Schwinn then partnered with 7-Eleven, establishing a team including Eric Heiden. When 7-Eleven decided to hit the big time in racing, Schwinn went its own way due to a lack of funding. Schwinn was, however, able to recruit an up-and- coming rider named Lance Armstrong to its ranks.
Even worse, though, Schwinn had let its dealer network slip away during the 1970s. Mongoose, Specialized, GT, and others quickly moved in to take market share from Schwinn. In the 1930s Frank took over the company and launched his fat tire series that took the company well into the 1960s with sales booming after World War II. Simultaneously, though, with the success of the fat tire bikes, Frank attempted to bring back the lightweight bicycles of the 1890s, anticipating a demand for long distance bicycles. He introduced the famous racing bike, the “Paramount” in 1937, and the “New World” in 1940 (trying to reintroduce Schwinn’s most popular turn-of-the century bicycle, the “World”).
The wheel rims were likewise robust, chromed, stamped steel with a unique profile designed to hold the tire bead securely, even if pressure were low or lost. Enhanced ergonomics, comfort and function wrapped in an even more beautiful package. The new AC Performance Plus with Carbon Blue bike schwinn mountain bike is in a class by itself. Schwinn launched a phenomenon with the first production bike designed specifically for indoor cycling, and we’ve never looked back. A stronger drive train and carbon blue belt make for easy maintenance while delivering an authentic riding experience indoors.
This approach had some success in
the beginning but over time it began to take its toll on Schwinn. These middleweight bikes became an immediate hit and led sales
barely one year after their introduction. They were marketed as being just as
nimble as their European schwinn mountain bike counterparts but more reliable. Because of their
popularity, Schwinn had created a whole line of bikes for those that were not
enamored with the stylish, yet heavy, balloon tire bikes. Single-brand, authorized car dealerships were all the rage in
the 1950s.
He
established a new company named Motomag that first sold stronger wheels to modify
existing Stingray-style bicycles. In 1976, he established a new company called Mongoose to
offer a complete line of BMX bicycles. This was a very good move because sales
of BMX bicycles in the US surged from 140 thousand in 1974 to 1.75 million by
1977 (Crown and Coleman 1996). These Varsities and the Continentals were road bicycles made
from the traditional heavy steels, the same material used in producing the kids’
bicycles.
By 1960, annual sales had reached just 4.4 million.[10] Nevertheless, Schwinn’s share of the market was increasing, and would reach in excess of 1 million bicycles per year by the end of the decade. Schwinn also didn’t want to part with all of its tried and
true children’s market and this meant that bicycle shop inventories
proliferated out of control with too many bicycle models. Selling children and
adult bicycles was an awkward mix for Schwinn dealers. During the late 1980s,
all of these companies were competing for a shrinking piece of the bicycle pie. Bicycles sales declined by 20 percent from about 12.6 million in 1987 to 10.7
million bicycles in 1989 (National Bicycle Dealers Association, 2021). After the death of Frank W.
Schwinn, the three legs of the stool that had built schwinn bicycles began to wobble.
The marketing team also did their research to back up their impressions. After painstakingly going through sales records, they found that 27 percent of Schwinn retailers accounted for 94 percent of sales (Crown and Coleman, 1996). To make matters worse, Schwinn marketing materials such as the catalogs at the end of this article were sent to small shops that sold less than one Schwinn per year. The Paramount was never the most profitable product for the
company but it firmly engraved the Schwinn name into the annals of bicycle
history. One goal of the Paramount line was to market the Schwinn brand as producing
bicycles of the highest quality.
Frank W. Schwinn had begun implementing all these
changes ever since the 1930s. In the 1960s, they had come to fruition and Schwinn
was ready to “Let the good times roll” (Crown and Coleman 1996). During this fresh start, Schwinn turned its energy towards marketing
during this period of growth of consumerism.