The fenders alone made the Deluxe model worth the extra money, in my opinion.Īn odd reason I’m in love with this Racer in particular is its hub, the simple, classic, single-speed Bendix Red Band. While it’s possible that someone could have swapped parts over the years (something I could verify by looking at the date on the crank itself, although a different wheel can be easily transferred onto the same crank), it goes to show that very little is gospel in manufacturing.īy 1969, the Deluxe Racer was nearing the end of its life the only differences between it and the standard Racer were chromed fenders, a deluxe seat with extra springs, and whitewall tires. The 1969 Schwinn catalog shows that Schwinn switched to a lesser-loved “Mag-style” chainwheel that year, and indeed my February 1969-built Schwinn Heavy-Duti uses that newer design. Notice, however, that the chainwheel is the classic Schwinn cloverleaf.
#Schwinn heavy duti serial
For some reason, my neighbor had to talk him down to fifteen dollars from twenty, more than I paid for the bike itself, but still less than the going rate for a green Schwinn Mesinger seat.Īccording to the serial number, my bike’s frame was built in November of 1968 therefore, by the time it was assembled, this bike was most likely considered a 1969 model. Side note: my neighbor found and bought the original seat at another rummage sale at the same house a year later. Knowing that I could easily clean it up to look nearly new, I didn’t even haggle, even though it was sporting a ripped denim seat, the height of fashion in no time that I can imagine. I like my bikes simple and unpretentious, unlike my ’63 Thunderbird.īack in 2016, my neighbor met me in the driveway as I got home from work, and told me about a bike for sale at a rummage sale a block away, so we walked over there together and found this rough-looking Racer for ten dollars. My bicycle sweet spot centers on late-’60s, early-’70s lightweight Schwinns, especially the bottom-of-the-line Racers and Speedsters. As usual, my response to this realization is that if something is worth doing, it’s worth overdoing, so now I have 18 bicycles in my basement (but to my credit, I just sold a ’62 Schwinn Typhoon to a fellow bicycle collector who has a ’65 Buick Riviera project – cool guy).
I started collecting antique bicycles when I realized that it made no sense to drive old cars all the time but cruise around town on a department store mountain bike. I’ve written about several of my old Schwinns here before, and I’ll leave links to those at the bottom of the page. That’s how I became the owner of my post-apocalyptic ride, this 1969 Schwinn Deluxe Racer. They have become our fourth set of parents, bringing over baked goods, garden vegetables, and news of rummage sale finds we might like. My neighbors to the north, however, are great people. I’ll tell you about them if we ever have a beer together. The stories of things that have happened on my block are hilarious until I remember that I live in the middle of it. We got married and bought our house during the last housing bubble in 2005, and the amount of debt with which we were comfortable landed us in a decent old house in an interesting neighborhood, interesting in a way that only people who have spent some time in a deteriorating post-manufacturing, mid-sized, midwestern town can understand.
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