The Schwin black phantom was indeed a work of art and still is a marvel today. In the collectors’ world, this creative innovation is considered the most treasured item, and much of it is restored and significantly valued worldwide.
Well, most of you might know that the Schwin black phantom was continually produced between 1949 and 1959. Something that we will be taking a deeper look at in this article. Before we jump to it, you should note that later productions involved various color, features, and purpose changes. But we will talk about all that in another blog.
Today, we will be walking you through the great history of the Schwin black phantom. Let us dive in.
1949 – The earliest recorded production of the first Schwin black phantom
1950 – Production of model B-17 for young men with luxury features that included a chrome bumper, variety of colors, cyclelock, and spring fork, among other exceptional exclusive features.
1951 – Production of the 26-inch phantom model B-17 featuring the famous Schwinn cantilever outline, chrome-covered fenders, spring fork, cyclelock, auto stop-tail light, chrome rims, and leather saddle.
1952 – Productions of the 26-inch model B-17 for boys that came with inflatable balloon tires, special provisions, durable construction, and complete hardware to excite them.
1953 – Production of the 24-inch Schwin black phantom model J-37 for boys aged 7 to 10. It included the famous licensed Cantilever outline, chrome-based fenders, spring fork, cyclelock, rocket ray front light, and built-in horn.
1954 – Production of the phantom models W-19 and W-29 that featured a spring fork, cyclelock, automatic tail light, chrome-made tank, whitewall tires, cantilever outline, leather saddle, chrome bumpers, and up to one-year theft assurance guarantee.
1955 – The 26-inch Schwin black phantom model B19 was made, and it featured the already famous cantilever frame outline, chrome tank, spring fork, chrome bumpers with fenderlite, and leather saddle.
1956 – Advancements to the unisex models featuring a spring fork, chrome fenders, electric horn, whitewall tires, leather saddle, and built-in fenderlite.
1957 – Improvements to the model B19 but still had whitewall balloon tires and chromed tank with an electric horn.
1959 – Production of the last Schwin black phantom model B19-1, commonly known as Coaster or Phantom deluxe spring fork balloon model, was 26-inches.
That is it for our Schwin black phantom coverage. We have covered all the basic history of every phantom model over the years. Given the real growth in demand for the famous phantom bikes, you should be very cautious when buying or dealing with anyone selling a restored Schwin phantom bike. Consider checking for 1955 serial plates if you want to buy genuine ones, as a rule of thumb.
There are a lot of restored phantom bikes in the market, and some are not even phantom models to start with. If you are not new to the biking world, you can look for the spring fork used on the restored version. The original versions mainly used a non-locking fork that is not reproducible, and it supports different fenders. Otherwise, here is why Schwinn is a good brand. Good Luck!
