Schwinn was soon sponsoring a bicycle racing team headed by Emil Wastyn, who designed the team bikes, and the company competed in six-day racing across the United States with riders such as Jerry Rodman and Russell Allen. In 1938, Frank W. Schwinn officially introduced the Paramount series. Developed from experiences gained in racing, Schwinn established Paramount as their answer to high-end, professional competition schwinn ebike bicycles. 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. By 1950, Schwinn had decided the time was right to grow the brand.
Irrespective of their age, most Schwinn cycles in good condition retain their value for a long time. It means that any bicycle more than 50 years old in a good or fair condition is likely to attract interest from other buyers. It also means that old Schwinn bikes before 1975 will be of greater value to collectors than a newer bike. Similarly, if the schwinn beach cruiser bike is scarce, such as the 1934 triplet or the Aerocycle, it may be priced in the thousands of dollars on eBay. 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.
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. As always, the Paramount spared no expense; the bicycles were given high-quality lightweight lugged steel frames using double-butted tubes of Reynolds 531 and fitted with quality European components including Campagnolo derailleurs, hubs, and gears. The Paramount series had limited production numbers, making vintage examples quite rare today.
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 company has been rolling out new services in Europe, including the popular “Swapfiets” in Amsterdam where users pay a monthly fee and get repairs and replacement bikes for free. Schwinn is one of the oldest and best-known cycle brands in the United States, making an array of bikes including notably “beach cruisers”. Mongoose is known for BMX and dirt bikes, while Cannondale makes high-end road bikes. The overall value of a Schwinn vintage bike will vary based on its condition, age, and scarcity.
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. Pon Holdings, which bid unsuccessfully to buy the Sparta and Batavus brands for $900 million in 2017, said the latest acquisition would give it a strong foothold in U.S. markets where it expects to sell e-bikes, as well as road, city and mountain bikes. 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.
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The Sting-Ray[28] sales boom of the 1960s accelerated in 1970, with United States bicycle sales doubling over a period of two years. Simply find the bike or gear of your dreams online, and we’ll have it ready for you when you arrive. We’ll ensure a perfect fit for your riding needs and answer any questions you may have.
W. Schwinn returned to Chicago and in 1933 introduced the Schwinn B-10E Motorbike, actually a youth’s bicycle designed to imitate a motorcycle. 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. This proved to be a major miscalculation, as several new United States startup companies began producing high-quality frames designed from the ground up, and sourced from new, modern plants in Japan and Taiwan using new mass-production technologies such as TIG welding.
If you like Stingrays and Krates (I don’t…don’t get me started!), check out the bicyclehistory.com page abotu them. Mark Smith has a nice page about his Schwinn bikes , also some good Schwinn Repair and Restoration tips. Waterford Precision Cycles is alive and doing quite well, a great success in its own right.