Project Cruiser: A Mystery

"zeontestpilot" (zeontestpilot) 04/23/2019 at 10:15 • Filed to: Bikelopnik, schwinn

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One of my neighbors found out I was repairing a ‘59 Schwinn Corvette and reached out to say they had an women’s Schwinn up for grabs. I said yes without much thought, and what they had surprised me.

I was admittedly expecting a newer Schwinn bike, but this is a vintage one as well; a Schwinn Cruiser 5. Though there is a bit of mystery to this bike. Firstly, the lef t dropout (which is apparently what the part is called where the rear wheel attaches) says ‘ 4346289' which bikehistory.org says is a ‘ 5 7 Schwinn... which doesn’t sound right. Looking at breakdowns of other vintage Schwinn serial numbers from this era , they tend to start with letters to denote the month, not a number.

Checking the right dropout, I see another serial stamped ‘G1284' ... which correlates to the serial number from Giant Bicycle in Taiwan, who Schwinn outsourced to in the earlier ‘80s to meet demand. Checking the emblem on the seat tube seems to corroborates this with “Made[scratched-off ]WAN”. The Taiwan Schwinn’s seem to have the serial number G[MM][ YY] , so this one was stamped in December of 1984. It took a lot of digging to just find out this much, since I’m guessing the Taiwan bikes aren’t that well documented.

Looking at catalogs from ‘84 deepens the mystery because the Crusier was not offered in blue, only red or black. Perhaps it’s like cars? Where the model year is released the year previous? (like a ‘07 car made in ‘06). The ‘83 catalog does have a blue color offering.

Regardless, it seems to be a ‘80s built bike. Which I fully intend to fix up for the Missus. Despite its age, it seems to be well-taken care of, and in great condition. I even think the whitewall tires are the originals.

CalzoneGolem > zeontestpilot 04/23/2019 at 10:29

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I spent a lot of my youth riding a bike just like this at my grandmothers. They are quite fast if you’re being pursued by a bunch of angry boys on BMX bikes you’ll have plenty of time to get inside and lock the door and explain to your grandmother what happened before they arrive.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > zeontestpilot 04/23/2019 at 10:40

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Most def an 80's bike. The rear derailleur was invented in the 1930 's and didn’t become common place on bikes like the Schwine you have until the 1980's. There are other 1970's model schwines that have derailleurs but they are generally bikes that look like road bikes.

zeontestpilot > CalzoneGolem 04/23/2019 at 10:46

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good knowledge to know, lol

facw > zeontestpilot 04/23/2019 at 10:51

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Hope it rides well. I’m not sure I could stomach  ever riding a bike with friction shifters after a quarter century of riding with indexed shifters.

CalzoneGolem > zeontestpilot 04/23/2019 at 10:56

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That’s my top tip of the day.

shop-teacher > CalzoneGolem 04/23/2019 at 10:56

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The angry boys that chased me were in an S-10  Blazer.

CalzoneGolem > shop-teacher 04/23/2019 at 10:57

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I can’t guarantee this’ll be faster in that scenario