Scott USA hoped the acquisition of Schwinn would be a good way to expand its bicycle business to the United States. Scott, with the investor group Zell/Chilmark Fund LP, formed Scott Sports Group and acquired Schwinn for $43.75 million. Over the next several decades, Schwinn remained a familyrun business. The company incorporated numerous functional advancements into its models.
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. Schwinn held 25 percent of the market by the 1950s, a distinction it maintained through the 1970s.
Nevertheless, Peugeot proudly advertised its victorious racing heritage at every opportunity. By 1979, even the Paramount had been passed, technologically speaking, by a new generation of American as well as foreign custom bicycle manufacturers. By the late 1970s, a new bicycle sport begun by enthusiasts in Northern California had grown into a new type of all-terrain bicycle, the mountain bike. Mountain bikes were originally based on Schwinn balloon-tired cruiser bicycles fitted with derailleur gears and called “Klunkers”.
The new frame and component technology incorporated in the Paramount largely failed to reach Schwinn’s mass-market bicycle lines. W. Schwinn, grandson Frank Valentine Schwinn took over management of the company. Schwinn’s whisper quiet Smooth Cycling series allows riders to channel their attention to any experience that a studio is striving to achieve. The SC 7 is combines user-focused features, best-in-class biomechanics and a high degree of adjustability to deliver the optimal bike fit for riders of all shapes, sizes and abilities.
“Preferred” listings, or those with featured website buttons, indicate YP advertisers who directly provide information about their businesses to help consumers make more informed buying decisions. YP advertisers receive higher placement in the default ordering of search results and may appear in sponsored listings on the top, side, or bottom of the search results page. Notable mentions include the sophisticated and elegant-looking Corvette/Cruiser style bikes, or the iconic motorbike-inspired design of the Schwinn Aerocycle.
Despite their fall from grace, Schwinn produced high-quality bikes for decades. Many were made in limited quantities and are considered highly desirable nowadays. Schwinn also faced increasing competition from other high-quality US-based brands such as Specialized, Trek, and Cannondale. Schwinn themselves began increasingly importing bikes from the Japanese producers Bridgestone and Panasonic, which were able to rival prestigious models such as the Schwinn Paramount, yet could be sold at half the price. In conjunction with this, Schwinn, along with other USA-based bike manufacturers, successfully campaigned in 1955 to raise import taxes on foreign bikes.
This in turn led to further inroads by domestic and foreign competitors. Faced with a downward sales spiral, Schwinn went into bankruptcy in 1992.[59] The company and name were bought by the Zell/Chilmark Fund, an investment group, in 1993. For over a decade, the Schwinn has set the standard as the cycle studio workhorse. Now, 20 years after Schwinn built the first production bike for indoor cycling, we are proud to introduce schwinn ebike the IC Classic that combines the proven, traditional drive train of the IC Pro 20 with updated features of the rock solid Studio 3. The sturdy steel frame, heavy perimeter weighted flywheel, traditional chain drive, and direct pressure brake give this bike the strength to keep it moving ride after ride. By the time the fourth generation of Schwinns were running the company, however, Schwinn was sliding from its top position.