Schwinn New World ~ 1939
To see the First Rebuild: A Path Racer, Click Here
History of the New World Model
In 1938 Schwinn introduced three new models of lightweight road bicycles, the top of the line Paramount, the next level Superior, and the entry level road bike, the New World. Interestingly all three models could be configured in several ways and came from Schwinn in Chicago as a track bike, a road racer (single or 3 speed), or an upright touring bike (again as a single speed or 3 speed). All three were made with double triangle frames and similar geometry.
The Paramount was Schwinn's premier road bike and was built with chrome-molly tubing brazed into lugs. The Superior was built with the same chrome-molly tubing, but used fillet brazed construction. Fillet brazing builds up liquid brass around the joints of the tubing in order to connect the tubes securely to one another. New World models used the same fillet brazing, but with smaller diameter seamless tubing that had thicker walls and this weighed more.
These three Schwinn models introduced in 1938, would become the progenitors of many lines of Schwinn road bikes over the course of many decades until Schwinn filled for bankruptcy in the middle of the 1990s. Specifically, the New World would lead to the Continental, the Varsity, the Traveler, the Racer, the Collegiate, and the Suburban, among others. Eventually, the fillet brazing manufacturing method needed to be automated. It was too labor intensive and the demand for bikes was growing. This led Schwinn to develop the Electro Forged method, which sped up frame manufacture considerably.
'71 Schwinn Varsity Electo-Forged joint between head tube and top tube.
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My New World as Found on Craig's List NH
One day while browsing Craig's List, I spotted an ad for a "Pre-War Schwinn." I emailed and arranged to meet the seller some 75 miles from home. It was just a frame and fork, and the fork had this incredible curve! Was it bent or was it made that way? It was very hard to tell from the pictures. I made an offer and I came home with a frame I knew very little about.
This frame was loaded with mysteries beside the curvy fork. The only decal was a small white decal on the seat tube near the seat post clamp. There was a small remnant of another at the bottom just above the bottom bracket shell. Interestingly, stenciled onto the BB shell were the letters "GV." It was missing a headbadge on the head tube.
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Catalog Pages from the Tom Findley Collection. Click Pictures to link to Schwinn Catalogs.
