The "Schwinn Bicycles - Made In Heaven" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Talking with friends about the two-wheeled bikes we used to own.  After a few interesting stories it was my time to reminisce and I told about the bright red Schwinn that I got for Christmas when I was eight years old.  Christmas morning and my brother and I ran down the steps to find plenty of presents under the tree to open.  Year would have been 1952 and I had a few presents that were on my Christmas list.  A new bike wasn't one of those gifts though.  And, I wasn't disappointed when I didn't get one under the tree that year.  Did get a holster and cap gun as well as plenty of caps to play cowboys and indians with my neighborhood friends.  Naturally had to be a cowboy, since I had my new cowboy gun.  After all the gifts were opened, my mom and dad as well as my brother and myself jumped into the old Plymouth and headed to my Grandmother's house on North Pine Street in the city of Lancaster, PA to give gifts to my Nannan and my Aunt Doris.  

Bike much like my first bike, but mine was red and white.

My brother opened quite a few really neat gifts and then it was my turn.  Had maybe a package or two which took a minute to open and thought the gift session was over.  And then my Aunt Doris walked into the dining room and came back with the really neat red Schinn bike with white-walled tires, horn, storage pack behind the seat and a light on the front fender.  Wow!!  How is it that there are some presents you never forget?  And, this was one that I'll never forget!  I had many fun times riding my bike around the neighborhood for quite a few years.  Remember riding it with my wagon hitched to the back to the Acme Supermarket to pick up boxes of lettuce trimmings to feed to my guinea pigs I had in the back yard.  Seems that the Schwinn bike was a great bike for all types of activities.  Schwinn Bicycle Company was founded in 1895 by German mechanical engineer Ignaz Schwinn in Chicago.  It was the leading bicycle company for many years, but ended up declaring bankruptcy in 1992.  

Advertisement from the 1960s.

It was eventually purchased by multi-national Dorel Industies and became a sub-brand of Pacific Cycle.  While living in Europe, Ignaz designed a two-wheeled bike that appeared in 19th century Europe.  He emigrated to the U.S. in 1891 and eventually developed the Schwinn with the financial backing of fellow German American Adolph Arnold.  Chicago quickly became the bicycle center of the American bicycle industry.  By the turn of the 20th century over a million bikes were sold per year.  Then automobiles arrived and bike sales fell to 25% in sales in 1905.  Mr. Schwinn began to mass-produce bicycles at a lower cost to stay in business.  He then began to make motorcycles and in 1928 was third in production behind Indian and Harley-Davidson.  

Captain Kangaroo advertisement.

In 1950, Schwinn decided to grow the Schwinn bicycle one again.  Most manufac- turers sold bikes to retailers who in turn placed their name on the bike.  Schwinn wouldn't allow that and wanted their name and warranty to be with each bike sold.  Television advertising helped, especially when they advertised on Captain Kangaroo in the late 1950s.  During the 1960's they continued their dominance in the bicycle world.  In 1962 Schwinn came out with the Sting-Ray which was a "chopper" style bike with high-rise handlebars and a banana seat.  

The Predator which we bought for our son.

In the early 1980's Schwinn introduced the "Predator and the BXM style bike was very popular.  Carol and I purchased a Predator for our oldest son.  He loved it!  Wasn't long before someone broke into our garage and stole the bike.  Not sure what we bought next, but we did place a better lock on the garage door.  Then in the 1970's Japanese and European brands became popular as well as less-expensive.  By the 1990s Schwinn's market had been severely reduced to imported bicycles from all over the world.  In 1992 the company went into bankruptcy.  Then in 2001 the Schwinn Company and it's assets were purchased by Pacific Cycle which in turn was acquired by Dorel Industries.  The once great Schwinn brand had bikes made in China.  Their bikes are now sold at Wal-Mart, Sears and Kmart.  My memories of the Schwinn bicycle my Aunt Doris gave to me years ago will always remain with me.  How can something as neat as a Schwinn bike ever be forgotten?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.