Unfortunately, the realities of the marketplace didn’t agree, and Schwinn closed the factory, transferring most production to Japan (Panasonic) and Taiwan (Giant). Schwinn also built a factory in Greenville, Mississippi, but it didn’t last, and even bought a factory in Hungary, but the deal fell through, and Schwinn never imported any Hungarian schwinn beach cruiser bikes to the U.S. Over the years, Schwinn has empowered millions of people, earning a special place in the hearts and minds of generations of riders. We have spent over a century building the bicycle industry into what it is today, and we’re not done yet. High end bikes are a huge leap in price from casual bikes, at least today.
After the bike-boom of the early 1970’s, Paramount was in a poor state of affairs in regards to competition and advancing technologies. In 1979, Edward R. Schwinn Jr. was made president of the company and promptly closed down all of the Paramount operations until they could be brought up to date. They also manufactured their own rims in the schwinn dealers 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.
A preventive maintenance program helps to keep your equipment in top condition, decrease downtime, and prevent major equipment failures. Cleaning, lubricating and making adjustments as well as replacing worn parts are all necessary to ensure the safety and reliability of your equipment. We do our best to find replacement parts, but keep in mind that parts may be difficult to find, especially for older models. It also may be cost-prohibitive to repair your machine if it is older. We break down why women’s bikes are smaller than men’s bikes and which parts on the bike differ.
F. Goodrich bicycles, sold in tire stores, Schwinn eliminated the practice of producing private label bicycles in 1950, insisting that the Schwinn brand and guarantee appear on all products. In exchange for ensuring the presence of the Schwinn name, distributors retained the right to distribute Schwinn bikes to any hardware store, toy store, or bicycle shop that ordered them. W. Schwinn tasked a new team to plan future business strategy, consisting of marketing supervisor Ray Burch, general manager Bill Stoeffhaas, and design supervisor Al Fritz. Schwinn was soon sponsoring a bicycle racing team headed by Emil Wastyn, who designed the team bikes, and the company competed in six-day racing across the United States with riders such as Jerry Rodman and Russell Allen. In 1938, Frank W. Schwinn officially introduced the Paramount series. Developed from experiences gained in racing, Schwinn established Paramount as their answer to high-end, professional competition bicycles.
S.-made Schwinns take oddball Schwinn size tires, with the exception of 630 mm/27 inch, which is standard. The Nervex Professional lugset, a stamped lug with its well-known and ornate profile, required considerable work in order to make a good frame. Someone in the 50’s had purchased a huge supply of bottom bracket shells that took better than a decade to finally use up. It includes the later “Olympic Rings” seat mast panel and the “TI” (Tubes Investments) version of the Reynolds 531 tubing sticker. A service contract is the best way to extend the life of your equipment and keep your facility safe, but we understand that a contract may not be feasible. We offer on-site repairs and preventive services when needed.
The new company produced a series of well-regarded mountain bikes bearing the Schwinn name, called the Homegrown series.[62] In 2001, Schwinn/GT declared bankruptcy. In the 1950s, Schwinn began to aggressively cultivate bicycle retailers, persuading them to sell Schwinns as their predominant, if not exclusive brand. During this period, bicycle sales enjoyed relatively slow growth, with the bulk of sales going to youth models. In 1900, during the height of the first bicycle boom, annual United States sales by all bicycle manufacturers had briefly topped one million. By 1960, annual sales had reached just 4.4 million.[10] Nevertheless, Schwinn’s share of the market was increasing, and would reach in excess of 1 million bicycles per year by the end of the decade. Sometime in the 1970’s, the Schwinn Chicago factory was organized by the United Auto Workers union, who felt that bicycle factory workers should be paid on the same scale as automotive workers.
By 1979, the Paramount had been passed, technologically, by a whole generation of American as well as foreign builders. 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 schwinn beach cruiser 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). 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 functional parts are reduced to minimum viable cost (and quality). I was never the bicyclist my brother became (long rides into the Colorado foothills, long commutes from one side of Denver to another), but in my junior high days, I regularly rode my bicycle to school, perhaps a three mile round trip. For that distance and the very level terrain, a heavy Schwinn was just fine. It seems like the so called quality biking companies were not clear on what kind of company they wanted to be. Perhaps they should not have reduced their prices but increased the quality of their bikes and advertised those qualities.
Joe Magnani developed the component side of the Paramount, working on race wheel building, Campagnolo derailleur systems and other top of the line equipment. Joe had quite a glorious history in racing including a stint in Europe before World War II. The Paramounts received the best of everything, including hand sprayed paint and the delicate pinstriping of Frank’s father, Joe Brilando and Adam Smith. As mountain biking evolved to more general street use, mountain bikes also became highly subject to the same dynamic which had affected earlier classes of bikes. Usually, I ride a bike for a couple years, and then some part of the frame cracks. Disappointingly, this almost never happens to the cheap department store “mountain” bikes.