How can you tell that’s not the right stem?Welcome!
You have a Chicago Schwinn that looks like it's all original except for the seat, handlebars and stem. It was repainted at some point. Someone put a lot of time and effort into that paintjob. So you can go ahead and paint it to your liking. If you could somehow remove the paint so the original paint shows, that would probably would be best. You can find out the year it was made by the serial number on the frame. It is probably on the dropout by the rear axle.
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Post it up and I'll look it up for you. The Schwinns used that same style frame for many years on different models, so your bike could be from one of a few decades ago. Early sixties is my guess.
The model name was usually on the chain guard but yours was repainted so just the features help narrow down the timeframe from when it was built. Your chain wheel (sprocket) is from before 1969 and the chain guard looks around 60's also. For reference, here's a pic from the catalog of a 65 American and a 65 Fleet. You can check to see if your fenders are chrome underneath the paint or if the name of yours shows on the chain guard through the repaint. View attachment 127650
Tires for your bike aren't the usual 26" tires. Schwinn used a special rim that would only use their tires. The S-7 rim. If you get new tires make sure the size matches whats listed on the tires it has now. It will be a fractional size, not decimal. 26 x 1 3/4, not 26 x 1.75.
Thank youIt's a good stem, probably a Wald.
View attachment 128135
Schwinn stems look more like this:
View attachment 128136
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