# Muscle bike tires, specifically, Colorline 16” fronts



## Grey Ghost (Nov 9, 2022)

Anybody recall seeing 16” colorline tires on 1969 Krates?

I could swear that I remember seeing some colorline 16”front tires on a couple of local Krates in my neighborhood around 1969-1970. I think us kids even talked about how Krates looked weird with only one tire being colored and the other being black wall. 

I also think I remembered some front color lines in Schwinn ads in magazines like Boys Life at that time.

These memories are so ingrained that it seemed strange to me when I didn’t see any of these when I joined this forum.

Maybe they were a dealer option? Maybe an aftermarket product by Goodyear, Carlisle or Dunlop?

Redline tires were available on some bikes back then and were pretty cool. After all Jaguar XKE’s and Hot Wheels had redlines, right?
Redlines would have been easy to get since Murray, (Sears, JC Penney), had them on their bikes.

But I recall orange and yellow lines that matched the rear Slik colors pretty well. The tread pattern was the same as the Superiors.

I never saw a Pea with a colorline in front. But then, I don’t think I ever saw a 69 Pea Picker anyway.

I must not be the only one who thinks they remember these because one dealer, BicycleHeaven, had so many requests for them that they made a few batches. These were expensive and are long gone.

I can’t find any information about these tires at all, not even any ads. Schwinn ads are scarce anyway, wonder why?

I know I’m not thinking about the Goodyear, (I think), Grasshopper full color tires. Those were something altogether different. Wearing those on your bike could get you a punch in the nose, too sissy.

Any information on the 16” colorline tires would be appreciated.


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## indycycling (Nov 9, 2022)

It was an accessory tire, I have an original orange color line. Rare


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 10, 2022)

Thank you!


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## indycycling (Nov 10, 2022)

Here is my original


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## indycycling (Nov 10, 2022)

Here is my 69 Lemon with original yellow color line gripper Slik and hand painted front Superior


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## coasterbrakejunkie1969 (Nov 10, 2022)

indycycling said:


> Here is my 69 Lemon with original yellow color line gripper Slik and hand painted front Superior
> 
> View attachment 1729136



Did Schwinn ever put a LHR tire on their krates or have they always been an aftermarket brand?


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## indycycling (Nov 10, 2022)

coasterbrakejunkie1969 said:


> Did Schwinn ever put a LHR tire on their krates or have they always been an aftermarket brand?



LHR?


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## coasterbrakejunkie1969 (Nov 10, 2022)

indycycling said:


> LHR?



Yes , the tire came to me with a Stingray Slik. It is clearly an aftermarket I just noticed the made in  Taiwan. Could it have been aftermarket in the '70s? Sorry I will not hijack this thread anymore.


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## indycycling (Nov 10, 2022)

coasterbrakejunkie1969 said:


> Yes , the tire came to me with a Stingray Slik. It is clearly an aftermarket I just noticed the made in  Taiwan. Could it have been aftermarket in the '70s? Sorry I will not hijack this thread anymore.
> 
> View attachment 1729147
> 
> View attachment 1729148



Yes, made in Taiwan is a repro replacement tire unless you see any date coding, it'll not be an original period dated tire. Schwinn used Superior front tires for Krates and others in the 60's - 70's, Made In USA stamped and date coded


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 10, 2022)

Ok, now that we’ve settled the front tire question, (yeah!), I have another inquiry.

1969 grip colors.

Seems to be a lot of insistence that they only installed orange sparkle grips that year, and Schwinn 
probably did that early on in 1969.

However, I think I remember the Kool orange monochrome grips installed on 69 Krates as well. I say 69 Krates because they had colorline tires on them,  not the white letter Sliks. (Which were also totally awesome when they came out)

This stood out to me  because the sparkle grips had been around on bikes for a looong time at this point and were starting to look dated. The Kool Orange grips were really radical and added another layer of Kool to the package. The Kool orange brake lever covers also became a must have accessory at this time. Don’t know if Schwinn made these or just Hunt Wilde.

I don’t know, maybe kids just changed out their grips the moment the pastel colors came out. I must admit, I don’t recall seeing the other pastel colors on 1969’s, just the orange ones.


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## rfeagleye (Nov 10, 2022)

They were an accessory item offered over the counter. They also offered painted fenders with stipes to match the bikes. Those are SUPER rare. I saw a set in person once,they were way cool.


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 10, 2022)

rfeagleye said:


> They were an accessory item offered over the counter. They also offered painted fenders with stipes to match the bikes. Those are SUPER rare. I saw a set in person once,they were way cool.



Wow, I would have preferred that over chrome any day.


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 11, 2022)

rfeagleye said:


> They were an accessory item offered over the counter. They also offered painted fenders with stipes to match the bikes. Those are SUPER rare. I saw a set in person once,they were way cool.



Anybody have a picture source for these?


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## Oldbikeguy1960 (Nov 11, 2022)

1969 could have either sparkle or Kool Orange grips toward the end.
I had an MD Pea Picker, it had a color line rear Slik and I found a color line Superior just before I sold it. I also had a Silverglow accessory Pea Picker seat on it.


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## Hoagie57 (Nov 11, 2022)

coasterbrakejunkie1969 said:


> Yes , the tire came to me with a Stingray Slik. It is clearly an aftermarket I just noticed the made in  Taiwan. Could it have been aftermarket in the '70s? Sorry I will not hijack this thread anymore.
> 
> View attachment 1729147
> 
> View attachment 1729148



Schwinn never used LHR tires or any tire on Krates or stingrays unless it was "Made in USA"  
The colorline fronts were sold at Schwinn dealers only.


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## indycycling (Nov 12, 2022)

Grey Ghost said:


> Anybody have a picture source for these?


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 12, 2022)

WOW!
I must have these eventually!


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## Oldbikeguy1960 (Dec 11, 2022)

I just found this original green color line Superior for a Pea Picker on eBay.
Shows they existed, this is not a painted on line.


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## indycycling (Dec 11, 2022)

Oldbikeguy1960 said:


> I just found this original green color line Superior for a Pea Picker on eBay.
> Shows they existed, this if not a painted on line.View attachment 1749670



I posted my original orange line here on November 10th - they were accessory tires


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## Oldbikeguy1960 (Dec 11, 2022)

Yes, I showed that to help answer this question as well man. Thanks, I missed the Orange line tire. I did have one like the Green line for the MD Pea Picker I used to own.
Rob


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## indycycling (Dec 12, 2022)

Oldbikeguy1960 said:


> Yes, I showed that to help answer this question as well man. Thanks, I missed the Orange line tire. I did have one like the Green line for the MD Pea Picker I used to own.
> Rob



Rob, good to see a green one as well. these tires are very rare indeed

Liz's Stingray book noted they were available as accessory in orange, red, yellow, and green to compliment the rear Krate tires


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## Oldbikeguy1960 (Dec 12, 2022)

indycycling said:


> Rob, good to see a green one as well. these tires are very rare indeed
> 
> Liz's Stingray book noted they were available as accessory in orange, red, yellow, and green to compliment the rear Krate tires



Yes that is where I remembered them from.
Probably had several in the 1970s but I was into the white letter tires.
What a putz!


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## Grey Ghost (Dec 12, 2022)

I could go either way with sidewalls. White letters were cool even though other manufacturers were already using them, both front and back, which is why Schwinns decision to only offer a rear option was not all that great at the time.

Redline tires on automobiles were usually only seen on exotics like XKE’s,  and the like, so having a colorline tire on a bike was somewhat prestigious. You would also occasionally see redlines on the early musclecars, not just the GTO’s. And, of course, Hot Wheels cars had redlines on them so that pretty much said it all.

The decision to offer paint matching colorlines was a stroke of genius, it was completely unique at the time although I seem to recall Sears offering full color tires In the late 60’s. I don’t remember if they were Grasshoppers or some other brand. Again, only the rears, and they just weren’t as nice looking as the colorlines were.

The two Krate changes we didn’t like were the change from a straight Slik to the Gripper Slik, and the addition of the front fender in 69.

Slicks were simply more dragsteresque. The addition of the siping perplexed us kids.

The worst was that front fender addition though.  Rails didn’t have fenders on their front wheels, the rears either, but it wasn’t as noticeable.

The 68 Krate had the rail dragster look.

We got used to the front fender but that didn’t make it better. It actually detracted from the chopped look of that small front tire setup.

Of course if you really wanted to screw up the look of your Krate the addition of one of those old fashioned, expensive, garish bulb horns did the trick. Whoever the marketing executive for those was, he should have been fired alongside Ed Schwinn himself.

My aplologies to those of you who have put horns on your Krates.
Our tastes differ, and I bet your couches still look good from having those plastic slip covers on them for all these years.


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## 60sstuff (Dec 12, 2022)

indycycling said:


> Here is my original
> 
> View attachment 1729135



Indy,
What is the date code on this Orange line Superior?


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## indycycling (Dec 12, 2022)

60sstuff said:


> Indy,
> What is the date code on this Orange line Superior?



UA*** or 3Q'69


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## 60sstuff (Dec 12, 2022)

I thought so, UA***

Back in my Krate days in the late 90’s I had 3 NOS Color Line Superiors.
They were all 3rd 1/4 1969 and that’s all I ever remember of others I knew about.

FYI, I sold all three to one guy in Tennessee for a $1000 each in 2006.

These photos were captured off my old PC.
COOL Tires for sure.


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## indycycling (Dec 12, 2022)

60sstuff said:


> I thought so, UA***
> 
> Back in my Krate days in the late 90’s I had 3 NOS Color Line Superiors.
> They were all 3rd 1/4 1969 and that’s all I ever remember of others I knew about.
> ...



Wow Chris, thanks for the update and those awesome pics, saving to my reference folder. 

Interesting on the dates, suspect only a narrow run of these may have been made.  And the price back then you got was sky high!  I know of an NOS yellow that just recently sold for $1K and the seller had paid up for it too.


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