Vintage Bicycle Rims

Video Transcript

"You can also determine the age of a bicycle by looking at the rims. Here we have a a Schwinn; one of the models that we're using for these videos. This is a Schwinn S5 rim. Schwinn got fancy. In the from the mid-1950's to the mid-1970's, they had their own special size rims. You couldn't go and buy a standard bicycle tire without it being Schwinn branded; otherwise, it would not fit on the rim. They made an S5, an S2, an S6, and an S7 rim, and it'll be stamped on the rim. You'll also see these neurals. You may not be able to see them, but there are little neurals; little bumps on these rims to identify it as that type of Schwinn rim. Here we have the standard American balloon tire rim. Most bikes that weren't Schwinn's that were made in America had this rim. There are slight variations, but you see the rolled edges. It's heavy, and you'll find these on most American bikes. This also has a Sturmey- Archer hub, so as we showed earlier, there will be a two-digit date code on this hub. So you could identify this bicycle right down to the exact year, assuming this wheel was original to the bike. And over here, we have a wooden rim. This is from a cycle. This bike was, I believe the date was 1896; 1897, for the particular cycle this came off of. As you can see, it's broken; it's in bad shape. That can be repaired. It's very expensive. But cycles initially had wood rims, and in the 1920's and teens, they put a metal cladding over these rims."