Thus by the 1990s,Schwinnhad declared bankruptcy andGiantwent on to make generate $380 million in annual sales, making it the world’s largest bicycle manufacturer. The company celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1945 withFifty Years of Schwinn-Built Bicycles, dedicated to the company’s founder Ignatz Schwinn, who was 85 years old that year. The book is illustrated with photographs of the factory, the Schwinn racing teams, and the bicycles the company produced . In 2002, 41.4 million Americans rode a bike six times or more. But 99 percent of the bikes sold in the United States today are imports. “It’s still a going industry,” said Michael Kershow, former counsel for the now defunct Bicycle Manufacturers Association of America.
The turn of the century and the start of the automotive era saw a wave of consolidations in the bicycle business, out of which Schwinn emerged weakened – but even more ambitious. Various takeover made Schwinn one on the big players, and retailing schwinn bicycles through mass merchants allowed the Chicago-based company to achieve big sales. In 1928, the in-house brand for motorcycles that had been acquired in 1912 and 1917, Excelsior-Henderson, even ranked 3rd in the national motorcycle industry.
In 1900, during the height of the first bicycle boom, annual United States sales by all bicycle manufacturers had briefly topped one million. Nevertheless, Schwinn’s share of the market was increasing, and would reach in excess of 1 million bicycles per year by the end of the decade. Several years ago, a company named Gates introduced a concept never before seen on outdoor bikes – a belt drive that performed like a chain. Their innovative system – called Carbon Drive™ – features a carbon fiber reinforced belt with teeth for maximum durability and true bike performance. Over time, this has transitioned from a novelty system to a mainstream solution used on hundreds of outdoor bike models today.
Though weighing slightly less, the mid-priced Schwinn Superior or Sports Tourer was almost indistinguishable from Schwinn’s other heavy, mass-produced models, such as the Varsity and Continental. While competitive in the 1960s, by 1972 these bicycles were much heavier and less responsive in comparison to the new sport and racing bicycles arriving from England, France, Italy, and increasingly, Japan. The company also joined with other United States bicycle manufacturers in a campaign to raise import tariffs across the board on all imported bicycles.
During the 1960s, Schwinn aggressively campaigned to retain and expand its dominance of the child and youth bicycle markets. The company advertised heavily on television, and was an early sponsor of the children’s television program Captain Kangaroo. The Captain himself was enlisted to regularly hawk Schwinn-brand bicycles to the show’s audience, typically six years old and under. As these children matured, it was believed they would ask for Schwinn bicycles from their parents. By 1971, United States government councils had objected to Schwinn’s marketing practices. The Captain no longer insisted that viewers buy a Schwinn, but instead made regular on-air consultations of a new character, “Mr. Schwinn Dealer”.
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. In 2004, Pacific Cycle was in turn acquired by Dorel Industries. Once America’s preeminent bicycle manufacturer, the Schwinn brand, as with many other bicycle manufacturers, affixed itself to fabrication in China and Taiwan, fueling most of its corporate parent’s growth. In 2010, Dorel launched a major advertising campaign to revive and contemporize the Schwinn brand by associating it with consumer childhood memories of the company, including a reintroduction of the Schwinn Sting-Ray.
“And the crook doesn’t have a clue. To him, it’s just another bicycle.” That decision foreshadowed a broader decline in U.S. manufacturing, with the sector supplying 5 million fewer jobs today than at its peak in 1979. Meanwhile, family income huffy mountain bike growth slowed, rising only about 15 percent over nearly a quarter-century. Americans without a college degree — who make up about three-quarters of the adult population — now earn lower wages in real terms than they did a generation ago.