ksryder

https://www.cxmagazine.com/review-sc...e-bike-softail

Interesting. An alloy gravel bike you can buy from Amazon. It looks like a serviceable entry level all road bike with mid-range components. A couple intriguing bits of innovation, mainly the rear suspension setup. I'd be interested to hear how this works in the long run. A couple questionable choices, too, like the rear quick release. And I'm not sure why they listed a part number for a 10-speed cassette when this an 11-speed drivetrain, I assume this is a typo.

I wouldn't buy this particular bike, not because it's a Schwinn, but because of some of the specs (plus I like to support my LBS) but it is a legitimate option for someone looking for an entry-level bike that doesn't have complete junk components.

But the article got me to thinking -- what would it take for you to ride a Schwinn gravel bike, given the good will that Schwinn has squandered over the last 30 years? I realize that Pacific also owns Cannondale, so it's not like they can't make good bikes, but Schwinn has been such absolute crap for so long that even if they offer decent quality bikes they are still tainted by the stench of BSO crapidity. I'm not saying I wouldn't buy one but I'd be a lot more skeptical and critical than I would of some more traditional choices.

thehammerdog

Wait? They make bicycles?

ksryder

They make "bicycles".

jfoobar

Honestly, the Schwinn name is either incredibly antiquated or sullied, depending on your age and experience with the bike market. The people old enough to remember the brand with any sort of historical fondness are probably only a very small sliver of potential customers. Or, it is neither and you don't know anything about "Schwinn" at all. As such, I'm not sure there really is much real benefit to using the "Schwinn" name at this point for higher than bottom-tier bikes.

Looking through all of the bikes listed on the Dick's website, the substantial majority of the bikes that they even list in their catalog (let alone actually stock in any store) that list for $1000+ are mountain bikes, most of them suspension mountain bikes. Of the seven road bikes over $1000, two are Schwinns, this new gravel bike being one of them (the other is a tarmac carbon road bike). The rest are GT, Diamondback or Mongoose, which I am old enough to remember were all BMX brands in the 80s (my BMX bike was a Redline, FWIW). Seems to me that since the Schwinn brand lacks any substantial cache, they would be better off just conjuring up an entirely new brand name at least for the higher-price models and couple that with some effective in-store marketing. They'd probably move more units that way.

curttard

I liked the Schwinn Homegrown in the (iirc) early 2000s.

Lazyass

Every few years they seem to come out with some good bikes. A few years ago Performance Bike was selling their carbon Paramount's. They were really nice.

shoota 

$1600 for a Schwinn? I just don't see it happening.

mstateglfr 

Very interesting thanks for the link.

as someone who has owned multiple Schwinn road bikes from the 80s, and still has an ice pink Columbus Tenax Schwinn made in Mississippi, i have a substantial interest in the story of Schwinn and the original company's ultimate demise.

a great read, if you can find it, is No Hands which is a detailed book about the decades long rise and fall of the company. Fascinating history and it delves into topics such as US labor, global economics, supply chain, innovation, and more.

anyways...

interesting bike and really interesting soft tail setup. Wonder if that will take off at all.

It's a shame that the brand name was destroyed by going almost all in on the big box retail market.
I doubt the branded will come back from that.

perhaps it would have been better to use this design for a cannondale offering?

Paul Barnard

Love my Schwinn gravel bike. I did 61 miles on it today.





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