It wasn’t until around 1986, when Ned Overend won two Mountain Biking National Championships for the Schwinn team, that people really started to notice how excellent the mountain bikes had become. The bike itself wasn’t even listed in the product catalog. Over the years, Schwinn has empowered millions of people, earning a special place in the hearts and minds of generations of riders. We have spent over a century building the bicycle industry into what it is today, and we’re not done yet. Kudos to Singletracks for testing an inexpensive mountain bike.
The best part of the Schwinn High Sierra is the 4130 Chromoly steel frame and fork. The frame was fillet brazed in the front and TIG welded at the back and at the bottom bracket. Evidently, this was done because frame builders at the time didn’t believe that TIG welding was strong enough to hold the fork together.
As an entry-level hardtail, the Schwinn Axum is best suited for easy to moderate trails. The bike weighs a hair over 36 pounds which is on the heavy side, but I found it doesn’t suffer for climbing, and getting it in the air doesn’t take too much effort either. In fact, despite the short knobs on the tires and limited gearing, the Axum climbs steep, technical trails well. The 67.8° head angle is reasonable for a hardtail and the seat tube angle keeps the front end planted, while the rigid, aluminum rear end transfers pedal power efficiently.
While the company may have had a slow start, business quickly picked up during the bicycle boom when the company was able to sell a lot of bikes for the better part of the 20th century. They are not making super high-end performance bikes, but they are making something for people that might want to go at weekends for a ride or a family group outing dragging the kids alongside. Thus, I became the ride-leach that needed to be taken everywhere. I was asking my sister or my co-workers for a lift almost every day. I did have a co-worker that seemed to be more than happy to drive me places. Then, one day about two weeks into the ride-share program, she had a proposition to make.
Suntour released a special tool to help with this job. The tool keeps the calipers properly spaced while you tighten the pad in place. As schwinn mountain bicycles the pads wear, they hit the rim closer and closer to the tire. If you’re not careful, they can start rubbing on the tire and destroy it.