Excellent photos beginning with the famed “Black Phantom” fat tire bike, first produced in 1949, characterize the book. The “Panther,” “Jaguar” and “Wasp,” with the “Starlet” catering to girls and women, follow. In a twist of fate, just as adult bicycle sales were exploding,
Schwinn did not have the desired lightweight models available in high volumes
for its customer. The factory had invested heavily in electro-forged welding machines
that were not suitable for modern types of steel.
By 1975, bicycle customers interested in medium-priced road and touring bicycles had largely gravitated towards Japanese or European brands. In reality, mass-market French manufacturers such as Peugeot were not infrequently criticized for material and assembly quality — as well as stagnant technology — in their low- and mid-level product lines. Nevertheless, Peugeot proudly advertised its victorious racing heritage at every opportunity. By 1979, even the Paramount had been passed, technologically speaking, by a new generation of American as well as foreign custom bicycle manufacturers. By the late 1970s, a new bicycle sport begun by enthusiasts in Northern California had grown into a new type of all-terrain bicycle, the mountain bike.
During the next twenty years, most of the Paramount bikes would be built in limited numbers at a small frame shop headed by Wastyn, in spite of Schwinn’s continued efforts to bring all frame production into the factory. Another problem was Schwinn’s failure to design and market its bicycles to specific, schwinn mountain bike identifiable buyers, especially the growing number of cyclists interested in road racing or touring. Instead, most Schwinn derailleur bikes were marketed to the general leisure market, equipped with heavy “old timer” accessories such as kickstands that cycling aficionados had long since abandoned.
He would retain the title of chairman and
chief executive until he died in 1988 but Ed Schwinn, Jr. would take over day-to-day
management of the company. Frank V. Schwinn had a more relaxed management style and
relied heavily on seasoned managers such as Al Fritz and Ray Burch. Frank V.
Schwinn reasoned that the existing crop of managers had met decades of earlier
challenges and there was no reason that this trend could not continue. Thus, during
the rest of the 1970s, the company was in the hands of Frank W. Schwinn, a
non-confrontational manager that tried hard to accommodate opinionated managers
and shifting family alliances.
They make a series of sidewalk bikes, including the Spitfire and Pixie, that are only 12 inches tall. The company also makes balance bikes designed for riders without pedals. They also make rugged 24-inch mountain bikes, like the Sidewinder and the High Timber.
In time, the Paramount came in a variety of models but remained expensive to produce and purchase. Both Edward Jr. and Frank V. Schwinn felt betrayed by the
workers. When approached to negotiate a contract with the new union, Schwinn
management stonewalled. The strike was settled in 1981 and the union made modest
gains in salaries and benefits. The vote to unionize had reinforced Schwinn’s desire to close
the Chicago factory. The factory was closed in 1983 but it would be a pyrrhic
victory for Schwinn (Crown and Coleman 1996).
Schwinn was able to squeak out a 7 to 8 percent market share
of BMX bicycles by 1980 but this was too little and too late. By then, other
upstart manufactures of BMX bikes had captured the market and established their
names. Skip Hess, the founder of Mongoose, was quoted as saying
“The (Schwinn) people in Chicago only heard the echo” of this new Trend (Crown
and Coleman p. 109, slightly reworded).
Schwinn then partnered with 7-Eleven, establishing a team including Eric Heiden. When 7-Eleven decided to hit the big time in racing, Schwinn went its own way due to a lack of funding. Schwinn was, however, able to recruit an up-and- coming rider named Lance Armstrong to its ranks.
Even worse, though, Schwinn had let its dealer network slip away during the 1970s. Mongoose, Specialized, GT, and others quickly moved in to take market share from Schwinn. In the 1930s Frank took over the company and launched his fat tire series that took the company well into the 1960s with sales booming after World War II. Simultaneously, though, with the success of the fat tire bikes, Frank attempted to bring back the lightweight bicycles of the 1890s, anticipating a demand for long distance bicycles. He introduced the famous racing bike, the “Paramount” in 1937, and the “New World” in 1940 (trying to reintroduce Schwinn’s most popular turn-of-the century bicycle, the “World”).