Originally Posted by
DesmoDog
Well the hub is an English 3 speed anyway...
A 1956 Schwinn Racer I picked up last year. I was searching for a '62 but this had cooler graphics and head badge so it came home with me. I didn't do a restoration obvivouly, just cleaned it up and gave it some TLC. Judging by the date code on the rear hub it was late '56 so maybe sold in '57. Or a Christmas bike? Who knows.
The first picture is "pre-TLC"
The "temporary" seat is too high in those photos but even so the frame is too small for me. I found a '62 frame in the next size up so I'll probably be putting another one together at some point.
Nice bike, I've got a few Schwinns here myself, one a blue '56 Traveler in 23", a black '62 Traveler in a 24" frame, a red '65 Racer in 22", and one campus green '72 Speedster in with a 24": frame. The two Travelers are apart, both were in bad need of fenders, and the Traveler had damaged threads on its fork. I just found two pairs of new old fenders and a fork. The 56 still has an original pair of US Royal tires on it. I found it while traveling through AZ about 30 years ago, I bought it and carried it around for two weeks in the back of the RV.
I tend to go back and forth between my Schwinn bikes and my English bikes. The Schwinns have been on the back burner for a few years, but now that I've found fenders, they'll get pushed to the front of the line soon.