As a fresh-off-the-boat arrival, Ignaz Schwinn probably should have been a bit intimidated by this hectic scene, but if he was, he sure didn’t show any signs of it. For all its associations with the 1950s and ‘60s, though, Schwinn’s mid-century heyday was really just an easy downhill glide mongoose bicycles after five decades of determined, non-stop pedaling. Crew-cutted Eisenhower kiddos had Schwinns on their Christmas lists because Schwinn was already the name their parents knew and respected. The brand was deeply embedded into the culture from the dawning of the 20th century onward.
The bicycle boom went bust in the early 1900s, due to market oversaturation and, of course, the rise of the automobile. The building in question on Kostner Avenue in Chicago’s Hermosa neighborhood was once one of the factories owned by the Schwinn Bicycle Company – at one time one of the largest bicycle manufacturers in the entire United States. Thomas Page, a consultant for national law enforcement and longtime customer of Detroit Bikes, has purchased huffy beach cruiser 15 models from the company. Page also worked with Pashak to design bikes for the University of Detroit Mercy campus for students and faculty to use. After reopening the storefront on Griswold in Detroit, bike sales skyrocketed, quadrupling last year’s sales and selling out some of the company’s more popular models — the A-Type Commuter and the Sparrow Commuter. New inventory for these models is not expected to be available until September.
Plus, choose from custom framing, canvas and wood mounting to truly make a piece your own — all high-quality at amazing prices. Udo Jung of the Boston Consulting Group says that, by and large, Germans accept that manufacturing companies such as Hella, Bosch and Siemens must get supplies from China. Degussa, a chemicals manufacturer, recently invited its workers’ council on a trip to China. Nor do continental Europeans seem bothered about white-collar work being done in low-cost countries. Pacific Cycle is owned by a Canadian conglomerate called Dorel Industries, and both entities seem to at least partially understand the lasting appeal of the Schwinn brand. The contemporary designs routinely make reference to the familiar Schwinn models of yesteryear, and there have even been re-introductions of beloved icons like the Sting-Ray.
Although the market was becoming hostile to investors, Schwinn was flourishing thanks to its motorcycle division. In fact, the company was doing so great that in 1928 it was placed third after Harley-Davidson and Indian. By 1905, the annual sales of bikes had decreased to only 25% of the figures reached in 1900. Unfortunately, the market got saturated and as a result, the short-lived bicycle boom came to an abrupt end. Most models of Schwinn bikes have years of images and information via old catalogs, advertisements and Schwinn documentation. This page lists Schwinn bicycles models and links to their details.
Schwinn thrived through this hard time building a modern factory and buying other smaller bike firms; this allowed the company to engage in mass production of bikes that could be sold at lower prices. In late 1997, Questor Partners Fund, led by Jay Alix and Dan Lufkin, purchased Schwinn Bicycles. Questor/Schwinn later purchased GT Bicycles in 1998 for $8 a share in cash, roughly $80 million.
After a few appeared on America’s streets and neighborhoods, many young riders would accept nothing else, and sales took off. It is our job to go above and beyond to create memorable customer experiences and surpass our customers’ expectations to create strong relationships and lifelong brand advocates. By delivering world-class customer service we take care of our customers every step of the way through their Core experience. Schwinn’s rebranding was enormously popular, and by 1950 this one company was manufacturing up to a quarter of the bicycles made in the entire United States.
The new company produced a series of well-regarded mountain bikes bearing the Schwinn name, called the Homegrown series. The company’s next answer to requests for a Schwinn mountain bike was the King Sting and the Sidewinder, inexpensive BMX-derived bicycles fabricated from existing electro-forged frame designs, and using off-the-shelf BMX parts. Schwinn never played it conservative with their ad budget, but their best sales agents were always their customers. Popular mid-century models like the Streamline Aerocycle, the AutoCycle, the Continental, Panther, Jaguar, Hornet, Black Phantom, and Sting-Ray all generated word-of-mouth buzz at bike shops, playgrounds, offices, etc. The Chicago factory was basically producing the bicycle equivalent of the Mustangs and T-Birds coming out of Detroit, and the biggest challenge was just keeping up with demand.