Their innovative system – called Carbon Drive – features a carbon fiber reinforced belt with teeth for maximum durability and true bike performance. Over time, this has transitioned from a novelty system to a mainstream solution used on hundreds of outdoor bike models today. In the late 1960s, the Varsity and Continental pioneered the use of auxiliary brake levers, which allowed the rider to rest hands on the straight, horizontal center section of the ram’s horn handlebars, yet still have braking control. This feature, attractive to older riders, soon found its way to other Schwinn models, especially those intended for senior citizens. Ignaz Schwinn was born in Hardheim, Baden, Germany, in 1860 and worked on two-wheeled ancestors of the modern bicycle that appeared in 19th century Europe. In 1895, with the financial backing of fellow German American Adolph Frederick William Arnold (a meat packer), he founded Arnold, Schwinn & Company.
The functional parts are reduced to minimum viable cost (and quality). I was never the bicyclist my brother became (long rides into the Colorado foothills, long commutes from one side of Denver to another), but in my junior high days, I regularly rode my bicycle to school, perhaps a three mile round trip. For that distance and the very level terrain, a heavy Schwinn was just fine. It seems like the so called quality biking companies were not clear on what kind of company they wanted to be. Perhaps they should not have reduced their prices but increased the quality of their bikes and advertised those qualities.
Using the standard electro-forged cantilever frame, and fitted with five-speed derailleur gears and knobby tires, the Klunker 5 was never heavily marketed, and was not even listed in the Schwinn product catalog. Unlike its progenitors, the Klunker proved incapable of withstanding hard off-road use, and after an unsuccessful attempt to reintroduce the model as the Spitfire 5, it was dropped from production. Another problem was Schwinn’s failure to design and market its bicycles to specific, identifiable buyers, especially the growing number of cyclists interested in road racing or touring.
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 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.
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.
Lug making in the 70’s had undergone a similar revolution with the introduction of investment casting technology. Investment castings are so precise that they drastically reduce the amount of filing and polishing required to complete a bike. Moreover, the casting can be designed to support a fully mitered tube all the way to where it meets the adjoining tube. This allows schwinn dealers a smaller lug to be built that provides better structural support than a larger lug without the full tubing support. Investment castings lacked the ornate look of the Nervex lugs but they were cleaner and lighter. Founded in 1974 in a Southern California garage, Mongoose has always been an aggressive brand with products that push the limits of what a rider can do.
Find out how to choose the right size bike for your height. You can find the right size electric, hybrid, mountain, or road bike with our bike size chart. Indoor exercise bikes are a great workout, but is a recumbent or upright bike better for you?
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. 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). Parts that say “Schwinn Approved” were made elsewhere to Schwinn’s specifications.
Unfortunately, the realities of the marketplace didn’t agree, and Schwinn closed the factory, transferring most production to Japan (Panasonic) and Taiwan (Giant). Schwinn also built a factory in Greenville, Mississippi, but it didn’t last, and even bought a factory in Hungary, but the deal fell through, and Schwinn never imported any Hungarian bikes to the U.S. 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. High end bikes are a huge leap in price from casual bikes, at least today.
By 1979, the Paramount had been passed, technologically, by a whole generation of American as well as foreign builders. Similarly, most people who were buying mountain bikes were not using them on mountain trails, they were just biking around the city on roads. But a mountain bike is a bit easier and more comfortable to ride than a road bike for most folks who don’t ride long distances a lot. Also, by the ’90s the “10 speed” had lost its coolness factor and mountain bikes were definitely acquiring a strong coolness factor (just as BMX bikes had during the ’80s). The bike boom of the 1970s meant that lousy bicycles almost completely dominated the market, but the more recent bike boom has created a generation of much more savvy customers.