I have a Vintage American Beauty Beach Cruiser built by Schwinn. How much is it worth?

Question

The bike missing chain guard. I cant find year made or many other details.The bicycle was made in Columbus, Oh.

Answer 1

That bike was never built by Schwinn. The ONLY brand built by Schwinn for someone else was B.F. Goodrich. All Schwinns of that era were built in Chicago. By the way, they aren't considered beach cruisers, they are called balloon tired bikes.

Anyway, there are actually 2 companies in Ohio that built American Beauty bikes, but since I can't see the headbadge or any details on yours it will be hard for me to tell. The first is Peerless Manufacturing Company of Cleveland, circa 1892. Peerless was one of the first large scale bicycle manufacturers. American Machinery Company of Columbus is the next one, circa 1898.

Although an interesting bike, the market for "offbrand" bikes is pretty soft. If it had all it's parts (you say you are missing the chainguard- a VERY important piece) and in relatively good shape I would say it is probably worth in the $150-200 neighborhood. It goes down precipitiously from there unless you can find a collector. Bikes are very sensitive to condition.