Reconditioned, NOT restored 1949 Schwinn B-6 "Autocycle"

Here is a bicycle that I bought from a guy in Chicago over eBay in November of 2003. The man said that the bicycle was stored in pieces in a very old garage for fifty years. A "garage" find, if you will. The only things wrong, and/or missing from it were; the front wheel with the front drum brake set up, the original kickstand was badly bent, and the original seat pan needed repainted, and reupholstered in new cowhide leather. The original leather was dry rotted off.

The bike came to me in pieces, like I said,but EVERY, and I mean EVERY original screw, nut, washer, and other fasteners,were ALL THERE!! I find that to be incredible. What I did,was I completely broke the bike down the rest of the way, to the bare frame, and other components, totally cleaned, greased, and did very minor touch up paint work to the components. The original decal graphics were too far gone to save, so I got new decals for it from Martin's Bike Shop, in Hinkletown, PA, which is on US Route 322, just east of a town called Ephrata, in northern Lancaster County,PA. They have a lot of the new old restoration stock parts that the new Schwinn bicycle company makes for their old Chicago, USA built bicycle. Schwinn bikes are still made, but like everything else, nowadays, they are made in China. They are still headquartered in California, though. The crank was bent, and the original pedals were shot, so I got repro parts for these, as well as the kickstand. I sent the seat out to California to get recovered with the correct black cowhide,even embossed, with the correct "Mesinger" script, on top, by a dealer who calls himself "SchwinnXChange". Took about a month and a half turnaround time. Although they are in good condition, I could not get the tank horn,and fenderlight to work, so I left them alone. They are clean, and still in the bike though. For me, it is not critical that they work.The fact that they are still there is amazing enough for me. They only major piece of the bike that I had to totally repaint was the rear carrier. I also had to repaint the back cream colored half of the chainguard, as this area was badly scratched up. The " spear" tip on the front edge of the front fender also needed repainted, as well as the black paint in front of that. The cream "wedge" on the bottom edge of the back fender was repainted, too. All the dents were carefully removed( they were very minor), from the fenders, tank, and chainguard, before I did the touchup paint work. Eighty-five percent of the bike's paint is original!! I also redid by hand, the original design red pinstriping, that was very faded, The original fenderlight lens was in perfect shape, so I let it go. I later had to replace it,because something heavy fell squarely on the lens in my hobby room, and cracked it. I still have it, it's just not on the bike. Also had to replace the original chain. it was rusted solid in places, and about 1/4 of the links were cracked. After I did all this, the bicycle was re-assembled into one unit for the first time, from what I was told, since 1954!! I had to wait before I could put it back together, because the original rear wheels finish was shot, and the front wheel, was not even a Schwinn wheel. So, through my dad, I got a very nice set of double knurled Schwinn S-2 wheels, with VERY nice original chrome, from the aforementioned SchwinnXChange, of California, but the front wheel did not have the "Forebrake" drum brake set up that the bike originally had. Then I totally reassembled the bike after this. I only completed the bike last July,(2008) with the "Arnold,Schwinn&Co." front drum brake set up complete with cable, mounting clips, and lever ,from a guy on eBay.

The front fork is the original locking front "Knee-Action" "Cycelock" springer unit.

The rear wheel is equipped with a "New Departure", Model "D" rear coaster brake single speed rear axle.

The rear fender reflector is the original CORRECT unit. Those monster size Phantom reflectors are not correct original equipment for Schwinn B-6's.

The tires are reissue Carlisle "Lightning Dart" Indian head nylon cord whitewall tires.

This bicycle is almost an exact replica of a bicycle that my dad bought brand new as a teenager in the late 1940's. That's why I did this project.

Here are pictures of the reconditioned bicycle.

Jim.