Schwinn

Wow! Talk about a walk down memory lane. In my small town growing up, there was a sporting goods store with an attached bicycle shop, and the bicycle shop was a Schwinn dealer. My first several bikes were Schwinn, and I rode and rode, between maybe 9 and 16 years old. That was my transportation. Then I got my driver's license. Then, not long after, I began riding my bike again purely for the pleasure of doing so. Give me a bike any day, and give me that feeling again of riding one unassisted by training wheels or my father for the very first time. It was magical!
 
Nice addition to /offtopic/. Anyone follow the Schwinn story?
 
Sorry but Schwinn ebike look a bit cheap.
They look like cheap version of Pedego. :confused:

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Topic has nothing to do with that company or ebikes. Its about great bikes and happy memories:)
 
I had a Orange Krate for awhile. It was a blast to ride around on. EVERYONE wants to check it out. Sold it when I got out of old cars. Replaced it with a Swing King Elite beach cruiser, just as fun and unique. Sometimes I miss the old Krate though. Prices have gotten insane on them, even the reproductions go for big money. But that was an awesome video, and those Krates were before my time.
 
I had a Orange Krate for awhile. It was a blast to ride around on. EVERYONE wants to check it out. Sold it when I got out of old cars. Replaced it with a Swing King Elite beach cruiser, just as fun and unique. Sometimes I miss the old Krate though. Prices have gotten insane on them, even the reproductions go for big money. But that was an awesome video, and those Krates were before my time.
I grew up in this era. My best friend had a Sears Screamer, 5 speed derailleur shifted by a top tube mounted stick shift. Butterfly handlebars mimicing the AA Fuel Dragster steering wheel of the day; in gold tape wrap. Rear slick, front 16 inch rim and tire combo. Again, bikes like the Sears Screamer and the Schwinn Krate family were designed to take elements of top fuel dragsters and apply them to bicycles; this being the age when boys like me were interested in drag cars and RoadRunners, GTO's, Chevelle SS396's, Olds 442's, Mustang Mach 1's and Plymouth Hemi Cudas, all with wild colors, graphics and the horsepower to back it up. Another acquaintance in our group had a brand new Scwhinn Lemon Peeler.

My Dad, being a steel mill worker and practical with the dollar, was not going to put down the 250 dollars it cost for one of those Schwinns. So instead, he and Mom bought me an Iverson DragStripper; a similar "muscle bike" with all of the cues and one wild flourescent orange paint job. I wish I still had that bike.

Within this link: https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/1969-iverson-dragstripper.174535/ is exactly what I had. Looking at this bike made me extremely nostalgic for those days. And the asking price? 3900 dollars. Dad would have called that a pretty darn good investment.
 
i quit a bogus job sellin´ pots & pans door to door & used my &50 check to buy a stingray for $25,
& take a swell vacation by riding 170 mi. over Independence Pass to Aspen with a horse hide pack
slung between the handlebars. One of the best vacations of my life, the ´Summer of Love´.😍
 
I'm too old to respect the sting-ray's of post 1. We had streets of a million asphalt patches, and I learned the advantage of 26" wheels when I grew enough to fit a bike that size in 1961. My parents were bargain hunters, bought me a tank-light model like in post 5 from the local sporting goods store chain (Joskes's of Houston). That bike was stolen September 1966 from the campus of a rival high school while I was at all-district orchestra. A red letter bad day. At lunch that day I had gotten the bike up to 28 mph for the first time: I had a speedometer. A pickup turned left in front of me & I sailed over the bed. The bike went under but wasn't run over.
The next bike I had to buy myself out of lawn mowing earnings. $69. Was a 26" AMF Hercules with a 3 speed Sturmey-Archer IGH. No tank light. That was stolen from my garage when the door frame was kicked in 1986. The replacement was a Mississippi Schwinn, a 15 speed MTB capable of climbing the hills in Jeffersonville without pushing. Wore out the rear 3rd sprocket on that.
 
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The short answer to @Timpo's comment, "I don't know what happen to them" in post #5 is that Schwinn went bankrupt, its name acquired by an investment group, then sold and resold again and again. Wikipedia has a good write-up.

I still have my Schwinn Paramount. By the time I got it as a used bike it had been transformed into a single-speed with flat bars. Still, the light steel frame provides a wonderful, agile ride. I may restore it to its original glory someday...

The spiritual heir to the Schwinn company, and in particular to the Paramount, is Waterford Precision Cycles, led by Richard Schwinn (great-grandson of Ignaz Schwinn, the founder) and Marc Muller. Waterford, Wisconsin, is where Paramounts were made, and Waterford Precision Cycles, still in business, makes great custom (and expensive!) steel bikes.
 
Here is the trailer for a really great history of the bicycle. It comes to mind because the Raleigh 20 and Stingray it argues were major setbacks and that is mentioned with period video and groovy music. The full film is the story of building a dream bike, and a travel log that is woven with history. It is about one hour long. Very entertaining with interesting characters. Want to ride original mountain bikes with the originators, where it all happened? Again, here is the trailer.

I talk to Judy about every two weeks. She likes to ride my bikes, getting all giddy. She grew up in Chicago with the maiden name Schwinn. She now owns a battery store in my town. Her brother is an electric bike dealer who also rents bikes in Tiburon. Their dad was the Schwinn. Now Pon Group owns the name as used on bicycles.
 
This one is a descendent of the Sting-Ray with a similar riding position and small tires, but for older adults. It is in the process of becoming electric today. The motor is in, 2/5ths done.
 

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A couple of classic Schwinns in the house we are renting in Moab Utah that belong to the owners. Also in the background of the second photo is a dark colored Flying Pigeon, a brand I never heard of.
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