In the shop, I hurriedly purchased a Schwinn High Plains mountain bike for $335. I wrote a schwinn mountain bicycles check (remember those?) And so began my cycling career…well, not really. I actually called my sister and had her come and get me and the bike in her Chevy S-10 pickup. Thus, I became the ride-leach that needed to be taken everywhere. I was asking my sister or my co-workers for a lift almost every day.
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. Mountain bikes were originally based on Schwinn balloon-tired cruiser bicycles fitted with derailleur gears and called “Klunkers”. A few participants began designing and building small numbers of mountain bikes with frames made out of modern butted chrome-molybdenum alloy steel. Using the standard electro-forged cantilever frame, and fitted with five-speed derailleur gears and knobby tires, the Klunker 5 was never heavily marketed, and was not even listed in the Schwinn product catalog. Unlike its progenitors, the Klunker proved incapable of withstanding hard off-road use, and after an unsuccessful attempt to reintroduce the model as the Spitfire 5, it was dropped from production.
Arnold, Schwinn, & Co. (as it remained until 1967) was on the verge of bankruptcy. With no buyers, Excelsior-Henderson motorcycles were discontinued in 1931.[5] Ignaz’s son, Frank W. “F. W.” Schwinn, took over day-to-day operations at Schwinn. W. Schwinn returned to Chicago and in 1933 introduced the Schwinn B-10E Motorbike, actually a youth’s bicycle designed to imitate a motorcycle. There’s a lot of information in this post, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that Schwinn offers a couple of outstanding electric mountain bike options as well.
A road bike saddle should allow the rider to have a more forward-leaning posture. A mountain bike saddle, while not significantly different from a road bike’s, will usually provide a bit more cushioning and shock absorption. 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.
Full-suspension bikes, equipped with both front and rear suspension, offer optimal comfort, control, and traction on rough terrain. These bikes absorb impacts from rocks, roots, and bumps, providing a smoother ride, especially on technical single track trails. ElectricElectric mountain bikes are hardtail mountain bikes with pedal assist motors and throttle. While it’s probably not a great idea to use these on the most rough-and-tumble terrain, they do great on most trails and paths. And thanks to the electric motor, you ride the trails without worrying so much about long distances or steep hills. A couple great examples of this style would be the Healy Ridge and Ridgewood.
Schwinn was soon sponsoring a bicycle racing team headed by Emil Wastyn, who designed the team bikes, and the company competed in six-day racing across the United States with riders such as Jerry Rodman and Russell Allen. In 1938, Frank W. Schwinn officially introduced the Paramount series. Developed from experiences gained in racing, Schwinn established Paramount as their answer to high-end, professional competition bicycles.
Mountain bikes have forks that look like shock absorbers because, well, that’s what they are. By comparison, road bikes have rigid, streamlined forks and are often constructed of lightweight but strong materials that help the bike be light and fast. Choosing the right frame size is essential for maximizing comfort and performance on the trails. The frame size can be determined by the riders’ height, but many riders find that they are between sizes, therefore to go up or down a size depends on your personal riding style and body proportions. A bike with a longer reach will have a longer wheelbase. That makes it more stable, especially on high-speed descents.
The Paramount used high-strength chrome-molybdenum steel alloy tubing and expensive brass lug-brazed construction. 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. Schwinn has been making mountain bikes for about 40 years now, and the current lineup offers something for almost every level of fat-tire enthusiast.The various models in our High Timber lineup are some of our most popular mountain bikes. Thanks to the aluminum mountain frames that allow for precise, controlled riding on rugged trails and our Schwinn suspension forks that help absorb bumps, these are super comfortable bikes to ride. Our High Timber ALX models come equipped with mechanical disc brakes that deliver all-weather stopping power and speed control so you can ride confidently in various conditions. Best of all, they’re available in a variety of sizes, fitting riders 4’11” to 6’3″.Our Mesa mountain bikes are equally at home on gravel trails as they are on single tracks.