It is indeed quite likely this Continental is not fillet brazed, but I'm no t sure there were no fillet brazed Continentals. The excellent article by Mike Rother on the website created by the late Sheldon Brown covers the per iod from 1962 to the end of fillet brazed production in 1978 or 1979. In t his era the fillet brazed models were the Superior, Sports Tourer and and S uper Sport and the Continental was electrowelded.
But the fillet brazed production began in 1938 with the Superior and New Wo rld, and I think it is possible that some time between 1938 and 1962 the Co ntinental was part of the fillet-brazed lineup. I thought I had seen an ar ticle suggesting that indeed there were fillet-brazed Continentals in the 4 0's or 50's, but I cannot now find it. What I do recall for sure is seeing a Continental from probably the mid-50's on eBay a few years ago. This bi ke looked much different from the electrowleded ones were are familiar with in the 70's, with much different graphics and a Simplex rod-type FD. IIRC , it may also have had a cottered steel crank, as many top Europen bikes st ill did in the mid-50's. The bike, in short, looked much more "Continental " than the later Continental. Schwinn had a long history of recycling mode l names such that the same name could be applied at different times to enti rely different bikes of different construction and quality level. So I think it is entirely possible that the Continental began as a fillet brazed model in the 40's, with the name later reused for the electowelded m odel in the 60's and 70's.
Anyone have any specific information about when Schwinn first used the Cont inental name and what the Continentals in the 40's and 50's were like?
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, Texas, USA
--- On Mon, 4/13/09, billydavid13@comcast.net <billydavid13@comcast.net> wr
ote:
> From: billydavid13@comcast.net <billydavid13@comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: [CR] need a schwinn approved dropout adj. thingie..
> To: KvnMuadib@aol.com
> Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Date: Monday, April 13, 2009, 8:07 AM
> Hi Kevin. Unlike the Sports Tourer and Super Sport, the
> Continental {and si
> milar Varsity, Suburban, Collegiate, etc.} was not fillet
> brazed but "elect
> ro-welded" or somesuch. This necessitated using much
> thicker tubing than th
> e already relatively heavy 4130 Cro-Moly in the SS and ST.
> The [Huret?] dro
> pout adjuster you're looking for is slightly longer
> than the stop on the re
> ar derailleur bracket so it really doesn't help center
> the wheel. I used to
> use one of these minus the outer plate and the original
> derailleur hanger
> bolt to solve this problem. It hardly seems worth it. Good
> luck, though. Bi
> lly Ketchum; Chicago, IL; USA.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: KvnMuadib@aol.com
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 12:02:24 AM GMT -06:00
> US/Canada Central
> Subject: [CR] need a schwinn approved dropout adj.
> thingie..
>
> hi all ....or a reasonable facsimile.someone was kind
> enough to throw away
>
> a yellow schwinn continental fillet brazed,appears to be my
> size.high
> flange hubs,gigundous stem mounted shifters w/ an s ,
> schwinn pedals
> saddle
> steel rims etc etc. you get the idea.barely a lb. under
> 40 or somethi
> ng along
> those lines.ready for another 35 plus yrs. of service
> with the except
> ion of
> a new front tube,and the horror ,one of the dropout
> adjusters jumped
> ship
> somewhere along the line.might of been lying there in the
> dirt next t
> o the
> recycling container.probably its substantial wt. was the
> only thing t
> hat
> saved it from the old heave ho.in any event if anyone has
> such a thin
> gie they
> can part with let me know.i know i can live w/o it but
> since the bike
> is
> all there it seems this final bit of restoration would be
> appropriate
> ,in any
> event once this back burner project moves forward (before
> the it came
> from
> the trash it can return to the trash syndrome takes
> effect)any number
> of
> yrs. in my household,i will let you know if i am ready to
> join the ol
> d ten
> spd club for this bike. or give it a new home via
> craigslist... thank
> s if you
> waded thru all this....kevin ruberg howell nj usa
> ps...happy easter
>
> **************Access 350+ FREE radio stations anytime from
> anywhere on the
>
> web. Get the Radio Toolbar!
> (http://toolbar.aol.com/aolradio/download.html?ncid=emlweusdown00000035
&n
> cid=emlcntusdown00000002)