Some History

A bicycle manufacturer since the 1890's Schwinn started making motorcycles in the 20's and began making bicycles for the teenage market in the early 30's with tanks to make them look like motorcycles. The tank, of course, was not for gasoline, but had a horn inside. These heavy duty "balloon tire" bicycles are considered by many the precursor to today's mountain bikes. They are called balloon tire bikes because of the wide 2.125 inch round tires. They later also became known as "heavyweights" when in the early 50's Schwinn introduced a "middleweight" bike due to competition from lighter bikes from European manufacturers.

The middleweights had a slightly lighter frame but the main difference was the tire size. The balloon tires were gone in favour of a thinner 1.75 inch tire. Both styles of bike were manufactured throughout the 50's and eventually the "heavyweights" were discontinued in the early 60's.

My Tiger is a middleweight bike and came with 1.75 inch tires. The "middleweight" bicycle frames cannot fit a 2.125 inch balloon tire but can fit a 2 inch tire. The two inch tire will require a change of rims and that will be one of the changes that I will be making.

The Plan

I originally became aware of the Chicago made Schwinn Tank bikes when I went in to a local East Vancouver bike shop called "The World Cycles" on Commercial Street (not Drive). The place was filled with these cool looking old bikes that I had never seen before and I was immediately hooked. I had recently retaken up biking for fun and health and the idea of riding around on one of these old cruiser bikes sounded like even more fun.

I bought My Tiger the day I first saw it, as it was shiny and in surprisingly good shape for a nearly 50 year old bike. What Danu (the shop owner) does to these bikes is replace all the old moving parts with new ones and can even add gears to make these bikes ride like brand new while retaining the cool old look of the original Schwinn bikes. I thought it sounded like a great idea. Since the riding season was about ended anyway, I left my Tiger in Danu's hands for the winter with the idea that all the necessary changes would be complete by spring. The first change was made that first day. We changed the handlebars to a wider pair as although I like the style of the cruiser handlebars, the ones on there were a bit narrow between the bar ends for me.

Welcome

This is my Tiger as it was the day I brought it home. It is just about a stock Schwinn Tiger from 1963. It was actually manufactured February 18 1963 as per the serial number and a chart found on the internet. The only thing that is not the way it came from the store are the handlebars.