I’m looking for information on restoring a 28” black Schwinn continental. The condition is fine; I’ve had since I was young. (Sorry no pica’s to post). The chrome is good. The paint has some scratches and the decals are cracked from age, and the stickers on the front forks are worn.
So my questions are: 1. Should I just repaint the entire bicycle or just touch up the scratches? And get new decals for it, if I can find them. (Will it affect the value, not that I’ going to sell it.) 2. I checked memory lanes website for decals, I did not see them. Are the any other sources that you could recommend ? 3. To demonstrate my lack of knowledge, where is the serial number located? Do I need it for anything? Any other thoughts or comments you could provide would be Helpful.

Welcome to the Forums

I moved this thread from Introductions to here in Classic & Vintage because these fine folks are all about restoration projects

Welcome. Velocals.com has some. Here's the link to Schwinn.
VeloCals Product List

Welcome to the forums.

It's always hard to make such judgements without pictures. That said, it sounds likes the best route would be to simply leave the paint or touch it up. I would almost certainly avoid repainting it completely. It's a lot of work, and will decrease value--and Schwinn Continentals aren't too valuable to start. Schwinn's quality of paint was generally very good, so it should shine again with a little polish such as Meguire's ScratchX or similar.

There are Schwinn Continental decals on ebay. Velocals is a popular decal vendor, but I don't see any Continental decals on their site. Cyclomondo (ebay seller based in Australia) is another reputable source for decals.

Complete Schwinn White Continental Bicycle Decal Set | eBay

Welcome. If you've had the bike since you were young, those scratches and cracked decals may have some sentimental value. I would just clean it and try to keep the original patina. Hang it on the wall in the rec room and get another bike to ride.

Unless there is significant rust, or risk of it happening, I recommend that you simply clean and polish the existing paint and decals. Most here think that the original paint with some minor signs of age just add to an old bike's character.
Continental's are solid bikes and while not highly collectable, it obviously has some sentimental value to you so it should be a good bike to get back into riding condition, and to enjoy learning basic bicycle mechanics or "wrenching".

A continental (2 actually) was what got me into this bike affair...Polish it, lube it, and ride it until you decide if it's the one you want to stay or if it gets a friend (or 2).

If I recall Black was a pretty early color for these, so a fair chance this bike is quite old.
Without images I can only suggest keeping it original may be the best guidance.

Barring images, a frame serial number located near the non drive side rear axle should be of help in giving a date to the bike.

I'm not familiar with a 28-inch Continental. Do you mean frame size? They were typically 22" 24" 26" in that department. 27-inch wheel size.

I would echo what others are saying: keep the finish original. It can only be original once, and you've had it since new, so you sort of know where every mark came from!

Also, that bike is a 39-pound ten-speed (or is it an eight-speed?). You might decide at some point to keep it, but have a much lighter bike that you ride most of the time. The good news is your bike is about five pounds lighter than a 44-pound Varsity, if I recall correctly.

The Serial # should be located either on the LH rear dropout (where the R. wheel goes in), or on the Lower RH side of the Head Tube (where the fork goes into the frame). You can determine month/ year of manufacture thus:

THE SCHWINN DATE CODES BY YEAR,MONTH AND DAY

Also, look for a copy of Glenn's Complete Manual of Bicycle Mechanics; it's basically print of the old Schwinn Factory Service manual, and has many photos of components that were used on your Continental.

The serial number will be stamped into the base of the headtube, below the badge. That will indicate the month and year the frame was built. But more important than that is a 4-digit number that will be stamped into the badge itself, which will indicate the actual day and year the bike was built. At the time Schwinn often stored frames for months before building them into a bike, such as with the '81 Continental recently discussed here: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...salvaging.html

The Continental was available in a super-size 28" frame in '82 and '83 only. You can see the '82 catalog page here: Schwinn 1982 Bicycles And Accessories -- Continental

If that's what he has, it's not 'an early one.'

Is that what you have, 14?

He never said it was an early one. The size and color plus it having "stickers" (vs. decals) on the fork give it away as an '82/'83. Of course the frame and badge numbers will confirm the true vintage.

What I remember was a Black Continental with a chrome fork that was available approx. 1977 to 1979 time. Yes, I believe that there were earlier black ones in the 60's too.