MustangGar

I just pick up a Schwinn Twinn at a swap meet. It has had changes and was painted a ugly orange with a spray can painted over stickers and overspray on the chrome. I need to know the age of the bike. I found the serial number on the frame under the front crank housing. It is hard to read but looks like LFI 672981. I pulled the front crank and a casting number of SW3066 is on it. The paint under the ugly orange is a metalic orange. It has balloon tires and the fenders have been replaces along with the handlebars and the seats. What can anyone tell me about it. Dale

cuda2k

Dale, I'm going to move this over into our Classic & Vintage section. Hopefully they'll know the answers over there. Welcome to BikeForums!

cuda2k, moderator

MustangGar

Now that I have posted a message in the wrong place let me introduce mysefl. I am a retired Public Works Director from Central Alabama. I am new to bicycles. I have restored Ford Mustangs for years and health problems have introduced me to bicycles. It does not take as much time or effort as a car to restore one. I recently finished a Columbia Three wheel with a three speed and took it to a Automotive swap meet to ride and ended up selling it. I purchased the Schwinn Twinn before I came home and will probably do the same with it. I have it stripped down to sand blast and repaint.

cuda2k

Look forward to seeing the transformation of this Schwinn Twin. And you are right about one thing, restoring an old bike, even a tandem, takes a whole lot less time than cars! All through my teens I wanted to pick up an old 67 Chevelle to restore. Well, between the cost of the car, not to mention gas, going so high, and me being the poor college student I was, that never quite happened. I stumbled into vintage bikes, and this forum in fact, trying to clean up a Schwinn as well. Been hooked ever since.

Scooper

I believe LF=November, 1970, which would make it a 1971 model year Twinn.

Does it look like this?
1971 Twinn and Deluxe Twinn catalog page

MustangGar

The pictures look like the bike. The orange color is not listed in the add. How can I tell if the wheels and balloon tires or orginal and what handlebars are the same as the twinn.

StephenH

Older tandems are not that uncommon in fairly good shape (they tended to get left in garages rather than ridden!). Restoring it is great, but don't necessarily expect to make a huge profit off of it, either.

Some of the Schwinn bikes had oddball tire sizes used only on Schwinns. That wouldn't tell you the wheels were original, but would be an indication.

Scooper

The part numbers for the 1972 Twinn Deluxe and Twinn components are in the Specifications catalog HERE and HERE.

Illustrations and descriptions of the parts associated with most of the part numbers are in the Schwinn Parts and Accessories catalog. I have a 1973 Parts and Accessories catalog and can scan the pages of the parts you're specifically interested in, but I haven't scanned the whole catalog yet as it's over 100 pages.

Do you have the single speed/coaster brake equipped Twinn or the 5-speed Deluxe Twinn?

EDIT -

From the Parts and Accessories catalog:

Twinn
Front Wheel: p/n 85 211, 26" x 1-3/4" chrome rim (S-7 middleweight, p/n 80 129), Union hub, 36h, .105 gauge
Rear Wheel: p/n 85 317, 26" x 1-3/4" chrome rim (S-7 middleweight, p/n 80 129), Bendix coaster hub, 36h, .105 gauge

WHEELS
RIMS

Tires: p/n 62 002 Schwinn Westwind 26" x 1-3/4" blackwall
TIRES

Front handlebar: 55 031 Middleweight handlebar Type '67 for 26" and 24"
Rear handlebar: 55 049 Middleweight tandem rear handlebar
HANDLEBARS

Harris Cyclery sells 26" x 1-3/4" Schwinn size S-7 tires.

MustangGar

I have a Parts and Accessories catalog but think it is a later since it has a 1987 tandem Frame shown. or is the 1987 a part number. The Twinn is a single speed with a rear coaster brake.

Scooper

I have no way of knowing whether the 1987 is the year of the frame or something else, but I doubt it's a part number. The Parts and Accessories catalogs will have the year on the cover.

I scanned the '73 P & A catalog pages with the Twinn wheels, rims, tires, and handlebars, and the underlined words WHEELS, RIMS, TIRES, and HANDLEBARS in my post above are links to those pages. The part numbers from the Twinn specifications have red boxes around them.

MustangGar

Where are part numbers located on handlebars, wheels and etc. (Schwinn)

Scooper

Most Schwinn parts didn't have the part numbers permanently marked on them; they used adhesive backed stickers that were removed when the part was installed on a bike.

Like this:

cudak888 

Are you parting with that fork, Scoop?

-Kurt

Scooper

I already sold it, Kurt. One of the guys on Schwinn Forums needed it for a Continental restoration. Sorry...

frameteam2003

Good thing is...All we have do do is steer MustanGar away from Huffys and he'll do the rest!
I love tandems,have three(so far)
Do look for the older schwinn tandems--the town&country--has a curved seat tube on the rear.These were made of cro-mo tubing .