mstateglfr 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php/?st...46650059450871




h/t paceline

Piff 

Just scuttlebutt for now, but would be a dang shame to see Sunset for Schwinn. At least Schwinn can say it ended on his own terms after a successful few decades, which is more than most business owners. Wonder if any builders in Waterford will start their own company with some of the tools/materials from the Waterford workshop?

mstateglfr 

Waterford sent a letter to dealers confirming they stopped taking new orders and will close at the end of June.

gugie 

It's official. Richard Schwinn is a contributor on the CR List, he's announced it there. They have sevearl key people around retirement age, and figured it was a good time.

embankmentlb

Ending of an era. I can slowly see this C&V bike thing fading away. Not a complaint only an observation.

squirtdad

I think more evolving. with more niche players like rivendell and velo orange and more people going for custom bikes, which all said and done are not more and often less expensive than than a top end carbon bike

Probably more opportunity for smaller, local, less well known builders.

that what my tea leaves say

repechage

The rise of the index C&V era. it will take a while. Note that Shimano SIS arrived in 1984. 39 years ago.
There are many who no nothing else.

The bike market in the USA is retreating this year, in a few years it will be regarded that the pandemic "boom" pulled sales forward.
It will take a while to reach market equilibrium.

My guess the business for Waterford had flow but not a long order book.
An end of an era. Maybe Mr. Schwinn will write the Waterford history after retirement.

merziac

Sad day and no surprise.

Glad Richard is going out on his own terms, having had a front row seat to the big demise I can imagine he was determined not to not do that or let it happen.

Also can't imagine he won't still be involved in some, maybe many capacities.

Great guy and always like to hear what he has to say, he is always helpful and genuinely glad to weigh in whenever I have asked him to.

Piff 

Someone certainly needs to get him in front of a camera, along with other classic keepers of the flame who can talk about the classic era and the transition to the modern.

merziac

He's done some, River City bikes here in PDX has a good video of him and the owner waxing a bit.

Our own @jjhabbs has a good video with him.

And the Outspoken cyclist has a very good podcast with him.

Hopefully, he does some more after he gets out of the fray.

https://outspokencyclist.com/tag/richard-schwinn/

Pcampeau

Now where are we supposed to get our Paramounts repainted? I have projects, it’s so unfair!

Atlas Shrugged

There will always be a segment of our sport for traditionally built steel bikes. They are easily customizable, require minimal tooling to produce and build techniques are well know. Materials required are very affordable and easily accessible. The skills required can be self taught by anyone with a decent mechanical aptitude. There are no shortage of smaller artisan builders in the marketplace offering bikes at very competitive prices. This is great news to those who want a custom steel bike traditional or modern.

For those larger producers of high end steel bikes “Creative Destruction” has effectively played out. The days of the high end batch made steel bikes has played out.

romperrr 

Wow, end of an era indeed. I echo other's sentiment that I'm glad Mr. Schwinn is closing on his own terms. None of us are permanent, nothing is, seems like he's intent on enjoying the ride.

Caliwild

Copy of the letter, in case people aren't CR members...Dear Waterford / Gunnar Dealer:

It with bittersweet feelings that we are announcing the closure of Waterford Precision Cycles as of the end of June. Several members of our staff are retiring, and we felt it time to put a period at the end of the sentence called Waterford. Those of our staff who not of retirement age will enjoy a robust job market eager to take advantage of their remarkable talents.

We have stopped taking orders for new bikes and restorations. We are processing orders on the Waterford web site for touch-up paint and by email for replacement decals. For the next month and a half, our focus will be primarily to make sure that every bike we build is exactly what our customers want. If you have a specific business you need discuss, we will respond to the best of our abilities. Please forgive us if we can't spend much time on non-essential conversation. Our web site will be up and running for the foreseeable and we will be doing we can for our community.

We have been gratified by the outpouring of support we've received from those who have already received the news. Yes, we are looking for options that will keep production and restoration services going, and a number ideas have come up. Nothing is solid enough to be able to share with you at this time. We will be publishing additional newsletters as the process unfolds.

It's been 30 years since Waterford took over Schwinn's Paramount facility. In these three decades we have built and nurtured relationships with thousands fine bike dealers and tens of thousands of cycling enthusiasts. We can proudly say that we've spent the past three decades building the world's finest bicycles.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to serve you.

steelbikeguy

Sorry to see Waterford shut down, but the retirement of key personnel is something that happens. If no one is found to replace them, or if the market doesn't support the business, then this is not a surprise. I hope Richard and the other retirees enjoy their free time, and best wishes to the rest of the employees in finding rewarding employment.

Looking back through my old magazine articles, I found one about the Waterford 1200 frame, written in 1995. This was early in Waterford's existence, and the article does explain how the company originated in 1993. Hard to believe it's been 30 years since then!

Here's the article from the November 1995 issue of Bicycle Guide:

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Steve in Peoria

rgvg

They host the Schwinn catalogs, don't they? Maybe we better start downloading them...

cudak888 

I'd be willing to host them, side-by-side with the updated Paramount Registry. Lots of progress has been made; just sorting out an issue with the submission form not passing the serial number through to the post title.

EDIT: This issue has been sorted. Probably just a few weeks off from launching the new site.

-Kurt

Whit51 

Spokes Etc. in Vienna, VA hosted an evening with Richard Schwinn a few years ago. It was fasciniting. What an interesting and humble guy! He brought his current ride at the time, Big Red, to show the audience and was a wealth of information about the evolution of steel bikes from the start of Schwinn to the current era.

madpogue 

Richard did a few of talks on different topics of bike history at the Historical Museum here many years ago. VERY approachable fellow, did a great job of packing a lot of well-organized info into sessions that were more like conversations than "lectures". I'm sorta secretly hoping he stays in the area for a while after retiring, and resumes sessions like that. Hmmm, maybe I should make a friendly inquiry at the museum next time I'm downtown......

dedhed

What happens to all the old build records?

himespau 

That's a bummer, but better than watching Bruce Gordon try, unsuccessfully over and over to sell his business.

bikingshearer 

C'mon folks, it's not that big a deal. The Schwinn name lives on.

What? Wait a second. Current Schwinns are made where? And sold where?

Ignore the first line. It is that big a deal.

The Golden Boy 

Around 5 years ago I came into some money- I *REALLY* wanted a Rivendell A Homer Hilsen with cantilevers.

After some back and forth, Grant told me he couldn't do it, and recommended that I get a Waterford custom. But that's not what I wanted. Now that Waterford is over, I regret that decision.

FWIW- the Waterford shop is something like 17 miles from my house, with like 7 turns. But I've never been there.

retlaw53 

I am sorry to hear they are closing. I purchased my Waterford in '98. I believe it's a '94 or '95 Sport Touring model. It came with a mix of Campy components. I upgraded it from 16spd to 27spd and used it as my daily ride and weeklong self-contained trips. Still ride it several times per week to run errands. A comfortable ride and very dependable

georges1

Sad end for an era that made some of the most awesome high end custom steel made bikes. I really liked the interview of Richard Schwinn withou member jjhabbs. I hope that Waterford /Schwinn will be able in another form to continue to make frames and restore older Schiwnn Paramounts. I never had the opportunity to own a Paramount but I did ride one which belang to one of my cousins, a 1994 Waterford Reynolds 753 made one with Dura Ace 7400 16 speeds and first gen Mavic Cosmic, what an awesome bike it was.