bigwoo

Hi, I know we have a Mtn Bike page but, first I wanted to check here to see if anybody knows if the Chicago plant ever made MTB's..?? The model (an old 1985) I'm wondering about in particular is one of the first serious attempts Schwinn made in Mtn bikes, the "High Sierra".... I am looking at a nice one w/ cargo racks for a winter commuter and it has the "Schwinn High Sierra-#3105" headbadge w/ a "Schwinn Tri-Caliber 4130 Chrom Moly" decal on the seat tube. Just curious... Thanks

well biked

Seems like we've discussed this Chicago thing before. The Chicago plant closed in late '83, so there's no way an '85 was made in Chicago. But the High Sierra goes back as far as '83, I believe, so those earlier models would be a possibility. Also, the King Stings and Sidewinders come to mind as possibly Chicago-built, although they've always struck me more as sort of oversized BMX bikes than mountain bikes. They're nice bikes, though, particularly the King Stings, whatever you want to call them.........Bob Hufford, Scooper, or Sierra will hopefully chime in with more info.............I've got one of the 4130 High Sierras myself, and I agree that they would make very good commuters. I used to load similar bikes up with a rack and overnight gear, and do weekend campouts with some riding buddies. Bulletproof old bikes, and the ones that got me hooked on mountain biking in the first place.

BobHufford

Here's the rundown on the Schwinn MTB history:

https://www.firstflightbikes.com/schwinn_specs.htm

What's missing is the "Clunker" frames based on the Schwinn heavyweights of the '30s/'40s that were used as the basis of the "Repack" bikes that were part of the genesis of the whole MTB thing. Schwinn even honored that with the Klunker 5 model (based on their Spitfire middleweight) in 1978. The name was copyrighted, so they had to pull it pretty quickly.

BTW, I do like the early Schwinn MTBs. I have two '87 Cimarrons and an '87 High Sierra. My dad used to have an '82 Sidewinder, but it lives at First Flight's museum now ...

https://www.firstflightbikes.com/1982_Sidewinder.htm

Bob Hufford
Springfield, MO

bigwoo

I am such a big dumb doof.... Sorry man, I should have remembered that you did tell me about the closing in 83....

So did Panasonic pretty much do everything from '84 on because I dont remember ever seeing a "Made in Taiwan" decal on a mid-80's MTB??

well biked

Hey, I love talking about old Schwinns so much, I don't mind repeating the same stuff over and over.
And to give credit where it's due, all I knew about old Schwinns before I started hanging out on this forum was that I had ridden them a lot. Scooper, Bob Hufford, Sierra, they're the experts. I'm just passing on the info I've learned from them................As for the question about Panasonic, Taiwan, etc., I think it's likely some of the High Sierras and other Schwinn mtb's from the mid-'80's were made at the Mississippi plant. The High Sierra I have was built by Giant, but it's an '89. Like the Schwinn road bikes of the '80's, you'd probably have to take Schwinn's mtb's of the '80's pretty much year-by-year, model-by-model to determine where they were made, there were a lot of possibilities...........The Paramountains and KOM's were very nice bikes for the time period, the best of Schwinn's '80's mtb's, if I'm not mistaken.

BobHufford

My '87 High Sierra is Taiwanese and the '87 Cimarrons were made in Greenville.

Bob

silversmith

I blame them for the growing clutter in my garage (:-)

Pompiere

Prior to buying my '86 Sierra, I remember reading in Bicycling magazine that Schwinn had contracted Giant to build mountain bikes. I still have the Sierra, in black chrome.

Rabid Koala

I have never even seen one of those before! Of course, I had given up cycling a few years earler and entirely missed the mountain bike craze......

drewnolan82

duh, that's a simple one to answer...schwinn homegrowns were the first REAL Mtn bike schwinn produced.

John Marshall

I have an early Schwinn Mountain bike. The owner of Kissler Schwinn, here in Portland, said it was the first frame set Schwinn made for big tires on a non-cruiser bike. It was his personal bike, so I believe his story about when it was created. I tried to post some pics and was not allowed. The frame is lugged and the front fork is a "biplane style fork". It has no model name on it, but has proper Schwinn badging. Anybody here have info for pre-Sierra/High Sierra Schwinn Mountain Bikes? And if it's a prototype of the first Schwinn Mountain bike, what interest would the bike collecting community have?

Thanks in advance for any information.

-john

madpogue 

Photo assist:






Is there a date code stamped on the head badge, or a serial number on the bottom bracket shell?

John E

Interesting.
My 1988 Project KOM-10 is from Greenville, as well.

sheddle

I'm still not sure where the 88 KOM bikes were made. As someone in a local shop pointed out, it's basically a clone/repaint of the 88 Panasonic MC-7500 (Panasonics's highest end mountain bike) but that doesn't preclude them from being assembled in Greenville. The catalog claims "Made in USA" but things can change between a catalog publication and actual bike production.

Richard Schwinn wasn't sure but believed them to be Panasonic bikes when I asked. Post-88 KOMs (the S9 and it's successor, the PDG Series MTBs) are definitely Japanese, though, with the exception of a bike I've never seen, the Waterford Off-road.


The serial number on mine is E800082.

thumpism 

I'd think the King Sting 5 would qualify as one of the earliest, 1980-1984. Probably more of a derailleur cruiser, but that's what the Repack guys were riding.

sheddle

For fun, here's my (American?) KOM and it's Japanese cousin for comparison. I'd love to get one of those MC-7500s just for reuniting the family!





Incidentally, has anyone *ever* seen a Paramount Waterford Off road? The entry in the 1992 Paramount catalog is the only record of its existence I can even find.

Jeff Wills

Interesting zombie thread. Started in 2006, revived in 2020.

Pompiere

And I still have the Sierra.



1986 Schwinn Sierra in Black Chrome

thumpism 

New poster @John Marshall popped in and provided some useful info and seems to have found the thread by searching, so good on him. And welcome!

John Marshall

Hi madpogue. The bike is in a local shop in prep for restoration. I believe there is info on the bottom bracket shell, but can't look at it now. I am going to have it restored correctly and plan to ride it for a while and maybe sell it. Are there any other one-off bikes by Schwinn to compare this one to? I don't recall a date code on the head badge, but will look as soon as I get the chance.

madpogue 

I'm just going by the catalogs, but even the early King Stings from 1981 had unicrown forks and BMX-style handlebars. The head badge design goes back to no later than '83. So what, from that time, would have had the biplane and the bull-moose at that time?

thumpism 

Sierra/High Sierra is my guess.

crumbling

The SN is on the BB. These frames were adverised in the Schwinn BMX catalogue 1983 as a frame/fork only. Is it still possible to get a confirmation of when the original owner bought the frame/fork in the early 1980s. As an Schwinn shop owner h may have a record.
crumbling

3speedslow

Looks somewhat like my 84 High Sierra.

madpogue 

I'm not seeing anything in the catalogs illustrating a lugged frame, an old-school fork crown, the very early '80s style headbadge, the bull-mose with the cable stop, etc.

Serial # and headbadge date code will definitely be interesting.