ksryder

I thought the point was that OP started a pearl clutching thread about something that everyone in bikes has known for decades--Schwinn today isn't the same as Schwinn used to be.

Let's all debate the Iran contra scandal and Bush-Dukakis while we're at it!

livedarklions

It's just awful that I have to drive into the sunrise every morning because I drive east. Why can't the sun rise in the west once in a while?

ksryder

*Ensuing thread reaches 13 pages*

Happy Feet

Two quick fixes for you my friend:

Move to England where they drive on the opposite side.. or to Australia where, due to the Coriolis effect, everything goes the other way.

You can call that a Schwinn approved Pro tip

Flip Flop Rider

so the point of the the thread is that things change? got it. This trend might continue. There are plenty of quality bike makers out there competing for our dollars and that's a win for bike riders

Schwinn was an iconic brand that made a great product. Things change

livedarklions

These Schwinn approved pro tips just aren't what they used to be when I was a kid. Of course, in those days, only spoiled rich kids got the tips.

Koyote

No, we don't need that thread.

I teach college students, and every day I try to stop myself from starting sentences with "Back when I was your age..."

badger1

I can't even use that phrase any longer with either my undergraduate or graduate students, because I no longer remember 'back when I was their age ...'.

badger1

LOL! Certainly would if the post in question were made in LCF.

ksryder

duffer1960

I was given a Bantam when I was 5, a camelback single-speed Speedster when I was about 8, and a Varsity when I was 13. The smaller bikes were handed down to younger siblings. Never needed significant repair. The Varsity carried me through a few years of delivering papers in all weather including heavy snow, other utility rides, and road trips including an early organized long-mile ride. (Unfortunately stolen after I had it for 4 years or so.) My friend had a Nishiki & thought it was pretty cool... until he jumped a curb or something and wrinkled the down tube. I loved the riding position and handling of the Varsity. Best for me combination of comfort, speed, and handling.

Much more recently, I refurb'd an old Continental, steel wheels and all. The cones weren't in perfect shape, but it rolled fine after reassembly. That thing rode wonderfully, just like I remember my Varsity. Good riding position, good handling. But steel wheels are awful hard to accelerate, and braking in the rain is barely existent, and I want more speeds and modern mounting points for accessories. I sold it in favor of a modern touring bike.

Fahrenheit531 

Better than the OP's first thread I suppose. But not by much.

wipekitty

I gave up after teaching them that a ditto was a real thing produced by a ditto machine, and not just a Pokemon character.

The sad part is that I'm young enough that, although my college bike came from a Schwinn store, it was definitely after they stopped making bikes in the US.

Rajflyboy

WizardOfBoz

Not double, but higher. But better quality (in the sense that they held together whatever a kid did.)
Yes, but they had a much more effective tool than unions: a committee of respected senior workers that could communicate with management.
The Varsity wasn't the lowest price point, there was the Collegiate as well. But your "bottom of the barrel" characterization is incorrect. They were durable, worked as advertised, were reasonably nice riding, and were cheap enough that most folks could afford them. I worked in a Schwinn shop in a working-class town and we had factory guys come in and they'd buy a Varsity or something better (tubular fork instead of forged, Al rims, Center pull Weinman brakes) all the time. Would a Varsity win the TdF? No way. But I remember my friend Gary putting Al rims on his varsity and kicking my ass (keep in mind, at the time I was on the Wisconsin Football team as a Defensive End) even though I had a lugged 531 frame (Raleigh Competition) with Phil Wood hubs. The Varsity gave more pleasure and was ridden more miles at lower cost than perhaps any other bike in history.
That's an idiotic thing to say.
Ah, those grapes were probably sour. I get it now. Yes, for a while Schwinns were the thing. Then they weren't.
I don't think that's correct. I think Mongoose was independent til 2001, when Pacific acquired them. The truly s**t brand back then was Huffy. The prototype of the BSO, and Walmart bikes of today.
No. Asian competition didn't make it easy. But Trek was founded and flourished in the same era, with US-built bikes. Bad decisions, kids taking over a company in a time of changing market forces that they didn't understand, and also lacking appreciation for how to manage talented workers, and a talented workforce that was enamored and jealous of the huge gains made in wages and work rules that the US car company employees had received. Also, the attitude that management could make unilateral decisions and that the workforce had to obey. Rather than a collaborative approach, with factual discussion. Joe, I'd love to give you guys 18 bucks an hour [the numbers are representative, not accurate] that the Auto Workers get. But at that rate I have a need for precisely zero US workers. If you push this, it will kill all US based manufacturing. Your getting 14 bucks and bennies. I can give you 14.50 and keep everyone on. Isn't that better?" Instead it was "F*** you, I'm offering you 14 bucks and most of you keeping your jobs". And the management killed the back-channel communication that had been fostered by the worker's committees. It was a cluster f*** from all angles. But at the heart of it was mismanagement on both corporate and union leadership.

That sucks. I had the aforementioned Raleigh stolen in college. Still miss that bike.

There's a range, but the bright side is that there are wonderful bikes being offered by US companies. I'm still pissed at Trek for the way they treated LeMond (they need to apologize), but I do have a Trek myself (and also a 1999 Lemond Zurich with a US built 853 frame!). And if you want a great hand-made bike of 853 or 953, you can get anything you want and can afford. Of course, a high end paint job costs more today than a Paramount or a Raleigh Professional did when I worked in the bike shop. But of course that was when the primary mode of travel was the horse, and our store was protected from the Visigoths by a moat...

JonBailey

I like the chrome chainring and guard assembly on the Varsity better than the Collegiate. The big 5-spoke 10-speed chainring with the slotted guard is the thing that sticks out to me as truly classic SCHWINN the most: like the iconic tail fins on a '59 Cadillac.

A lot of the appeal of old Schwinns is classic American style ladened in pretty paint colors and chrome: like 1958 Harley-Davidson Panheads, 1964 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertibles and 1954 Ford Victorias.

JonBailey

...but not always for the better

AlmostTrick

Chicago built Schwinn Continental turned single speed. Aluminum wheels with supple Avocet FasGrip tires were found on CL. Original paint and decals were mint.

Did I mention that this bike was one of many Chicago Schwinns we found in the trash!

I wish I kept it.

JonBailey

Schwinn was not priced for American welfare families back then. In the 1970's, pre-Walmart days in California, they had Kmart with Japan bikes for such families: now there's Wal-Mart with China bikes. My father was working a a DOD electrician at a navy base full time. He was non-union but in 1977, his wages went up considerably and we entered the lower-middle class income bracket. We had new bottom-line compact economy cars from 1970 on up. My grandparents were middle-class too and my grandfather worked union, but believed still in buying the lowest-priced presents for grandchildren. They thought of department stores at Christmas time, not more expensive mom-and-pop stores. Montgomery Ward, Emporium Capwell (San Francisco), Alec, Gemco (San Mateo County, CA) Kmart, Macy's and JC Penney and Sears Roebuck were either big-box or local thrifty chain retail stores back then. They also could find thrifty presents at five-and-dime stores and American drugstores. In northern California we had Thrifty Drug, Merrill Drug, Rexall Drug and Longs Drug and my parents/grandparents shopped a lot there too. Such places are now Rite-Aid, Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy. In 1972, Christmastime, my father bought my mother a new Kodak Instamatic 110 pocket camera (all the rage of the early 1970's) at Merrill Drug in NorCal for $30 and my mother even thought that camera too "expensive" to have a scratch on the viewfinder lens so it was instantly exchanged. My father didn't care much about it but my mother insisted the camera be returned. She did not like any scratches on new products no matter how cheap. In 1972, $30 for a simple Kodak point-n-shoot camera was nothing to laugh about. My family bought a new Electrophonic stereo high-fi with record changer, radio, large, heavy 16-ohm floor speakers and recording 8-track deck in 1974 for $300 and we thought that a really opulent home product then. You probably remember those 1970's home stereos with a see-through plastic dust cover and ladened with chrome and wooden cabinets. Many had all the music playback devices and amplifier housed as a single unit rather than as separate components. There were some home stereos built into wooden television consoles.

bobwysiwyg

Can you provide a source for this stat?

Trsnrtr

A friend of mine says that if your baby pics aren't in B&W, you can't say, "Back in the day..."

(mine are in B&W)

Koyote

Eventually it will be "if your baby pics weren't on film, you can't say 'back in the day.'"

Happy Feet

My suggestion is that anyone who sits around and reminisces about their childhood in this much detail needs to get out and go for a bike ride. Unless you are currently writing a lengthy memoir or rereading a childhood journal that is crackers.

JonBailey

Sometimes when I get started it's hard to stop like having wet rims in rainy weather down hill.

JonBailey

When you see a so-called "Schwinn" in the big-box stores.

Even 'Ford', 'GM' and 'Chrysler' cars are phony these days made in Canada and Mexico. A real American car or truck these days is a Toyota made in Texas, Georgia or California.

I wonder if Harley-Davidson even still builds genuine AMERICAN motorcycles anymore.