To market
these bicycles, the company sponsored a successful Schwinn Race team to
participate in the popular 6-day races of the day. They also financed an
attempt at breaking the world speed record and succeeded. On a Schwinn Paramount in 1941, Alfred
Letourneur rode close behind a specially designed motor vehicle and he set the
world speed record at an incredible 108 miles per hour. In the first decade of the 1900s, the sales
of bicycles to adults had eviscerated. The remaining bicycle sales that
remained during the slump were to children. Making matters worse, Schwinn had
to sell its bikes through department stores such as Sears and Montgomery Ward.
And road tires provide traction that keeps you upright and on the move. At the close of the 1920s, the stock market crash decimated the American motorcycle industry, taking Excelsior-Henderson with it. Arnold, Schwinn, & Co. (as it remained until 1967) was on the schwinn bicycles verge of bankruptcy. With no buyers, Excelsior-Henderson motorcycles were discontinued in 1931.[5] Ignaz’s son, Frank W. W. Schwinn returned to Chicago and in 1933 introduced the Schwinn B-10E Motorbike, actually a youth’s bicycle designed to imitate a motorcycle.
Older Schwinn “cruisers”, such as the Excelsior that was the inspiration of the first mountain bikes, used a straight lower top tube from the bottom of the head tube to the seat tube. Schwinn also was being challenged by new competitors in niche
markets such as mountain, BMX, and high-end road bicycles. Japan and Europe
also were competing with Schwinn in the US market. This was made worse by Schwinn
abandoning its wholesalers who then were freed up to market these other bicycles
brands.
Ignaz Schwinn wisely stayed away from the ill-fated trust
because he wasn’t one to surrender his independence. In the context of
declining sales, he knew that to stay in business, his company would have to change
its focus. He took advantage of the bicycle slump to purchase troubled
manufactures. His partner Adolph Arnold could see that bicycles were no longer a
growth industry. In 1908, he agreed to sell all his shares in the company to
Ignaz Schwinn.
The lightweight bicycles were still not selling
very well and in 1954 middleweight bikes like the Corvette, Jaguar and Panther
filled the void for older children and young adults. Frank Schwinn and his engineers got to work after his trip
to Europe. The team began to develop a new line of adult lightweight Schwinn
bicycles.
In a second
ironic twist, the creators of the mountain bike in trend-setting California
were modifying old 1930s Schwinns because of their durability and coaster
brakes. Races down a rugged fire lane
were taking place on a course they called Repack. What emerged from these races was a new style of bike that we
know today as the mountain bike. In 1980, this was followed by a higher quality BMX bicycle
called the Sting.
For many people the Schwinn brand is one that is steeped in nostalgia. One of its most famous models – the kid’s Sting-Ray bike – was the bike that every child wanted to own in the late 1960s. Its iconic ape-hanger handlebars and banana seat were copied by many other manufacturers after they saw Schwinn’s success.
In late 1997, Questor Partners Fund, led by Jay Alix and Dan Lufkin, purchased Schwinn Bicycles. Questor/Schwinn later purchased GT Bicycles in 1998 for $8 a share in cash, roughly $80 million. The new company produced a series of well-regarded mountain bikes bearing the Schwinn name, called the Homegrown series.[62] In 2001, Schwinn/GT declared bankruptcy. Despite the successful imports, Schwinn was not ready to
give up its “Made in America” branding. While winding down the antiquated
Chicago factory, in 1981 the company opened a new bicycle production facility in
Greenville, Mississippi. The
region was anti-union so they imagined that their labor problems would be solved.
A growing number of US teens and young adults were purchasing imported European sport racing or sport touring bicycles, many fitted with multiple derailleur-shifted gears. Schwinn decided to meet the challenge by developing two lines of sport or road ‘racer’ bicycles. One was already in the catalog — the limited production Paramount series. The Paramount series had limited production numbers, making vintage examples quite rare today. Other road bikes were introduced by Schwinn in the early and mid 1960s, such as the Superior, Sierra, and Super Continental, but these were only produced for a few years. The Varsity and Continental sold in large numbers through the 1960s and early 1970s, becoming Scwhinn’s leading models.
If you are looking to upgrade your kiddo’s bike or buying them their first, we have options here too. These bikes come in all color and design so that you pick the one they love the most. Once you decide which bike to go for there are features like saddles, frame, pedals, handlebar, gears, suspensions and others that will make it easier for you to zero in on your bicycle. Go ahead, choose the bike you are looking for and have a fun ride.