The market has split into lousy department-store bikes and real bikes sold through specialist retailers. If I recall, it was what Schwinn called a “cantilever” frame, where the seat stays pass by the seat cluster and continue on in a graceful curve to join the bottom of the head tube. 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. In the bicycle industry, the most successful companies have doggedly stuck to producing high-quality products and refused to compete solely on price – the likes of Trek, Specialized and Cannondale.
We didn’t put him out because they had a barbecue ending, and they were just finishing their beers when we crossed the finish line at dusk. When I was around 10 years old, my friend Peter Stewart and I, did a Centurian for a local bike shop. I wore the Bell skateboard helmet for about a mile–then just tied it to the handlebars. My mom would have gone biserk, if I didn’t come home with that helmet.
Zell moved Schwinn’s corporate headquarters to Boulder, Colorado. The company’s next answer to requests for a Schwinn mountain bike was the King Sting and the Sidewinder, inexpensive BMX-derived bicycles fabricated from existing electro-forged frame designs, and using off-the-shelf BMX parts. During the 70’s, Paramount sales rose to 1,200 units annually. Schwinn supplemented Paramount production with contract-built frames by Don Mainland and Roger Nelson. Don and Roger, both riders from the 40’s and 50’s, had built up a successful tooling business in Racine, Wisconsin.
It seems a good thing that people who wanted to just try out bicycling could do so cheaply; they probably bought a really cheap bike, rode it a few times and then the fad was over and the bike was forgotten. All I remember is we both couldn’t strattle the bikes comfortably. We ran out of water within a few hrs., and then it was garden hoses.
Back around ~2008 during the fixed-gear craze, new riders had Kilo TT frames because they were $300 fixed-gear bikes and the next level up was around $700. All during the 70’s, the Paramount continued to sell in its well-proven design. The customer base for the bike changed, however, from primarily bike racers to older, wealthier riders looking for their ultimate cycling reward.
S.-made Schwinns take oddball Schwinn size tires, with the exception of 630 mm/27 inch, which is standard. The Nervex Professional lugset, a stamped lug with its well-known and ornate profile, required considerable work in order to make a good frame. Someone in the 50’s had purchased a huge supply of bottom bracket shells that took better than a decade to finally schwinn beach cruiser use up. It includes the later “Olympic Rings” seat mast panel and the “TI” (Tubes Investments) version of the Reynolds 531 tubing sticker. A service contract is the best way to extend the life of your equipment and keep your facility safe, but we understand that a contract may not be feasible. We offer on-site repairs and preventive services when needed.
The Paramount used high-strength chrome-molybdenum steel alloy tubing and expensive brass lug-brazed construction. During the next twenty years, most of the Paramount bikes would be built in limited numbers at a small frame shop headed by Wastyn, in spite of Schwinn’s continued efforts to bring all frame production into the factory. As a result, Schwinns became increasingly dated in both styling and technology. By 1957, the Paramount series, once a premier racing bicycle, had atrophied from a lack of attention and modernization. Aside from some new frame lug designs, the designs, methods and tooling were the same as had been used in the 1930s. After a crash-course in new frame-building techniques and derailleur technology, Schwinn introduced an updated Paramount with Reynolds 531 double-butted tubing, Nervex lugsets and bottom bracket shells, as well as Campagnolo derailleur dropouts.
You might think that these are the same, but they are not. By the end of the 60’s, resentment inside the factory over these lugs and shells was so high that when the supply finally ran out in the late 60’s, Schwinn sourced the Prugnat lugs as a substitute. The builders loved it, but the move was not popular among dealers and riders, since most people favored the carefully filed and beautifully ornate Nervex lugs. Schwinn compromised by keeping the Prugnat bottom bracket shell while returning to the Nervex lugset.
Starting in 2005, Schwinn also marketed Motorscooters under the Schwinn Motorsports brand.[69] Production ceased in 2011 (approx). The Sting-Ray[28] sales boom of the 1960s accelerated in 1970, with United States bicycle sales doubling over a period of two years. The overall value of a Schwinn vintage bike will vary based on its condition, age, and scarcity. Irrespective of their age, most Schwinn cycles in good condition retain their value for a long time.
Most models of Schwinn bikes have years of images and information via old catalogs, advertisements and Schwinn documentation. This page lists Schwinn schwinn dealers bicycles models (sorted alphabetically) and links to their details. Find all your favorite Schwinn products at the retailers listed below.