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. In 1978 production of the fillet-brazed Superior stopped, which marked the end of production for a fine Schwinn frameset whose basic design had been in service since 1938. Today fillet brazing is a fabrication method best suited for custom and specialty bicycles, yet from 1938 to 1978 you could walk into any Schwinn shop and buy this kind of bike off the rack. The fillet-brazed CrMo frame construction of Schwinn’s second class of lightweight bicycles – the Superior, Sports Tourer and Super Sport – was unique.
In the darkest of economic times, he’d managed to make “adult bikes” appealing again while also opening up a whole new class of high end bikes for kids—all backed by a then unheard-of “lifetime guarantee” of quality. Ornamental metal head badges were another increasingly useful attention grabber, not just distinguishing different brands and models from one another, but functioning as a status symbol—like the hood ornament on a luxury car. Schwinn’s badge designers really went all out, and our Made In Chicago collection includes a slick example, the “Majestic,” which would have fastened to the front schwinn bicycles bar of a bike of the same name in the 1940s. Maybe the biggest Schwinn innovation of the 1930s was the introduction of the larger balloon tire—originally used by German manufacturers for rough cobblestone streets. It created a whole new riding experience, and—combined with elaborately decorated new chain guards and colorways—caught the attention of a whole new generation. At the same time, Ignaz worked out increasingly fruitful bicycle distribution deals with various department stores and mail order giants like Sears Roebuck, spreading the cult of Schwinn from the big cities to small rural towns.
The company offers just as many lessons in the benefits of persistence and innovation as it does in the consequences of tunnel vision and stubbornness. Whole books have been published on Schwinn bikes, written by proper bicycle people. Udo Jung of the Boston Consulting Group says that, by and large, Germans accept that manufacturing companies such as Hella, Bosch and Siemens must get supplies from China.
If you’d like to see or try the bike in person, you can do that at Target or Walmart. Keep in mind that these stores typically stock entry-level models, so if you want something with better specs, you should shop online. Schwinn bikes are available online, huffy mountain bike in retail stores in the USA, and in Schwinn bike shops in other countries around the world. If you don’t need electric assistance, you can opt for one of two non-electric Schwinn scooters that resemble a bicycle with a platform between the wheels.
Excellent photos beginning with the famed “Black Phantom” fat tire bike, first produced in 1949, characterize the book. The “Panther,” “Jaguar” and “Wasp,” with the “Starlet” catering to girls and women, follow. While Waterford’s designs huffy mountain bike are almost all road bikes, Gunnar makes several off-road bikes, including several single-speed models designed for extreme riding. Gunnar also offers riders the Cross Hairs bike, a cross between a classic road bike and a mountain bike.