And while guides and charts are helpful as a starting point, there’s nothing more useful than watching your kid actually test out a bike. The Sting-Ray[28] sales boom of the 1960s accelerated in 1970, with United States bicycle sales doubling over a period of two years. We bring a proven, unparalleled education program that includes expert coaching techniques and top tier class design. They also manufactured their own rims in the Chicago factory, the “Schwinn Tubular Rim”. These rims, like the Chicago frames, were among the sturdiest ever built. The parts that say “Schwinn” were made by Schwinn in their enormous Chicago factory (which I had the pleasure of touring in the early ’70’s).
We’ve built our reputation through consistent innovation rooted in authentic cycling. Marc Muller, a young new Schwinn engineer, was given the responsibility to head up the project. The Paramount operations were moved to Waterford, Wisconsin, where the Paramount was reborn with a modern factory and workforce.
The luminaries featured in the 1946 poster
catalog included Dorothy Lamour, Roy Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Jane Wyman, Janis Paige, Barbara
Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, and Bing Crosby. • Bike path – a selection of bikes designed to handle varied terrain. Jay Pridmore, the lead author on this book, is a prolific writer about architecture and frequent contributor to the Chicago Tribune.
Upon his arrival in America, Schwinn quickly found work with the Hill Cycle Manufacturing Company and rose readily to the level of plant manager. He managed the plant for two years while he searched for the time, place and money to launch his own venture. This he found with the collaboration of another successful German immigrant, Adolf Arnold. Arnold owned a meat packing plant and was part owner of a local bank. According to Pridmore and Hurd, Arnold invested $75,000 in the venture, and Schwinn offered his expertise. The factory in Hungary was partially successful in producing
the Schwinn Woodlands, but many of the imported bikes had to be warehoused due
to quality issues.
Bicycle output in the United States grew to over a million units per year by the turn of the 20th century. Having managed two bicycle factories and worked in a number of bicycle shops, Schwinn’s experience came during one of the biggest evolutionary periods in bicycle technology. He saw first hand the development of the drive train using a chain and equal sized wheels. He saw the “high-wheel” (penny farthing) go the way of the horse and buggy, and he watched as pneumatic tires took the place of solid rubber on steel rims, offering a much softer ride. Schwinn also recognized the opportunity of converting the 60 pound high wheel with wheels from 48 to 60 inches in diameter to a 25 pound “safety bicycle” with wheels of equal size. With historic roots in outdoor cycling, Schwinn®’s focus has always been on authenticity and quality.
Only 3 percent of family businesses are still alive and
kicking by the fourth generation (Zellweger, Nason, and Nordvist 2012). Edward
Schwinn, Jr. was a fourth-generation president of a family business. The 1982 film ET (ExtraTerrestrial) illustrates the intensity
of the BMX craze.
The 1930s was a period in which Frank W. Schwinn established himself as a creative force in both his company and the bicycle industry. The decade started with an emphasis on motorcycles and ended with Schwinn firmly established as the highest quality bicycle maker for both adults and children. The innovations of the 1930s, such as the balloon-tired children’s bikes, front suspension, front drum-style brakes, and the Paramount Racer set the direction for Schwinn to next several decades. The publication in 1895 coincides with the same year Schwinn was founded by Adolph Arnold and Ignaz Schwinn. This publication with the name Famous Schwinn Built-Bicycles very likely was marketing the original bicycles sold by the new bicycle company founded by the two founders. The brochure contains four interesting safety bicycles, including two for racing and two for everyday use.
This was not much different
than the earlier autocycle, but they added some fancy styling features that made
it popular among consumers. The Black Phantom was advertised as having all the
popular options, such as a spring fork, chrome fenders, horn button on tank,
built-in fender light, and white wall tires. The model became quite popular
during the 1950s and today they are a collector’s item. Founded in 1974 in a Southern California garage, schwinn bicycles Mongoose has always been an aggressive brand with products that push the limits of what a rider can do. From the biggest hits on the mountain or in the park to the urban jungle, Mongoose is an authentic brand that produces durable products built for real riders. 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.
The Wright Brothers started ignoring
their bike shop in favor of flying machines. Henry Ford rode a bicycle to a
factory where he manufactured his first motorcar that looked like two bicycles joined
together. He and others like him working on the first cars would sound the
death knell for the 1890s adult bicycle boom. By schwinn tricycle 1990, other United States bicycle companies with reputations for excellence in design such as Trek, Specialized, and Cannondale had cut further into Schwinn’s market. Unable to produce bicycles in the United States at a competitive cost, by the end of 1991 Schwinn was sourcing its bicycles from overseas manufacturers.
So it is better to capture that history before it is too far gone. Jay Pridmore and junior author Jim Hurd have done just that in their book, Schwinn Bicycles, a 1996 publication of Motorbooks International, republished in paperback in 2001. If you like Stingrays and Krates (I don’t…don’t get me started!), check out the bicyclehistory.com page abotu them. After the bike-boom of the early 1970’s, Paramount was in a poor state of affairs in regards to competition and advancing technologies. In 1979, Edward R. Schwinn Jr. was made president of the company and promptly closed down all of the Paramount operations until they could be brought up to date.