The Classic and Antique Bicycle Exchange

If these tubes are less than 1 1/8 inch in diameter, it is not a fillet-brazed model. If you find a welding seam inside the seat tube it is not a fillet-brazed model. Alloy rims, double-butted spokes, leather Brooks saddles, and lighter weight also differentiate the fillet-brazed models from the higher volume, flash-welded Schwinns. Schwinn first introduced the balloon tire (2.125″ wide) to the US market in 1933 and most of the early converted mountain bikes were based on the pre-war Excelsior-type frames.

This strategy was quite successful despite Schwinn’s history of antipathy towards such large retailers. Pon currently is one of the top 5 players in the bicycle industry. About 75% of people in the Netherlands have a bicycle made by Pons.

Unlike Schwinn, most Japanese bicycle manufacturers were quick to adopt the latest European road racing geometries, new steel alloys, and modern manufacturing techniques. As a result, their moderately-priced bicycles, equipped with the same Japanese-made components, usually weighed less and performed better than competitive models made by Schwinn. Schwinn brand loyalty began to suffer as huge numbers of buyers came to retailers asking for the latest sport and racing road bikes from European or Japanese manufacturers. By 1979, even the Paramount had been passed, technologically speaking, by a new generation of American as well as foreign custom bicycle manufacturers. Appellees are Arnold, Schwinn & Co. , a leading bicycle manufacturer, and an association of distributors handling Schwinn products. In 1951, Schwinn had the largest share, 22.%, of the U.S. bicycle market.

Most Schwinn bikes will feature a head badge or plate that identifies them as a Schwinn. This badge varied in style, depending on the style of bike and the year it was made. However, if you see the Schwinn name on the badge, it’s probably a Schwinn bike. The manufacturer distributed unbranded or rebranded bikes through other companies, especially prior to the 1950s.

Bikes from the later 1950s may have a serial number near the part of the frame where the rear axle attaches. In early 2022, the ownership of the Schwinn brand transitioned from Canada to the Netherlands. Flash-welded (“electro-forged”) gauge longitudinally-welded steel tubing produced in Schwinn’s own tube mill. Brass fillet-brazed of SAE 4130 chrome molybdenum straight-gauge seamless tubing. Needs to review the security of your connection before proceeding. The promotion of Schwinn’s self-interest alone does not invoke the rule of reason to immunize otherwise illegal conduct.

schwinn bicycles

The impact of today’s decision on Schwinn may be slight, because over 75% of its distribution is done through the Schwinn Plan, which the Court upholds. Perhaps Schwinn can rearrange the legal terminology of its other distributional arrangements to avoid “the ancient rule huffy mountain bike against restraints on alienation” which the Court adopts. Perhaps other manufacturers who use sales as a means of distribution in a franchise or analogous marketing system can do likewise. If they can, the Court has created considerable business for legal draftsmen.

By the mid 1970’s Schwinn’s Super Sport and Sports Tourer/Superior weighed a few pounds more than comparably priced bicycles at a time when light weight was increasingly important to customers of quality bicycles. Fillet-brazed frames are also more costly to produce than lugged frames because they are made by hand and require hand finishing. Many other types of bicycle frames, including lugged, can be made on automated machines. The fillet-brazed CrMo frame construction of Schwinn’s second class of lightweight bicycles – the Superior, Sports Tourer and Super Sport – was unique.