[KC-Steve]

Here's a photo of the headset lug. You can see the brazing job where the paint has deteriorated.

Steve

[Doohickie]

I had really good results recently with this:



Before & After:



I sanded it down to bare metal, painted the rust converter on, let it dry, then touched it up with the paint pen. Like me, you're lucky in starting out with a black bike; you don't have to worry about color matching. When it was first done, you could see the difference between the nice, black paint pen and the old oxidized paint. I used some automotive body wax on it and it blended perfectly.



The spots in the After picture are water spots. It was snowing while I took the pic and the bike was warm from being inside.

[KC-Steve]

Thanks Doohickie. Your touch-up looks good. But I actually WANT to repaint the bike. I have two new paint guns and a professional compressor itching to be used someday. I don't really have much rust to deal with, just scratches. So my soda blaster will make quick work of paint removal. I'll begin with a self-etching primer, then filler primer, two coats of urethane base color coat, and finally two coats of clear urethane. Before the clear coat though I'll mask off an area with a vinyl mask to paint the letters, "handcrafted" on the down tube. No decals even though I have a brand new set for the Schwinn World. Who knows, I might even enjoy doing it.

I haven't decided on the color yet but am leaning toward a "Mocha Metallic" used on the Acura below.

Thanks,
Steve

[wild]

Steve you might find this interesting if you havent read it befor Harris Cyclery Articles go to ( fillet brazed lightweights ) some interesting facts on the old schwinns .

[KC-Steve]

Originally Posted by wild

Steve you might find this interesting if you havent read it befor Harris Cyclery Articles go to ( fillet brazed lightweights ) some interesting facts on the old schwinns .

Thanks Wild. It is interesting but they are talking about 60s and 70s "fillet brazed" frames mostly. My Schwinn World is using lugs that have been brazed in Taiwan, or commonly known as "lugged frames." These were still somewhat rare because in the 1980s Schwinn's Chicago plant didn't have the facilities to do the brazing, so these were done in Taiwan. Most of the 80s and later Schwinns were TIG welded as lugged frame look-a-likes.

Photo 1 is a diagram of a brazed fillet, (outside the lugs.)

Photo 2 is the made in Taiwan sticker, built using brazed lugs.

Photo 3 shows the paint coming off the brazing, bronze in color (inside the lugs).

Thanks again if you were just passing on info,
Steve

[wild]

What I got from that was that from 62-78 the Paramont was top of the line with Nervex luggs and silver-soldered and made in a hand shop in Chicago. The Superiur was a brazed frame made in the hand shop. And the Continental was flash welded in the big factory.
And I guess you are saying thay did away with the hand shop after 78 and all the luged frames were made over seas. Am I understanding this right.

[KC-Steve]

Yup, Schwinn went through a lot of changes in the 80s. But I can't remember where I read that. It might have been Wikipedia. In the early 90s, labor and management fought and management pulled out of Chicago then started manufacturing in Mississippi. Then workers in MS unionized and the problems started again, with Schwinn declaring bankruptcy first in the late 80s and again in the 90s. Some say that it was both labor and management that messed things up for Schwinn. IMHO if you argue to the point where no one has a job, all are losers. It was eventually sold at auction to a Chinese company around 2000, that distributes through Walmart. I don't think it is the same Schwinn company that was used in Taiwan though. Taiwan companies have a much better reputation for quality than mainland China. I've got a great drill press that was made in Taiwan in 1991 still strong as ever. I think the old management team formed Giant.

Kewl discussion, thanks,
Steve

[alaskabuskid]

The schwinn greenville mississippi plant opened in 1981 with unionization and declining net worth for the Chicago plant. In early 1983 the doors were closed on the chicago plant and the majority of production was contracted through giant in Taiwan. In 1987 they bought a hungarian bike plant, proving to be a fatal error. they were quickly in 64 million dollars worth of debt. The greenville plant was close in 1991 and the banks came down quickly to try to get there money before schwinn went bottom up. bankrupcy was filled in 1992, 97 years after they started producing the first bikes. they were bought out by scott sports group and later sold to pacific and began their current line of bikes that earn them the department store name.

schwinn became quite the sad story. i have a 83 schwinn super le tour produced out of greenville and i love it.

[KC-Steve]

I stand corrected... but I think we are really saying the same thing, just different dates. And since I am not real sure about my dates I'll concede that you are correct since I can't backup what I stated above. BTW, were the Chicago Schwinns the only ones built with the white oval badge?

We began the discussion concerning the way the Schwinn frame was put together (fillet vs lugged). Do you have any information other than what we've posted from "Harris" or what I stated?

Thanks,
Steve

[wild]

I realy know nothing just what I read in the article. I looked at it trying to find out more about the Superiur I had that the son took home. I would have liked to have put it back in show rome shape but the son just wanted to ride it, It might come back some day. I was at the bike shop one day and a salsemen was there an older gent that knew a lot about Schwinn, he had worked for them for a long time. It was realy neat talking to him.