The Wright Brothers started ignoring
their bike shop in favor of flying machines. Henry Ford rode a bicycle to a
factory where he manufactured his first motorcar that looked like two bicycles joined
together. He and others like him working on the first cars would sound the
death knell for the 1890s adult bicycle boom. By 1990, other United States bicycle companies with reputations for excellence in design such as Trek, Specialized, and Cannondale had cut further into Schwinn’s market. Unable to produce bicycles in the United States at a competitive cost, by the end of 1991 Schwinn was sourcing its bicycles from overseas manufacturers.
Only 3 percent of family businesses are still alive and
kicking by the fourth generation (Zellweger, Nason, and Nordvist 2012). Edward
Schwinn, schwinn bicycles Jr. was a fourth-generation president of a family business. The 1982 film ET (ExtraTerrestrial) illustrates the intensity
of the BMX craze.
Upon his arrival in America, Schwinn quickly found work with the Hill Cycle Manufacturing Company and rose readily to the level of plant manager. He managed the plant for two years while he searched for the time, place and money to launch his own venture. This he found with the collaboration of another successful German immigrant, Adolf Arnold. Arnold owned a meat packing plant and was part owner of a local bank. According to Pridmore and Hurd, Arnold invested $75,000 in the venture, and Schwinn offered his expertise. The factory in Hungary was partially successful in producing
the Schwinn Woodlands, but many of the imported bikes had to be warehoused due
to quality issues.
Giant further endeared itself to Schwinn during the strike
by delivering on a promise to pick up the slack in manufacturing capacity. Giant agreed to provide Schwinn with an additional 80 thousand bicycles. By
1984, Giant ratcheted up production to 500 thousand bicycles for Schwinn which
accounted for about two-thirds of Schwinn sales (Crown and Coleman 1996). Another change in the bicycle industry confronting Schwinn
was a mountain bike craze emerging in Marin County, California.
The luminaries featured in the 1946 poster
catalog included Dorothy Lamour, Roy Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Jane Wyman, Janis Paige, Barbara
Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, and Bing Crosby. • Bike path – schwinn tricycle a selection of bikes designed to handle varied terrain. Jay Pridmore, the lead author on this book, is a prolific writer about architecture and frequent contributor to the Chicago Tribune.
The lightweights caught on very slowly but the fat tire bikes carried the company successfully through the ‘60s. The historical treatment takes the narrative through World War II. The book then becomes more a catalog of models that many of you likely rode during the 1950s and 1960s.