I recently bought a lot of 4 schwinn bikes; 2 travelers, a racer, and a spitfire, the first traveler was badly rusted and was lightly tuned and passed to a friend for a bar bomber. The second bike was the spitfire, complete rebuild which will find a home at my cousin's mother in laws house, this bike is beautiful. But this one, the Black 62 Traveler is too cool. The graphics, the seat with crash rails, the beautiful stainless steel fenders, This bike speaks to me and I like what it's saying. I'm stoked. I really like the Raleighs I've built (5 in total) but these Schwinn 3speeds are the coolest. Here are the before pics, the fenders were just laying on the tires. This was originally for a friend but man, it fits me so well I might re-neg the deal. Any suggestions on the build? no saddle bags

Nice bike G! I tend to go for the nice clean up jobs myself.those stainless fenders will polish out nicely.If the chrome is good I'd polish the devil out of it.Paint might look decent with WD-40 wipedown(just keep it away from any silkscreens/decals)Looks like you are set up to handle the mechanicals.
I think those whitewalls look sharp.Are repops available in that size?If you can get those tires you could respoke the wheels in stainless and have some sweet wheels.

I love these Travelers -- best Schwinn decals ever!

https://www.geocities.com/sldbdealer/1962/62dlct08b.jpg

Bob

I really like the older peaked fenders and the chain guard as compared to later Schwinns.
A period front rack, or lights and generator might be a neat accessory for this bike.

G-Man,

Use Maguires products to bring the paint back, not WD-40. I begin with Scratch X (on the paint only--- no decals or screens), followed by the step 2 wax, and end with the step 3 polish. The paint will sparkle and the wax and polish does not hurt the decals or screenings.

I'm with you. Restore and keep the Traveler for now. If in a year or two you find you don't ride it, then pass it along. Can't wait to see the "after" pics.

I restored one of those a year or so ago. Has the Bendix kick-back two speed hub, generator and lights. It is one of my favorites and gets comments whenever I ride it.

That's a nice catch. What's been suggested as far as cleanup, polish and accessories sounds to me like a good plan.

I don't know if you'd be interested in non-original features, but that bike would look amazing with a little tasteful white/red pinstriping. It doesn't really need anything, though.

Is that what you did with that yellow varsity?that thing is sharp.

Does that bike have a coaster brake? sweet! my other traveler has a sturmey dynamo hub and I'm picking up another traveler tomorrow with a headlamp I hope to put it on this bike with the sturmey hub.

I have done a number of refurbishings, not restorations as I like the old paint, and have had success with a very similar routine as Pastor Bobs; scratch-x, cleaner wax, polish, polish. I do have a secret though. I cycle through terry cloth towels in the G-funk International Bike Shop and Country Club. and the second to the last stage of towels are used for the initial wiping. this towel contains a proprietary mix of oil, wax, wd-40, sweat, beer, chamois cream, bong water, gatorade, snot. basically your eleven herbs and spices of bicycle life. This works amazingly well. However on this bike I will be implementing another trial technique: Colored Wax. I had some leftover from some black car I had a long time ago and will give it a try on this sweet sugar mama. Thanks for the tips, but it really sounds like this bike is uber sweet as it is and after the headlight it might not need more. maybe a 110 cinelli stem for a better riding position? The paint on the bike is in really good shape it's just dirty.
we should start a black schwinn thread!!

Along the lines of colored wax, on a tip from Cudak888, I've used black shoe polish on old black Raleigh frames, and it buffs out to a great high sheen.

Neal

Some red handlebar streamers too.

shoe polish is a great idea, I'll try it.

another traveler followed me home today. it's the ladies version of the blue one I gave my buddy. I'm sure his wife will love it, minus rack and generator and lights of course

You should have held onto the generator hub from the one you gave to your friend. Those are sweet and much cleaner looking.

That hub is on loan, just to get him rolling. Once the bike comes in for the full g-funk treatment I'll swap it out for a non dynamo hub. I agree that the non hub generators are hokey

Hey G, you're having the same problem I have (see my avatar)!

G-Funk, Really nice bike in great condition. Do you know what year it is?

I'm thinking the black one is a 62 it has a 11/61 hub date.
the ladies blue bike is a 61, I don't remember the blue mens, but I think it's a 61 as well.
The ladies bike was on ebay as a shwinn travler with a minimum bid of .99. and shipping of 150 I think. I had that bid at .99 for a few days before I emailed the guy and told him I'd come get it and give him 20.00, because that's how cool I am.... he agreed, then told me about a few bianchi's he got in a storage unit buyout. I told him that nobody likes those crappy green dego rides and that I'd buy them for 20.00 each sight unseen. he wasn't too keen. we'll see though. I don't imagine even a Bianki Champion bel Mungo would ellude any savvy ebayers.

[QUOTE=g-funk;6039290]Does that bike have a coaster brake? sweet! my other traveler has a sturmey dynamo hub and I'm picking up another traveler tomorrow with a headlamp I hope to put it on this bike with the sturmey hub.

The Bendix two speed (Automatic is the official Bendix name for it) is a coaster brake. I put a front caliper brake on it until I got used to the coaster again. Front brake was an optional accessory.
I have a '67 Racer and an '86 Dahon folder, and my daughter has a '68 Breeze, all with the Sturmey Archer three speeds. Better ratios and more practical, but they don't have the same charm as the Bendix, in my opinion. YMMV