Vintage Schwinn Bicycle Reference Books & More

Two volume set.  Over 500 total pages.  Covers a ridiculous amount of material. 8.5 x 11 with proper paperback binding. Print run limited to 630 copies, hand numbered on the title page.

Covers: Colson, Westfield / Columbia, Cleveland Welding / Roadmaster, Hawthorne, Huffman, Mead, Murray / Mercury, Monark Silver-King, Rollfast, Schwinn, Sears (Elgin and JC Higgins), Shelby, Spiegel (Airman), Western Flyer. And the obscure ones like Evinrude, Iver Johnson, Manton & Smith.  Plus a section of motorized bikes, a section of cool period accessories, and a section with some musings on collecting vintage bicycles.  Yeah, it's a pretty intense book.

I feel that this is the definitive reference book for American fat tire bikes.  Prewar, postwar, the popular, the obscure, the rare, the common.

$37 plus $4.50 media mail shipping gets this two volume set brought to your door via conventional terrestrial delivery systems. The driver is in on it, so just act natural.

  At last! A photo-illustrated step-by-step guide to help you get the most out of your vintage Sting-Ray bicycle! Whether you're looking to adjust the brakes or the derailleur, or take it all the way down to the frame for a total overhaul, this book has you covered. 378 pages. Hundreds of photos. Large font size so you can use it in the workshop. Pro level tips and tricks to walk novice bicycle mechanics through all aspects of Sting-Ray repair.

   This is the book you want if you're embarking on a father & son bicycle project.  If you're working on a mother & daughter bicycle project, all the better.  Isn't it time for the kids to learn how to turn some wrenches?  This book makes it easy for everyone.

   If you're just getting into the hobby, this book will help you avoid common pitfalls and allow you to get the most out of your bikes.  If you've been in the hobby for a while, this book will allow you to take it to the next level.

  This isn't a book of pretty pictures for your coffee table.  This is a book for people who want to make their old Schwinn bikes ride smooth and solid, who want their bikes to ride fast and true, bikes that perform as awesome as they look.

  This book covers:
- Frames, types and eras and damage modes
- Forks, types and differences
- Headsets, how to assemble and adjust
- Brakes, types and differences
- Pedals, types and eras
- Rear Derailleur, installing, adjusting, tweaking
- Chain, derailleur and coaster, removing and installing
- Cranks, removing, installing, damage modes
- Stik Shifters, 3 and 5, overhauling
- Kickstand, removal and installation and types
- Removing and installing cups
- Freewheels, removal, installation, lubing, types
- 5 speed hubs, overhaul and adjustment
- Atom hub, overhaul and adjustment
- Front hubs, types and how to overhaul and adjust
- Tires, removal and installation, types and designs, aftermarket performance upgrades
- Rims, types and differences
- Removing Rim Dings
- Truing Wheels, plus rim damage modes
- Springer fork overhaul and adjustment
- Bendix coaster brake hub overhaul
- Bendix Automatic Yellow and Blue Band overhaul
- Sturmey Archer freewheeling 3 speed hub overhaul
- Setting up shifter and derailleur
- Setting up and adjusting brakes
- Disc brakes
- Firming up the pogo sissy bar
- Banana seats
- Grips, differences and eras
- Stems, eras and differences
- And on and so forth et cetera

  Authored by the legendary and reclusive Geoff Greene (aka greenephantom), this book will take you on a dizzying mechanical journey to the center of a 1968 Schwinn Orange Krate. Marvel as we disassemble it piece by piece. Be amazed as mechanical concepts are explained in plain English! Experience awe as you realize that your own hands are now imbued with mechanical prowess heretofore untold! Feel the desire to completely overhaul your own Sting-Ray bicycles grow within your chest like the flame of justice and the power of love. Discover the quiet magic of Chicago steel, American craftsmanship, and the way that time is indeed the revelator.

  And what does time reveal? It reveals that which perseveres, and that which falls away.

   In short, this book is a mash note to Chicago era steel. To forgotten bicycles still hanging in garages, waiting, waiting. To fathers and sons. To love, to loss. To reclaiming well-made machines from the maw of time. To putting right what one can put right with one's own hands, and doing it well.

Chicago steel keeps it real.

Cheers, Geoff

PS - Unlike my other books, this one is not a limited edition, and thus is available through Amazon.  However, I'll still be hand-numbering the books that are purchased through my website and through eBay.  So if you buy your copy direct through me, it'll be numbered. 

Make Your Schwinn Krate Ride Great is now available.  $25 plus $4.75 Media Mail shipping.  As a bonus, I'll be hand numbering the first 324 copies purchased through my website and through eBay.

Don't delay! Get your 'Rays ready for summer today!

   Schwinn Tech & Spec Guide 1.3, it's finally here!

   This book is 600 (!) B&W pages of Schwinn info and photos.  Getting into old Schwinn bikes, but don't know where to start?  This book will give you a foundation to stand on.  Been collecting for years, but want to know more?  This book answers the questions you never knew you had.  Knowledge is power!  Collect smarter so you can collect harder!

   Tons of info, lots of pictures,  repair mechanical how-to, and oh so much more.   Knowledge is power, so power up!  Info on all 1946 - 1982 Chicago made Schwinn bikes, not just the currently collectable models.

    Separate chapters cover: frames, rims (w/ spoke chart), tires, front hubs, rear hubs, chainrings, cranks, headsets, stems, pedals, chainguards, badges, reflectors, fenders, grips, bars, tanks, brakes, shifters, seats, lights, racks, accessories, serial numbers, tech and tools, paint colors and decals. 

    Here's how the chapters work:  The chapter on chainguards has a separate listing for each different style of guard, the guards are pictured, important variations in paint and chrome are noted, chainring compatibility is noted, types of bikes that particular guard styles came on is noted, interchage is discussed, and mounting dimensions are listed.  Helpful, practical stuff!

   The 147 page Model Name Index covers each model in reasonable detail, with pictures, with relative rarity and desirability noted.  Also a section on modern and repop Schwinns, something like 40 pages of schematics, plus even more.  This book will rip off the top of your skull and pour in a steaming cauldron of Schwinn knowledge; your life will never be the same.

   $35.95 plus $5 Media Mail shipping gets one of these books to your doorstep safe and sound in a sturdy box.

   Commerically produced muscle bikes appeared on the scene in 1963 and were the hot ticket for about a decade. Wild styles, crazy colors, amazing configurations, outlandish equipment. And then the fad faded. These Ed Roth-like creations were suddenly no longer hip  as kids moved on to different and more "modern" bikes. Many of these muscle bikes met their ultimate demise as scrap or as converted BMX bikes. A few survived, forgotten in garages and basements and attics. Some are still waiting to be found.

   Sting-Rays and Muscle Bikes of the 1960s and 1970s covers the major and minor players in the muscle bike game in the United States, giving you a glimpse into the days that were. This is a reference book as well as a book of eye candy. As a departure from my previous works, this book covers more than just Schwinn bikes. AMF, Columbia, MTD, Huffy, Rollfast, Ross, Murray, Iverson / Stelber, Vista, and Raleigh are among the brands covered. The Sears and Penney's and Western Flyer and Montgomery Wards branded bikes are also covered. Plus there's a few pages of far-out accessories.

    Schwinn's muscle bike offerings are covered in depth, as well as tons of info on Stik-Shifters and tires and banana seats (much of it cribbed from my currently out-of-print Tech & Spec book) and so much more. If you want to know your way around Sting-Rays and Krates and such, this is the book to own.

   286 pages. Color. Lots of Schwinn. Lots of other stuff. Limited edition of 1216, hand numbered. Currently under #0180.  Amazing cover assembled by M. Mathey.

   The Sting-Ray and Muscle Bike book is just what you never knew you always needed. Flat Rate Priority Envelope shipping for $5.90.  Knowledge is power.

This book is the best overall guide to Schwinn's heavyweight line-up. Each model has at least one catalog page dedicated to it, plus an explanation of how the model was equipped, the years it was produced, and if it was different from year to year. The 1946 - 1949 model naming system is explained. The Goodrich bikes are covered. Various parts and accessories are explained. Plus there are some Whizzer pages, plus 40+ pages of accessories and parts from 1940s and 1950s catalogs. This book is somewhat like the Middleweight Compilation Guide, but it also incorportates elements of the Tech & Spec. The Heavyweight Guide is 250 (!) pages, black & white. If you dig the Schwinn Heavyweights, this is the book you want.

    Covers all Schwinn Heavyweights from Autocycle to Wasp, plus everything in between.  Covers the women's models, the Standard line, the DX line, Hornet, Jaguar, Phantom, Spitfire, Starlet, Streamliner, B-6, Meteor, Leader and more.  Covers the differences bewteen the B-models and the D-models.

    Pictures of the interior pages can be seen in my eBay listing for this book.

    Limited print run of 426 copies.  Hand numbered.  We're over #400. 

    If you're into Schwinn's Heavyweights, this book will more than pay for itself, plus it'll help you avoid mis-represented franken-bikes and help you recognize deals on complete originals.  Knowledge is power!

 >> Sold Out. Thanks to all who purchased! <<

    I am stoked on this book.  If you are into Schwinn Middleweights, then you will be too.  100 (!) pages, full color 8.5" x 11", softcover binding. Cover design adapted from the '59 Catalog and perfected by M. Mathey.  Pictures of the interior of this book can be seen on my eBay listing.

   Shows the evolution of Schwinn's 26" Middleweight line, every model, boy's and girl's, alphabetically.  Every major change to each model is documented with a large format catalog page, with model years up top for easy reference.  The 1955 - 1963 models get full pages pulled from the dealer catalogs (1955, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1962 and 1963 dealer catalogs, to be exact).  The 1964 - 1970 models are shown in the consumer catalogs. Select consumer catalog scans from 1960 - 1970 are shown, mostly the boy's bikes, but some pages of relevant women's bikes are also shown.

    
    Example:  The Corvette gets 4 pages. One page shows the 1955 - 1958 boy's version, the second pages shows the 1955 - 1958 girl's version, a third pages shows the 1959 - 1964 boy's Corvette, and a fourth page shows the 1961 - 1962 5 speed Corvette. Plus the 1965 Corvette II is shown in the consumer catalog pages in the back.  A later model like the Deluxe Typhoon is shown in the consumer catalog pages, which aren't as sexy, but they get the job done.

    This book also includes a two page chart that shows the rise and fall of Schwinn's Middleweight empire from 1955 through 1970.  Basically which models with which gearing in what years.  Colors are also noted.  Plus several pages of basic information (stems, lights, hubs, etc) on Schwinn's Middleweight line.  Plus a section on serial numbers.  Plus a few pages on Schwinn's tandems.

   This is a great piece of reference material, and it's real easy on the eyes. If you want to know what you're doing when looking at and purchasing Schwinn Middleweights, then look no further.  This is hands down the best and easiest to understand Schwinn Middleweight reference guide ever assembled.

    The Middlweight book is limited print run of 226 copies.  Hand numbered, and we're still over #200.

>> Sold Out. Thanks to all who purchased! <<

   If you work on Bendix coaster hubs, then these are the wrenches you've been looking for.  One end is 7/8", the other is 47/64".  You'll need the pair when replacing the drive side cone.  Works on all Bendix coaster brake hubs, smooth shell to red band to USA 70 to Mexico 70 & 76.  The 7/8" size also fits the 2 speed hubs, Automatic and Manual shift.  Also work with Morrow hubs.

   $26.50 price is for a pair, Priority shipping is $5.  Red Schwinn catalog not included.

    Had these made by Versa-Tech, a local Portland metal shop.  I could probably get these made in India or China for a quarter of the price, but that's just not how I roll.  USA-made tools for working on USA-made bicycles, it's a good thing.

    Here we have the last of the original label Joe's Moonshine.  It come in tubs that weight in at 15 ounces, give or take a bit.  Joe's Moonshine is a fine-grit rust remover and chrome polishing paste.  (Not recommended for attacking gnarly rust, too slow for that.)  It's essentially Quick-Glo, but less expensive.  Dab some on a rag, scrub away the rust.  Rinse and repeat.

  These have been knocking around in Joe's basement for a few years now, so the labels may be a bit scuffed and the the product may have shrunk just a touch, and I do check ever jar I send out to assure that the product is still completely usable.

    Just what you need for cleaning up the chrome on your vintage bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles.

    I'm selling Joe's Moonshine in lots of 5 tubs and shipping them out in a Medium Priority Flat Rate box.  $19 plus $12.65 shipping.  It's a screaming deal.  Get your order in before I come to my senses.