that would be the iceing on the cake.

I have fenders that look close to the schwin ones but not with the peak on the front.

I just finished cleaning up a Fuji Del Rey and now am staring at a Flyer Electric Cargo bike and wondering what to do with it.

It was donated to the Bike Exchange in non working condition. They didn't want it and gave it to me. The owner left it sitting under a sprinkler for a few hours and now it is dead. I checked the battery and it charged up with no problem. The mechanical parts appear o/k - the bike looks new. When I received it I found a charge controler in one of the saddle bags that came with it. I am going to try to do some digging and see if this is a new part or if this is the one from the bike that has been removed .

Apparently Flyer bikes are sold by American Flyer and are internet only sales. The website lists a large number of "dealers" locally but when I called them no one has ever heard of American Flyer. Sounds kind of fishy. I found a phone no. for the company and will call them Monday to see if they will be willing to assist me in getting this thing running. It sold new for almost $2000 including the accessories and would make a great Playa Bike for Burning Man.

The Fuji is a perfect "classic" Japanese bike . The Suntour derailleurs and shifters, combined with a Shimano hyperglide 6 speed freewheel. and 52/42 up front , and an all up weight of just 24lb. including pedals.