Chicagoist: The Friday Flashback: Schwinn Quality, Made in Chicago

groggy

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:42:30 -0600

@artdude: No problem! It's pretty fun. Makes me wish I had more bikes to look up!

worrywort

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:37:21 -0600

He think it's a Schwinn!

artdude75

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:11:38 -0600

@groggy, WOW! I'm so looking up my Schwinn's serial number! Thanks for that tip!

ktr

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:20:27 -0600

Also, they could have transitioned to different metal, away from the heavy, expensive steel that they were using. That's where the market was heading. Again, Schwinn declined. as one who was employed by them they were in decline long before that. the writing was on the wall for a while.

Spook

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:47:12 -0600

"a gang of kids knocked him off and stole it." yea sh*t happend to me on my first ride of my first new bike. It was a rainy day, but I wanted to ride. It took my cousin about a week to find out who did it, and for him and his crew get the bike back with "street interest"from the Collins brothers. But when I got the bike back, it had been stripped and spray painted back. When they put it back together it never road the same and we couldn't remove all the cheap black spray paint. There must be an specially warm section in deep hell for people who knock small kids off bikes and steal them.

Ward Up

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:44:18 -0600

The story of the decline of Schwinn seems to be an example of head-in-the-sand manufacturing. They simply did not want to adapt. They could have used their well-known brand name to transition to mostly larger radius, thin-wheeled bikes. That's where the market was headed. Schwinn declined, keeping their fat-tires, even on larger-radius bikes. Also, they could have transitioned to different metal, away from the heavy, expensive steel that they were using. That's where the market was heading. Again, Schwinn declined. The result? Schwinn went belly-up. Almost as if that's what they wanted.

Benjy Lipsman

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:19:58 -0600

I had a number of Schwinn's going up... a little blue one I got when I was about 3, a silver dirt bike w/ blue vinyl pads on the nadlebars and crossbar, and a blue varsity 10-speed I got in 5th grade.

Ingrid

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:23:43 -0600

My little brother, years ago, got a Schwinn almost identical to the one pictured for his 9th birthday. A two-speed kickback, and oh boy did he love that bike. Back then a Scwinn was something to be coveted! It was the envy of all the boys in the neighborhood. The poor thing...he had the bike for not even a week and while he was out riding it one afternoon, a gang of kids knocked him off and stole it. I can still remember him walking home with tears in his eyes.

mikely1

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:55:06 -0600

My first bike was a 1979 red Stingray I got for Christmas in first grade. It was my bike for five years. One speed, coaster brake. No other bike will ever compare to that one. It's the bike I learned to ride on. I fell down. I wrecked on it so bad once that I missed two days of school. I learned how to take care of it and fix flats. I stupidly removed the fenders when they were no longer "cool." It made my world smaller. And of course, it was stolen. At the beginning of this past summer I bought my girlfriend an early 70s 3-speed Breeze. Stingrays are popular and expensive now, but I love the fact that you can get an old Chicago-made Breeze, Racer or Collegiate for $50-$100. Built to last.

Bronto

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:40:04 -0600

Chicago is also the final home and resting place of the lost and great art form that is the pinball machine.

groggy

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:31:05 -0600

If you have an old Schwinn and are a total fun-loving nerd, you can find out what year, month and sometimes exact date your bike was rolled off the assembly line. Find your serial number and then choose which year your bike was made and decipher the serial code using this guide. For my own purple Collegiate, it rolled off the assembly line in Chicago in May 1968, or in other words, during the Paris riots and in between the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.

Spook

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:08:32 -0600

Son, did we rock it, back in the day! What they know bout dat!?! And you know I had to have the reflectors on ma wheels, yea and the skinny rubber drags on the back wheel, a small 8 track radio( blasting Bounce, Rock, Skate)on the botom tube and you know I had - attached to the sissy bar -the glow in the dark orange bike flag that read "Jewel Finer Foods"! Yea son, it was the summer of 79 and like Planet Rock, I just keep rocking em hard, then came the wallabies! I was on like dat!