hk007134

Well guess I'm very lucky. Appears as though yours truly just bought an original King Size Heavy Duti from the original purchaser in black. He said he bought it brand new in 62 and has had it inside ever since. Said it looks just as it did the day he bought it. So your wondering where the pictures are? He has no puter or e-mail so I'm having to finish the deal through his son who told me it was as his dad said and he will e-mail me pics tonight. I was just lucky to catch this 80 year old, old timer at home. Everyday God smiles on me more ways than I can count and it was not 1200 smackers. I'll post up some pics ASAP.
Jim

surreal

Congrats!

SquidPuppet

Nice score! How/where did you connect with the seller?

hk007134

I called on a frame, thought I may have to piece one together. I asked how good a shape the frame was and he said "just like the day I bought it in 1962." You bought it? "yeah". Do you have the wheels? is it complete? "It's the whole thing just as I bought it like I told you and it does not even have a crack in the seat or noth'n" Can you e-mail me some pics? " No, I'm old school"! "I'll mail you some pics or I tell ya what, I'll just have my son get in touch with you". "We can square up on cash later because you will have to mail me a check" Just let me call the local bike shop and pay you through them."You can do that as my buddy works there" "Look, I gotta get off this phone I got a funeral to go too." I spoke with the bike shop and they knew this man and his buddy does work there so I paid for the bike and now they're going to get the shipping quote to me. They said it usually cost between 65 and 75 to ship a bike cross country.
Jim

SquidPuppet

So where/how did you find it? Ebay? Was it advertised somewhere else? I am looking for an old Speedster frame and am wondering what search method you used that was so sccessful.

hk007134

A fellow called me from my Full size Jeep club in Georgia and told me about the ad as they all know I like old bikes. I had to go back about 500 pages to find it on line as the search term was very specific.(1963 KING SIZE HEAVY DUTY) You can imagine the number of hits. I called every number that was in that general time frame my friend told me it was when he had seen it. What I found was (1962 KING SIZE JEEP GLADIATOR) That's why my friend found it as it had the words (Jeep Gladiator) in it. The guy said he had received a few calls but no one has any money where he lives or they did not know the scarcity of. It's purely just dumb luck and perseverance on my behalf. I have a friend as well that is affiliated with the refurbish bikes program at his church he is going through the hundreds of bikes and frames they have now to try and find anything early for me. I live in the retirement capitol you know. If you can send me a pic of what you are looking for I can guarantee I'll find it if it's out there. Another thing I have is 2 laptops searching the internet all the time for what I'm looking for via search engines that search every web site and ad listed. I put in the terms and the trash terms I don't want and it works very well. Another thing is look at your keyboard when you're typing and figure out what letters are most likely to be hit by accident and spell some of the search terms as if you fat fingered the keyboard. I can't tell you how many times I've bought things because of miss spellings.

SquidPuppet

hk007134

Send me a max number you are willing to spend. Freight as well or I can just supply you with a link to what we are able to find. Can you track this bike via a group of serial numbers or did Schwinn just number them as they rolled off? I will be back in my office in the morning and get my servers working on it. Is the bike you're looking for have a 10 speed style frame or a cruiser style frame? I'm going to use photo recognition as well. Although I like and buy old bikes I really do not know the true value of these I just buy what I like for what I think is a fair price. I've probably walked over million dollar bikes just because of all of the places and scrap yards I visit around the world but had no clue what it was or the year it was made. Also don't be afraid to call someone even if the ad is years old I do that all the time.............they put their number out there so what can they expect? The other thing is to right down ebay id's and what they have. If it does not sell and it's not relisted don't be afraid to send them a note about the product you were looking at. You may have to contact them through another auction they have running. It's not against the law to be determined.....it is against the law to be dumb and lazy and then cry about the one that got away. Found a 3 speed on ebay 250/best offer in new jersey. Cut the chain off the wheel and make it a single speed.....lol
Jim

SquidPuppet

It's a diamond frame as can be seen in the link. Schwinn catalogs, 1971 - 1980 (117 of 579)

As far as a max number, I'll just look at any and all hits you find, and evaluate from there.

I am unaware of any serial number database that IDs what type of bike it is. There might be one, but I've never seen one.

I've been hitting Craigslist in areas that I am willing to drive to, but so far no luck. Ebay too.

surreal

I'll facillitate on any Jersey/Phila bikes you find, Squidley. LMK

SquidPuppet

Than you good sir. I'll start checking CL.

surreal

I already dd.

hk007134

We got a lot of hits when we used the term "schwinn speedter" and "shwin" no s between d and t. Looks like 99.9 percent are 3 speeds! I will try to compile the list this weekend sometime.

surreal

It's true... "Schwinn" is probably the biggest single name in the vintage bike biz, but most of these sellers don't spell it properly. They usually forget the "c", often forget one of the "n"s....i never thought about how they'd botch "Speedster"...

I also find a lot of gems in listings that advertize a number of bikes at once. I got a sweet deal on a nice 50s Rudge Sports b/c no one had seen it. He had listed a ladies' Collegiate as a "Schwinn Collegiate" (or, probably "Shin Keedgit") and just put one pic and a blurb about the Rudge on the same ad, as an afterthought. The old Rudges with the "hand" sprocket don't last a day on my CL, unless they're waaaaay overpriced. I got this one, complete and maybe 75% original (with a GH6 dynohub!) for $75. Wouldn't have had a chance, if the seller had known how to list things properly...

hk007134

kinda like my Schwinn heavy duti with a jeep frame or however he listed it.................too funny. I sure hope it makes it here in one piece as I do have a couple of dollars in it.

SquidPuppet

Yep. I look at any ad that says, "few old bikes", "Vintage 10 speed" etc. Anything that could have a hidden nugget.

What is the ETA for that thing?

hk007134

Not sure yet. He had to take care of some things as his girlfriend or someone like that had passed away a few days before I spoke with him. The guys at the bike shop confirmed it as well. I'm just keeping cool for a few more days before I start calling him again. Everything seems legit, Lord I hope everything is legit...........lol

hk007134

It's not a Heavy Duti but it is a King Size..................I'm happy, should be here next week some time.

SquidPuppet

Man oh man, what a score. The saddle looks new. The chrome is still chrome.

Bring us some detailed pics once it's in your possession.

hk007134

Is there anything I should do to that seat before I ride it? I sure don't want to split it on the first trip to the 7-11!

SquidPuppet

It's just vynl right? Not leather? Maybe some shoe conditioner or mink oil.

surreal

Super hott bike....congrats. I'd be tempted to run a different saddle, and keep the original one in a box, for safe-keeping....

hk007134

I'm going to do just that.

hk007134

OK folks here's my 2 cents on the king size I bought. Looks good, a little hard to pedal, one pedal is bent a little, put another newer seat on it as the original seat is nice but sucks compared to the gel. I will post some pics of it now that I've gotten it here as soon as I can but the pics that I've posted that were sent to me are how it looks. I just bought a miller light for it nos in the box as I think they have a more nostalgic look over the Schwinn approved lights of that era.
Jim