My Tiger

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The Homecoming

After six months of living at the bike shop, today we put the last few finishing touches and My Tiger has finally come home. The chrome tank is a new "repop" copy of an original middleweight bicycle tank. The tank was not an option when buying a new Tiger model back in the 60's. And of course, the last finishing touch, what would a Tiger be without a tail!

Almost Done!

My Tiger is looking good and I had my first spin on it since the last of the mechanical changes had been made. It feels so nice riding it and the 8 gears really opens up the possibilites. I have a few more cosmetic changes to make in additions to the rear rack I just added and shown in the photo below. The Schwinn Tiger would never have been sold with this rack in 1963 and that is not the last of the non-Tiger accessories I will put on. My Tiger will look much more like the top of the line Jaguar Mk IV by the time I am done.

In the picture above My Tiger poses in front of some of it's Chicago cousins inside "The World Cycles" bike shop.

The Tiger

The Tiger was introduced in 1955 and remained part of Schwinn's "Middleweight" line-up until 1964. There were several different "middleweight" models, all having the exact same frame, just sporting different combinations of features and each with their unique name on the chain-guard.

The Tiger was about in the middle of the line-up coming standard with a front rack, chrome light, sport pedals and optional 2 and 3 speed hubs. My 1963 Tiger came with chrome fenders while previous years the Tiger came only with painted fenders. A top line model like the Jaguar would have come with many other accessories like hand brakes, front and back racks, stainless steel fenders and full size tank with horn. Unique to only the Tiger model was the red, white and blue checkered decal on the seat post.

The Big Apple

The Schwinn "middleweight" bicycles had less space between the forks than the heavyweights and could not fit the large 2.125 inch balloon tires. The stock S-7 rims were made for the 1.75 inch tires. The next size down from the 2.125 inch tire is a 2 inch balloon tire. That is the size I went for but it also required a change of rims. The 2 inch tire I chose is the Big Apple made by Schwalbe.

The World Cycles

"The World Cycles" is a bike shop in East Vancouver and is where I first learned of the existence of these Chicago Schwinn cruiser bikes. Danu, the owner, has done a great job in turning my 50 year old Schwinn into not just a bike that looks cool but is also a dream to ride.

If you take a trip over to Commercial Street (yes Street, not Drive) in East Van and have a look at these great old bikes and chat with Danu and you will likely walk out as hooked as I am.



The World Cycles
3565 Commercial Street
Vancouver

(604) 707-0112

Home Page

FreeWheelin'

Unfortunately the Bendix Hub and it's two speeds was not going to be enough and had to be replaced by a Freewheelin' Freehub by Sturmey Archer with an 8 gear cassette and a drum brake. The front hub has also been replaced with a new hub with a drum brake. Drum brakes are not affected by the rain (great here in Vancouver) and last a long time.

"kick-back" 2-speed Bendix "Automatic" hub

My Tiger came with a rear hub that contained 2 internal gears (high and Low). You changed betweeen the two gears by lightly kicking back on the pedal in the braking direction. These hubs can be identified by the 3 red stripes pictured below:

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.