Vintage Schwinn Bikes

The carbon 105 models are even ridden by the STKD Racing Squad, which is a Category 3 women’s road racing team. Traxion also has 24 gears with a Shimano rear derailleur and capable 29 x 2.25″ knobby tires. Of course, mechanical disc brakes come with the package as well, so you can both climb and descend confidently. If you have a limited budget but you’re looking for a Schwinn mountain bike that can do some proper off-roading, the High Timber model is for you. Schwinn is one of the oldest bicycle manufacturers still up and running. For several generations of American children there was no better bicycle than a Schwinn.

Mike, the salesman, told me that he once was a Schwinn dealer and exclusively sold Schwinn products. Mike went on to give me a brief history that while Schwinn once dominated the market, it went bankrupt and never recovered and never again cornered the market like it did once in the mid 1900’s. Mike theorized that the downfall of Schwinn was due largely in part to the third generation of the Schwinn Family taking over the business. He believed they did not understand the needs of the times and did not have the same dedication, drive, and passion of the prior generations.

We also like the wide tires on 27.5″ wheels that not only improve comfort but also make the bike more stable and easier to handle. This bike boasts a comfortable aluminum frame available in step-over and step-through variations, paired with a Schwinn suspension fork that will eliminate vibrations. Unlike many other cruisers, Huron 7 has a 7-speed drivetrain, so it’s actually easy to pedal even uphill.

Schwinn sold an impressive 1.5 million bicycles in 1974, but would pay the price for failing to keep up with new developments in bicycle technology and buying trends. It was then that the company began to lose touch with the fast changing market, especially market innovations that came from California. huffy mountain bike Frank W. Schwinn died in 1963 at a time when the iconic Sting-Ray was under design. Frankie V., Frank W.’s son, took over the company and though he didn’t like the Sting-Ray, there was little he could do about it. It proved so popular that it sold two million bikes from 1963 to 1968.

schwinn bicycles

The production flow for these bicycles began with frame fabrication in the handbuild part of the Chicago Schwinn factory; a low-volume production area. Frame tubes were mitered in a jig by machine, and then the remaining fabrication work (brazing, filleting, braze-ons, and finishing) was done by hand. The seat and down tubes, as well as the top tube on the largest frame sizes, are slightly oversize at 29.5 mm in diameter. Until the recent huffy mountain bike rise of quality TIG-welded and composite bicycle frames, most high quality lightweight bicycles used lugs to join their frame tubing. Fillet-brazing is an alternative method of constructing high-quality lightweight bicycle frames without the use of lugs. While the limited Paramount production represents a reflection of the Schwinn and Waterford history, the launch of Shinola represents a significant opportunity for its future.

Otherwise, it would have cost another $130 to have someone take care of it. Do you realize that’s a third of what this machine cost … and after only a year and a half? In short, I’ll wait another few days to get the parts to fix your machine, have my husband take it apart and put it back together yet another time. And if the quality somehow was inadvertently missing, customer service did whatever they could to mitigate the circumstances … and in a timely fashion … not 8 days later. With tons of exercise bikes to choose from, I will spend my money on one where the company values their customers. Oh and just so you know, I bought my first inexpensive recumbent exercise bike before I bought your 230.

So if you want to go fast and ride further than before while using less energy, Schwinn Fastback is the right model to consider. However, Schwinn Traxion is a solid FS bike if you maintain realistic expectations about what it can and can’t do. The fork and rear shock will not survive abuse on extreme trails, but they’ll get the job done on dirt and gravel roads and moderate trails. Modern may not have the same reputation as old Schwinn bikes, but that is slowly beginning to change. However, due to heavy competition in the 1990s, Schwinn’s sales dropped and the company was forced to declare bankruptcy.