About Ebykr
Ebykr celebrates classic and vintage lightweight bicycles through provocative imagery and opinion. Ride along with us.
Bicycle Makers · USA
Everything Ebykr holds on Schwinn: four articles, a Timeline of 54 dated events from 1860 to 2023 and eight documents in the archive.
The history of Schwinn on Ebykr.
Schwinn of Chicago from 1895: the American bicycle, Emil Wastyn's Paramount, the fillet-brazed sleepers, the bike boom it missed and Waterford.
Grouped by format, the most read first.
A practical guide to dating a vintage Schwinn: telling a Chicago-built Schwinn from a Paramount and an import, finding the frame number, reading it with the right table and confirming the year with the catalogs and the components.
A timeline of Schwinn from Chicago in 1895 through the Paramount, the Sting-Ray and the missed bike boom to two bankruptcies and Waterford's end in 2023.
Schwinn catalogs, dealer books and advertisements from 1939 to 1981: the Paramount, the balloon-tire cruisers, the Sting-Ray and Krates, parts and BMX.
Where Schwinn is named outside its own pages: nine articles and seven archive documents from four other makers and one publication.
The articles that name Schwinn most often first.
…at the time, including: Pope Manufacturing/Columbia (100,000+), Raleigh (60,000+), Schwinn (50,000+), Peugeot (40,000-50,000), BSA (30,000-40,000) and Adlerwerke/Adler (30,000+), with many other manufacturers…
…Alex Singer, René Herse, Bridgestone (after Mr. Ishibashi, "Stone Bridge" in Japanese), Schwinn and of course the modern boutique builders such as Gilles Berthoud, Richard Sachs and others. Some, like Waterford…
…of manufacturing was consolidated by a few key Asian OEMs like Giant (Trek, Schwinn, Colnago, Bianchi) and Merida (Specialized, Centurion, Felt, GT) that remain dominant today. Sound familiar? Mercier…
…a blank stare of incomprehension, a blank stare you would never receive upon mentioning Schwinn, Raleigh or even Huffy. Strange as it may seem, Carlton Cycles played a part in the successes of the latter two…
…in the United Kingdom in 1970, priced at £34 19s. It borrowed the high-rise idiom that Schwinn had established in America with the Sting-Ray and pushed it even further: a long dragster saddle with a padded…
…moderately priced bicycles were lighter and better sorted than the domestic equivalents. Schwinn's difficulties through the same decade are the mirror image of Fuji's success, and the two stories are best read…
…1976 range by Campagnolo level, from the Valentino Extra to a "Super Record 12 speed." Schwinn's 1978 catalog lists its touring Paramount with Weinmann brakes and "Campagnolo available at extra cost." In 1981…
…crest, Colnago its ace of clubs, Fuji its stylized mountain, Raleigh its phoenix and Schwinn its four-point star -- but Legnano may be the only bicycle company whose headbadge depicts a sword-lofting warrior.
…in other makers' catalogs: Holdsworth graded its whole 1976 range by Campagnolo level, Schwinn's 1978 catalog lists its touring Paramount with "Campagnolo available at extra cost," Fuji offered a special-order…
Filed under other makers and publications whose words name Schwinn; the biggest share first.
The Ebykr Digest
New articles, timelines, catalog finds and registry activity — assembled from the archive once a month. Your address is never shared.
Double opt-in. One email per month. Unsubscribe at any time with one click.
