7 ms·

The Fall of Schwinn (1993)

67 points by chrissnell 10y ago

toss1941 10y ago
"cycling guru Gary Fisher, widely credited with inventing the mountain bike in the 1970s — a bicycle that Schwinn's engineers literally laughed at." Classic tale of a mixture of fiscal mismanagement and a company resting on its laurels.
- Waterluvian 10y ago
  Napping on them, even!
- InclinedPlane 10y ago
  What I find fascinating is how failing to understand why people are buying your product can sometimes be more disastrous for the competition. Look at SUVs, almost nobody bought them to use as Sport and/or Utility vehicles, they were generally used for hauling stuff and people around town. Precisely the same things that minivans, station wagons, and extended cab pickups were always designed for. But minivans and station wagons had by the '90s picked up a massive uncoolness factor, and pickups had their own unique social connotations. Similarly, most people who were buying mountain bikes were not using them on mountain trails, they were just biking around the city on roads. But a mountain bike is a bit easier and more comfortable to ride than a road bike for most folks who don't ride long distances a lot. Also, by the '90s the "10 speed" had lost its coolness factor and mountain bikes were definitely acquiring a strong coolness factor (just as BMX bikes had during the '80s). Schwinn's failures remind me a lot of Radio Shack's. At one time a hugely iconic and market dominant brand, and then a few years later struggling to stay in business before tipping all the way into the abyss of history. All because they didn't understand what people wanted and how the market was changing around them and were disdainful of the competition until it was way too late.
Animats 10y ago
They fought unionization, moved their factory to the South to beat the union, and the new factory was worse than the old one.
chrissnell 10y ago
My father was a Schwinn dealer from 1971 until 1990 or so. He had some great years with them in the early '70s but Schwinn completely went to hell in by the early '80s. I still remember my dad on the phone with their finance department, begging for a bigger line of credit so he could keep bikes on the showroom floor. They treated him and other loyal dealers like dogs. My father eventually became a Trek dealer and renamed his store from "Alamo Heights Schwinn" to "Bike World". Ed Schwinn wrote my father a letter, telling him that he had "some nerve" to change the name and that he "would never forget this". A few years later, Schwinn was bankrupt and we became one of Trek's top-ten dealers in the nation. My dad later heard that the credit manager who had treated him so poorly was now driving one of those trucks with the flashing yellow lights that escorts oversized trucks on the interstate highway.
- chrissnell 10y ago
  So this link was sent to me by my father today and I posted it. He followed up with some historical documents from his relationship with Schwinn. I'm going to share them because I think it's a great testament to the hubris of Schwinn but also to the determination of a young entrepreneur. My dad's efforts to become a Schwinn dealer: https://chrissnell.com/hn/Schwinn_History_of_Alamo_Heights_Bicycle.pdf https://chrissnell.com/hn/Schwinn_History_of_Alamo_Heights_B... Ed Schwinn's letter to dad when he changed the name of the store: https://chrissnell.com/hn/Letter_From_Ed_Schwinn_1985.pdf https://chrissnell.com/hn/Letter_From_Ed_Schwinn_1985.pdf
  - nemo44x 10y ago
    They should have known better to give such a persistent business man as your father a franchise. His ambition was indicative of someone who would betray them in their time of weakness. And this is in no way an indictment of your fathers excellent business skill. A very well informed and aware shop owner indeed!
    - Pamar 10y ago
      I take exception at your use of the word "betray", here.
dredmorbius 10y ago
Related: Moen's Law of Bicycles https://archive.is/o/jeikh/linuxmafia.com/~rick/lexicon.html%23moenslaw-bicycles https://archive.is/o/jeikh/linuxmafia.com/~rick/lexicon.html... "Good customers make for good products". This is my explanation for why an ignorant customer base causes merchandise quality to decline, on account of unhealthy market dynamics, e.g., in retail computer hardware and software. In the mid-1970s, bicycles suddenly became very popular in the USA. The masses suddenly entered the market, few knowing anything about bicycles. Many could distinguish poorly if at all between good equipment and bad; good customer service and bad. Consequently, poorly made bicycles (which cost less to make) undercut well made ones (and poor customer service out-earned the good variety), because superior value ceased to be perceived. Over time, overall quality of available bicycles declined considerably, almost entirely because of this dynamic with customers, recovering only after the fad ended, years later. Quality thrives only when people can tell the difference. When they haven't a clue about products and how they work, schlock merchandise prevails. One can see this process at work in retail computing gear and software: People who know least about computing always insist most on achieving bottom dollar. In a way, this is understandable: You want to exercise control over the process, and, if you're dirt-ignorant about computing, the only place to exercise control is over price. Gradually, this effect tends to drive good merchandise out of the market entirely, leaving a generous selection of cheap crud. (Archive link to pity a creaky old server on a slow link.)
- justin66 10y ago
  > Over time, overall quality of available bicycles declined considerably, almost entirely because of this dynamic with customers, recovering only after the fad ended, years later. It seems like that quality improvement correlated rather suspiciously with increased automation in manufacturing and increased overseas competition. Am I off base about that?
  - jdietrich 10y ago
    There are still lots of completely awful bicycles on the market. The industry uses the term "Bicycle Shaped Object" - the cheapest possible machine that resembles a bicycle to a naive consumer. Every possible corner is cut to bring the price down. You'll see plenty of BSOs at general retailers like Walmart and Target, often carrying the Schwinn brand. http://www.thecyclingexperts.co.uk/get-cycling/buying-a-bike/the-bicycle-shaped-object/ http://www.thecyclingexperts.co.uk/get-cycling/buying-a-bike... There are really two kinds of cyclists; enthusiasts who ride regularly and dilettantes who ride two or three times a year. The latter choose a bicycle almost entirely on price, because they don't know any other criteria on which to judge bicycles. These customers don't care that the bike will start disintegrating after a couple of hundred miles, because they'll never use it that much. The bike boom of the 1970s meant that lousy bicycles almost completely dominated the market, but the more recent bike boom has created a generation of much more savvy customers. The market has split into lousy department-store bikes and real bikes sold through specialist retailers.
bluedino 10y ago
I'd like to read a story about the people behind BikesDirect.com
- brianwawok 10y ago
  Cheap Chinese made junk? Would be similar to any Chinese manufacturer. 60% of the quality for 25% of the price.
- jdietrich 10y ago
  I have no idea why. They sell utterly mediocre bicycles at completely average prices. I struggle to think of a less interesting bicycle retailer.
- et-al 10y ago
  Have you checked out their About Page? http://bikesdirect.com/aboutus.htm http://bikesdirect.com/aboutus.htm Owner is Michael Spratt. He's pretty savvy for buying up old brands like Motobecane and Mercier and branding them on bikes. The quality of them aren't great, but they're stll a step up from Wal-Mart, and other department store bikes. Back around ~2008 during the fixed-gear craze, new riders had Kilo TT frames because they were $300 fixed-gear bikes and the next level up was around $700. I used to read BikeForums.net back in the day and BikesDirect would post on there occasionally, so he had a community and also answered questions. Here's a notable post by him on RoadBikeReview: > Kinesis is the largest frame maker in the orient. Their frames are used by just about everyone. They manufacture in a large plant in China and a smaller specialty plant in Taiwan. Le Champion frames are from Taiwan. We have never seen a defect on a le Champion frame. If your frame is the first, it will be replaced for free just like any other customer. I will not sell a bike without free lifetime warranty frame defect protection for the customer. > Bicycle Frames are one of the marketing successes of the specialty bike business. Manufacturers have marketed the frame as the most expensive and technical item on the bike. However, most frames are very inexpensive compared to cranks, wheels, shifters, etc. This is not to say the frames are not valuable; but the way they are produced brings the cost way down. {Frames are the highest markup item sold by any manufacturer; many are sold at over 10 times their cost} [...] > Bottom line on frames and other components for me is clear. If I can save $100 a bike by not running an 800 line and put it in better equipment, I will. If I can spec a carbon frame from Taiwan instead of China and pay for it by savings on operating expenses, I will. And this attitude has always been the same; even before the internet. In the ‘old days’ I used to sell full Campy Record bikes with Colnago, Mercian, Viner, etc frames for $995. I was about $1000 under other shops; all of the discount was due to high volume, excellent buying, and low overhead. {This may also sound like a sales pitch; but it is just true. Even if you dislike Wal-Mart as I do; they are lower priced on CanadaDry GingerAle than other retailers; Why? high volume, excellent buying, low overhead} http://forums.roadbikereview.com/motobecane-mercier/why-i-bought-motobecane-72556-2.html http://forums.roadbikereview.com/motobecane-mercier/why-i-bo...
coverband 10y ago
Let me guess -- the OP just finished watching the Tom Hanks/Dave Eggers movie "A Hologram for the King"?[1] [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980210/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980210/
trentnix 10y ago
Here's part 2 of the article. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/19931009/ISSUE01/100018008/the-fall-of-schwinn-pt-2-of-2 http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/19931009/ISSUE01/1000...
jdietrich 10y ago
A similar fate befell Raleigh in the UK. They were the stalwart of the British cycle industry, the fond childhood memory of several generations. Like Schwinn, it was a combination of poor industrial relations, overseas competition and management complacency that brought them down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_Bicycle_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_Bicycle_Company
russtrotter 10y ago
A long but a fascinating read. I'm old enough to remember dreaming of owning a Schwinn 10-speed as a kid. The dream never materialized as by the time I had the means it was a whole new world. A plethora of options and bike types ruled the roost and I had completely forgotten about Schwinn as a brand. Perhaps the best TL;DR for the article is the line credited to the Specialized founder(s): "Innovate or die".
geargrinder 10y ago
The next interesting chapter of the Schwinn story is about how it was bought out of bankruptcy by the same investor group that owned the Scott brand. They moved the headquarters to Boulder, Colorado and became a true quality manufacturer, at the same level as Trek and GT. They built most of their bikes overseas but also launched a US-built line called Schwinn Homegrown that competed well on quality. They also offered more downmarket lines. In the late 90's they were sold to another investor group, one that was more interested in the high-volume, low quality market and had also purchased the Huffy and Mongoose brands. So now all that most people know are the crap Schwinn bikes sold today. But there was a time in the 90's that the Schwinn Homegrown was a great bike to have (I still have mine). The fitness line has gone through some additional gyrations. So much of this is about buying a recognizable brand and squeezing value out without putting anything back into it.
- mikestew 10y ago
  But there was a time in the 90's that the Schwinn Homegrown was a great bike to have (I still have mine). I appreciate their efforts, but who the hell was going to buy a Schwinn in the 90s? If you asked most people at the time, they probably would have said, "they're still in business?" After you convinced them that Schwinn is, indeed, still in business, you would have had but a tiny chance to convince them that not all of their bikes were crap. Because crap they were the twenty years prior. (Yes, there was the Paramount, which wasn't crap, but it was overpriced.)
  - icantdrive55 10y ago
    I grew up with the Schwinn 10 speed. I didn't own one, but they were built like tanks. I didn't own one because of funds, and honestly--really never liked them, they were just too heavy. That said, my friends all had Schwinns. I don't remember any of them failing. We would "ghost ride" the bikes--basically just rolling them down hills and watching them crash. We would retrieve the bike, and sometimes adjust the goose neck, and we were off. Those rims were military steel? When I was around 10 years old, my friend Peter Stewart and I, did a Centurian for a local bike shop. We completed 100 miles. It was kind of a big deal for us back then. My mom's main concern was wearing a helmet. I wore the Bell skateboard helmet for about a mile--then just tied it to the handlebars. My mom would have gone biserk, if I didn't come home with that helmet. What I think about to this day is Peter Stewart's determination to finish that race. We came in last, but we both finished. It wasen't that much of a feat for myself, as I was one year older than Peter. I was on my father's Raleigh. I didn't know it at the time, but the lighter weight bike really helped me. Back to the race. About 5 miles into the race on a huge hill Peter just stopped. He got very emotional. I really didn't think we would finish the race. Back then buddies didn't leave the other behind for any reason. He was on a Schwinn with all the trimmings. He had the rack, and other stuff on his Schwinn. Don't remember all the details. I talked him into getting rid of the rack. We hid it in the bushes. Peter drank out of his official Scout canteen. He was still emotional. Peter was smaller than myself, but he was much brighter. (I look back, and Peter was the only true genius I have known. That's another story, but he was smart.) When Peter composed himself, we got back to finishing 95 miles. Peter couldn't have been more than 60 lbs. All I remember is we both couldn't strattle the bikes comfortably. The bikes were too big for our frames. We would seesaw when riding. We ran out of water within a few hrs., and then it was garden hoses. When we told the homeowners our story--they were more than accommodating. One lady even gave us two Cokes. It was still the best Coke I have ever had. Long story short-- we finished. The Owner of the bike store (who sponcered the race) made sure we crossed the line before he and his buddies went home. We didn't put him out because they had a barbecue ending, and they were just finishing their beers when we crossed the finish line at dusk. They even clapped. (I lost track of Peter out of middle school. I heard he was living with two women in the Sierras. I knew he would live life to the fullest. Peter if you happen to read this I have an inactive contractors licence in CA. Get in touch with me--if you want? I wouldn't be suprised if you are one of these big wig Silicon Valley types now, and maybe you remember this event?)
hbosch 10y ago
I have a fantastic steel Schwinn from the early 90s, with grey splatter paint and all. A Schwinn Paramount road bike. Actually the whole story behind the Schwinn Paramount Group is worthy of its own post. The Paramount Group now makes custom bicycles under their current moniker, Waterford. http://waterfordbikes.com/w/culture/paramount/ http://waterfordbikes.com/w/culture/paramount/
rplnt 10y ago
Interesting AMA, even for those who don't know much about the bike brands is from Crank Brothers. It's a big name in MTB scene, and from what I can tell the company made some really bad products, went to shit, got sold and is now trying to build itself up again, still as a standalone brand, so they didn't get bought by a huge "monopoly". At least that's what I gathered from the discussion there. http://www.pinkbike.com/news/ask-us-anything-crankbrothers-monday-june-27-1000-pst.html http://www.pinkbike.com/news/ask-us-anything-crankbrothers-m...
et-al 10y ago
On a slight tangent, Richard Schwinn, mentioned in Part 2 of the article, has a great interview hosted by Georgena Terry of Terry Bicycles. They discuss the move of bike manufacturing from the States to Asia, largely due to the aluminum subsidies in China which allowed them to produce a frame for $4 in 1998 (~7 mins in). iTunes Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/terry-bikecast/id284144083?mt=2 https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/terry-bikecast/id2841440... (#24 Steel Really is Real) Original Podcast: http://community.terrybicycles.com/media/podcastgen1.3/?p=episode&name=2010-11-16_schwinn.mp3 http://community.terrybicycles.com/media/podcastgen1.3/?p=ep... Sadly, I couldn't find a transcript of the podcast, but there seems to be some excerpts here: http://community.terrybicycles.com/wordpress/sidesaddle-blog/from-georgena/a-chat-with-richard-schwinn#.V62ZSSPyu_s http://community.terrybicycles.com/wordpress/sidesaddle-blog... However, there's a lot of knowledge not mentioned in the blog post and I recommend listening to it if you're into bicycles and the change of materials from steel to aluminum to carbon. Richard Schwinn is a bit biased since he runs Waterford, but he does know a lot about steel.

67 points by chrissnell 10y ago

toss1941 10y ago

"cycling guru Gary Fisher, widely credited with inventing the mountain bike in the 1970s — a bicycle that Schwinn's engineers literally laughed at." Classic tale of a mixture of fiscal mismanagement and a company resting on its laurels.

Waterluvian 10y ago
Napping on them, even!
InclinedPlane 10y ago
What I find fascinating is how failing to understand why people are buying your product can sometimes be more disastrous for the competition. Look at SUVs, almost nobody bought them to use as Sport and/or Utility vehicles, they were generally used for hauling stuff and people around town. Precisely the same things that minivans, station wagons, and extended cab pickups were always designed for. But minivans and station wagons had by the '90s picked up a massive uncoolness factor, and pickups had their own unique social connotations. Similarly, most people who were buying mountain bikes were not using them on mountain trails, they were just biking around the city on roads. But a mountain bike is a bit easier and more comfortable to ride than a road bike for most folks who don't ride long distances a lot. Also, by the '90s the "10 speed" had lost its coolness factor and mountain bikes were definitely acquiring a strong coolness factor (just as BMX bikes had during the '80s). Schwinn's failures remind me a lot of Radio Shack's. At one time a hugely iconic and market dominant brand, and then a few years later struggling to stay in business before tipping all the way into the abyss of history. All because they didn't understand what people wanted and how the market was changing around them and were disdainful of the competition until it was way too late.

Animats 10y ago

They fought unionization, moved their factory to the South to beat the union, and the new factory was worse than the old one.

chrissnell 10y ago

My father was a Schwinn dealer from 1971 until 1990 or so. He had some great years with them in the early '70s but Schwinn completely went to hell in by the early '80s. I still remember my dad on the phone with their finance department, begging for a bigger line of credit so he could keep bikes on the showroom floor. They treated him and other loyal dealers like dogs. My father eventually became a Trek dealer and renamed his store from "Alamo Heights Schwinn" to "Bike World". Ed Schwinn wrote my father a letter, telling him that he had "some nerve" to change the name and that he "would never forget this". A few years later, Schwinn was bankrupt and we became one of Trek's top-ten dealers in the nation. My dad later heard that the credit manager who had treated him so poorly was now driving one of those trucks with the flashing yellow lights that escorts oversized trucks on the interstate highway.

chrissnell 10y ago
So this link was sent to me by my father today and I posted it. He followed up with some historical documents from his relationship with Schwinn. I'm going to share them because I think it's a great testament to the hubris of Schwinn but also to the determination of a young entrepreneur. My dad's efforts to become a Schwinn dealer: https://chrissnell.com/hn/Schwinn_History_of_Alamo_Heights_Bicycle.pdf https://chrissnell.com/hn/Schwinn_History_of_Alamo_Heights_B... Ed Schwinn's letter to dad when he changed the name of the store: https://chrissnell.com/hn/Letter_From_Ed_Schwinn_1985.pdf https://chrissnell.com/hn/Letter_From_Ed_Schwinn_1985.pdf
- nemo44x 10y ago
  They should have known better to give such a persistent business man as your father a franchise. His ambition was indicative of someone who would betray them in their time of weakness. And this is in no way an indictment of your fathers excellent business skill. A very well informed and aware shop owner indeed!
  - Pamar 10y ago
    I take exception at your use of the word "betray", here.

dredmorbius 10y ago

Related: Moen's Law of Bicycles https://archive.is/o/jeikh/linuxmafia.com/~rick/lexicon.html%23moenslaw-bicycles https://archive.is/o/jeikh/linuxmafia.com/~rick/lexicon.html... "Good customers make for good products". This is my explanation for why an ignorant customer base causes merchandise quality to decline, on account of unhealthy market dynamics, e.g., in retail computer hardware and software. In the mid-1970s, bicycles suddenly became very popular in the USA. The masses suddenly entered the market, few knowing anything about bicycles. Many could distinguish poorly if at all between good equipment and bad; good customer service and bad. Consequently, poorly made bicycles (which cost less to make) undercut well made ones (and poor customer service out-earned the good variety), because superior value ceased to be perceived. Over time, overall quality of available bicycles declined considerably, almost entirely because of this dynamic with customers, recovering only after the fad ended, years later. Quality thrives only when people can tell the difference. When they haven't a clue about products and how they work, schlock merchandise prevails. One can see this process at work in retail computing gear and software: People who know least about computing always insist most on achieving bottom dollar. In a way, this is understandable: You want to exercise control over the process, and, if you're dirt-ignorant about computing, the only place to exercise control is over price. Gradually, this effect tends to drive good merchandise out of the market entirely, leaving a generous selection of cheap crud. (Archive link to pity a creaky old server on a slow link.)

justin66 10y ago
> Over time, overall quality of available bicycles declined considerably, almost entirely because of this dynamic with customers, recovering only after the fad ended, years later. It seems like that quality improvement correlated rather suspiciously with increased automation in manufacturing and increased overseas competition. Am I off base about that?
- jdietrich 10y ago
  There are still lots of completely awful bicycles on the market. The industry uses the term "Bicycle Shaped Object" - the cheapest possible machine that resembles a bicycle to a naive consumer. Every possible corner is cut to bring the price down. You'll see plenty of BSOs at general retailers like Walmart and Target, often carrying the Schwinn brand. http://www.thecyclingexperts.co.uk/get-cycling/buying-a-bike/the-bicycle-shaped-object/ http://www.thecyclingexperts.co.uk/get-cycling/buying-a-bike... There are really two kinds of cyclists; enthusiasts who ride regularly and dilettantes who ride two or three times a year. The latter choose a bicycle almost entirely on price, because they don't know any other criteria on which to judge bicycles. These customers don't care that the bike will start disintegrating after a couple of hundred miles, because they'll never use it that much. The bike boom of the 1970s meant that lousy bicycles almost completely dominated the market, but the more recent bike boom has created a generation of much more savvy customers. The market has split into lousy department-store bikes and real bikes sold through specialist retailers.

bluedino 10y ago

I'd like to read a story about the people behind BikesDirect.com

brianwawok 10y ago
Cheap Chinese made junk? Would be similar to any Chinese manufacturer. 60% of the quality for 25% of the price.
jdietrich 10y ago
I have no idea why. They sell utterly mediocre bicycles at completely average prices. I struggle to think of a less interesting bicycle retailer.
et-al 10y ago
Have you checked out their About Page? http://bikesdirect.com/aboutus.htm http://bikesdirect.com/aboutus.htm Owner is Michael Spratt. He's pretty savvy for buying up old brands like Motobecane and Mercier and branding them on bikes. The quality of them aren't great, but they're stll a step up from Wal-Mart, and other department store bikes. Back around ~2008 during the fixed-gear craze, new riders had Kilo TT frames because they were $300 fixed-gear bikes and the next level up was around $700. I used to read BikeForums.net back in the day and BikesDirect would post on there occasionally, so he had a community and also answered questions. Here's a notable post by him on RoadBikeReview: > Kinesis is the largest frame maker in the orient. Their frames are used by just about everyone. They manufacture in a large plant in China and a smaller specialty plant in Taiwan. Le Champion frames are from Taiwan. We have never seen a defect on a le Champion frame. If your frame is the first, it will be replaced for free just like any other customer. I will not sell a bike without free lifetime warranty frame defect protection for the customer. > Bicycle Frames are one of the marketing successes of the specialty bike business. Manufacturers have marketed the frame as the most expensive and technical item on the bike. However, most frames are very inexpensive compared to cranks, wheels, shifters, etc. This is not to say the frames are not valuable; but the way they are produced brings the cost way down. {Frames are the highest markup item sold by any manufacturer; many are sold at over 10 times their cost} [...] > Bottom line on frames and other components for me is clear. If I can save $100 a bike by not running an 800 line and put it in better equipment, I will. If I can spec a carbon frame from Taiwan instead of China and pay for it by savings on operating expenses, I will. And this attitude has always been the same; even before the internet. In the ‘old days’ I used to sell full Campy Record bikes with Colnago, Mercian, Viner, etc frames for $995. I was about $1000 under other shops; all of the discount was due to high volume, excellent buying, and low overhead. {This may also sound like a sales pitch; but it is just true. Even if you dislike Wal-Mart as I do; they are lower priced on CanadaDry GingerAle than other retailers; Why? high volume, excellent buying, low overhead} http://forums.roadbikereview.com/motobecane-mercier/why-i-bought-motobecane-72556-2.html http://forums.roadbikereview.com/motobecane-mercier/why-i-bo...

coverband 10y ago

Let me guess -- the OP just finished watching the Tom Hanks/Dave Eggers movie "A Hologram for the King"?[1] [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980210/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980210/

trentnix 10y ago

Here's part 2 of the article. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/19931009/ISSUE01/100018008/the-fall-of-schwinn-pt-2-of-2 http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/19931009/ISSUE01/1000...

jdietrich 10y ago

A similar fate befell Raleigh in the UK. They were the stalwart of the British cycle industry, the fond childhood memory of several generations. Like Schwinn, it was a combination of poor industrial relations, overseas competition and management complacency that brought them down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_Bicycle_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_Bicycle_Company

russtrotter 10y ago

A long but a fascinating read. I'm old enough to remember dreaming of owning a Schwinn 10-speed as a kid. The dream never materialized as by the time I had the means it was a whole new world. A plethora of options and bike types ruled the roost and I had completely forgotten about Schwinn as a brand. Perhaps the best TL;DR for the article is the line credited to the Specialized founder(s): "Innovate or die".

geargrinder 10y ago

The next interesting chapter of the Schwinn story is about how it was bought out of bankruptcy by the same investor group that owned the Scott brand. They moved the headquarters to Boulder, Colorado and became a true quality manufacturer, at the same level as Trek and GT. They built most of their bikes overseas but also launched a US-built line called Schwinn Homegrown that competed well on quality. They also offered more downmarket lines. In the late 90's they were sold to another investor group, one that was more interested in the high-volume, low quality market and had also purchased the Huffy and Mongoose brands. So now all that most people know are the crap Schwinn bikes sold today. But there was a time in the 90's that the Schwinn Homegrown was a great bike to have (I still have mine). The fitness line has gone through some additional gyrations. So much of this is about buying a recognizable brand and squeezing value out without putting anything back into it.

mikestew 10y ago
But there was a time in the 90's that the Schwinn Homegrown was a great bike to have (I still have mine). I appreciate their efforts, but who the hell was going to buy a Schwinn in the 90s? If you asked most people at the time, they probably would have said, "they're still in business?" After you convinced them that Schwinn is, indeed, still in business, you would have had but a tiny chance to convince them that not all of their bikes were crap. Because crap they were the twenty years prior. (Yes, there was the Paramount, which wasn't crap, but it was overpriced.)
- icantdrive55 10y ago
  I grew up with the Schwinn 10 speed. I didn't own one, but they were built like tanks. I didn't own one because of funds, and honestly--really never liked them, they were just too heavy. That said, my friends all had Schwinns. I don't remember any of them failing. We would "ghost ride" the bikes--basically just rolling them down hills and watching them crash. We would retrieve the bike, and sometimes adjust the goose neck, and we were off. Those rims were military steel? When I was around 10 years old, my friend Peter Stewart and I, did a Centurian for a local bike shop. We completed 100 miles. It was kind of a big deal for us back then. My mom's main concern was wearing a helmet. I wore the Bell skateboard helmet for about a mile--then just tied it to the handlebars. My mom would have gone biserk, if I didn't come home with that helmet. What I think about to this day is Peter Stewart's determination to finish that race. We came in last, but we both finished. It wasen't that much of a feat for myself, as I was one year older than Peter. I was on my father's Raleigh. I didn't know it at the time, but the lighter weight bike really helped me. Back to the race. About 5 miles into the race on a huge hill Peter just stopped. He got very emotional. I really didn't think we would finish the race. Back then buddies didn't leave the other behind for any reason. He was on a Schwinn with all the trimmings. He had the rack, and other stuff on his Schwinn. Don't remember all the details. I talked him into getting rid of the rack. We hid it in the bushes. Peter drank out of his official Scout canteen. He was still emotional. Peter was smaller than myself, but he was much brighter. (I look back, and Peter was the only true genius I have known. That's another story, but he was smart.) When Peter composed himself, we got back to finishing 95 miles. Peter couldn't have been more than 60 lbs. All I remember is we both couldn't strattle the bikes comfortably. The bikes were too big for our frames. We would seesaw when riding. We ran out of water within a few hrs., and then it was garden hoses. When we told the homeowners our story--they were more than accommodating. One lady even gave us two Cokes. It was still the best Coke I have ever had. Long story short-- we finished. The Owner of the bike store (who sponcered the race) made sure we crossed the line before he and his buddies went home. We didn't put him out because they had a barbecue ending, and they were just finishing their beers when we crossed the finish line at dusk. They even clapped. (I lost track of Peter out of middle school. I heard he was living with two women in the Sierras. I knew he would live life to the fullest. Peter if you happen to read this I have an inactive contractors licence in CA. Get in touch with me--if you want? I wouldn't be suprised if you are one of these big wig Silicon Valley types now, and maybe you remember this event?)

hbosch 10y ago

I have a fantastic steel Schwinn from the early 90s, with grey splatter paint and all. A Schwinn Paramount road bike. Actually the whole story behind the Schwinn Paramount Group is worthy of its own post. The Paramount Group now makes custom bicycles under their current moniker, Waterford. http://waterfordbikes.com/w/culture/paramount/ http://waterfordbikes.com/w/culture/paramount/

rplnt 10y ago

Interesting AMA, even for those who don't know much about the bike brands is from Crank Brothers. It's a big name in MTB scene, and from what I can tell the company made some really bad products, went to shit, got sold and is now trying to build itself up again, still as a standalone brand, so they didn't get bought by a huge "monopoly". At least that's what I gathered from the discussion there. http://www.pinkbike.com/news/ask-us-anything-crankbrothers-monday-june-27-1000-pst.html http://www.pinkbike.com/news/ask-us-anything-crankbrothers-m...

et-al 10y ago

On a slight tangent, Richard Schwinn, mentioned in Part 2 of the article, has a great interview hosted by Georgena Terry of Terry Bicycles. They discuss the move of bike manufacturing from the States to Asia, largely due to the aluminum subsidies in China which allowed them to produce a frame for $4 in 1998 (~7 mins in). iTunes Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/terry-bikecast/id284144083?mt=2 https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/terry-bikecast/id2841440... (#24 Steel Really is Real) Original Podcast: http://community.terrybicycles.com/media/podcastgen1.3/?p=episode&name=2010-11-16_schwinn.mp3 http://community.terrybicycles.com/media/podcastgen1.3/?p=ep... Sadly, I couldn't find a transcript of the podcast, but there seems to be some excerpts here: http://community.terrybicycles.com/wordpress/sidesaddle-blog/from-georgena/a-chat-with-richard-schwinn#.V62ZSSPyu_s http://community.terrybicycles.com/wordpress/sidesaddle-blog... However, there's a lot of knowledge not mentioned in the blog post and I recommend listening to it if you're into bicycles and the change of materials from steel to aluminum to carbon. Richard Schwinn is a bit biased since he runs Waterford, but he does know a lot about steel.