# Klunker V      huh??



## schwinnbikebobb (Oct 3, 2022)

I'm sure it's just a typo since it was announced correctly a few months earlier in the Reporter but still interesting


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## Xlobsterman (Oct 3, 2022)

schwinnbikebobb said:


> I'm sure it's just a typo since it was announced correctly a few months earlier in the Reporter but still interesting
> 
> View attachment 1706143




V is the roman numeral for 5


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## sarmisluters (Oct 3, 2022)

The real news is seeing “and the Spitfire is restyled as a “Klunker .” 
It would have been cool to see a “Klunker” chain guard on the single speed Spitfire model.   
Anyone could replicate their own tribute version of this today.


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## GTs58 (Oct 3, 2022)

sarmisluters said:


> The real news is seeing “and the Spitfire is restyled as a “Klunker .”
> It would have been cool to see a “Klunker” chain guard on the single speed Spitfire model.
> Anyone could replicate their own tribute version of this today.



There is already a thread on one, do a search for it.


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## mrg (Oct 3, 2022)

So the K5 was announced in the July/Aug 78 reporter and in the News Flash October for upcoming 79 line so is anything in print on the discontinuation/switch to Spitfire 5 and when?, did it make it into any 79 catalogs sense they were printed then out months before?, weird how the Spitfire name was a backup for 77 & 78 after getting sued for Calif Cruiser and then they had to use it again 79 after getting sued for Klunker so if not for that there would have been 79 Klunker coaster brake also! they switched to Cruiser in 80 so sounds like they never wanted Spitfire at all, I guess sense it was name after a 40's fighter plane, not to relevant in the 70's like Calif Cruiser, Klunker, Cruiser!, maybe gives a little more credit to that thread with a Klunker single speed seeing that they were going to drop Spitfire completely for 79!


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## GTs58 (Oct 3, 2022)

mrg said:


> So the K5 was announced in the July/Aug 78 reporter and in the News Flash October for upcoming 79 line so is anything in print on the discontinuation/switch to Spitfire 5 and when?, did it make it into any 79 catalogs sense they were printed then out months before?




I think the Klunker 5 ran till the end of the 78 production year (October mid-November). Was it not the California Cruiser that had an immediate removal of the chain guards?


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## mrg (Oct 3, 2022)

I think the Klunker was way more into production & distribution than the Calif Cruiser, I still have not seen any Schwinn literature or reference to the CC?


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## GTs58 (Oct 3, 2022)

There was a name infringement with the Cali Cruiser probably right off bat. Schwinn might have tried to see if the name would fly so maybe no news leads prior.  Evidently the name was too similar to another, and it did not fly. If I'm not mistaken, the Cali crowd called their bikes Clunkers and Schwinn just changed the spelling to Klunker, then Schwinn probably got an ear full from the organized Cali crowd so they decided to axe that name.


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## mrg (Oct 4, 2022)

Larry Mcneely ( probably spelled wrong ) who owned Recycle Cycle in HB was already building California Cruisers so Schwinn had to stop immediately and had to pay him a lump sum and so much per bike ( I was living in HB at the time hanging at his shop and Pedal Pusher building what we just called beach cruisers ) but it took a while in court to figure out that Klunker was to close to Clunker so Schwinn didn't act as fast to replace. I heard but don't remember what that settlement was, I'll have to ask next time I'm at the Mt bike museum.


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## GTs58 (Oct 4, 2022)

Was there another manufacturer producing a bike named clunker? Or was it just a group of people that called their bikes clunkers?


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## mrg (Oct 4, 2022)

I don't remember who but one of the guys in the Mt Tam crew ( the Repack race ) in Marin, I'll have to ask Charlie Kelly or Joe Breeze next time we're there or maybe some of the Marin Caber's will weigh in here.


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## Xlobsterman (Oct 4, 2022)

sarmisluters said:


> The real news is seeing “and the Spitfire is restyled as a “Klunker .”
> It would have been cool to see a “Klunker” chain guard on the single speed Spitfire model.
> Anyone could replicate their own tribute version of this today.




I don't think that statement is referencing a single speed bike! It is just referencing the 78 model Spitfire is now being sold (restyled) as a KLUNKER with the 5 speed.


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## sarmisluters (Oct 4, 2022)

Xlobsterman said:


> I don't think that statement is referencing a single speed bike! It is just referencing the 78 model Spitfire is now being sold (restyled) as a KLUNKER with the 5 speed.
> 
> View attachment 1706478
> 
> View attachment 1706479



Interpret anyway you want to.  

I see one statement referring to the Klunker V 
then adding “and the Spitfire restyled as a “Klunker.””

Better yet, ask yourself why would Schwinn make a 5 speed bike with a new name and not call the single speed version the same name ?


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## sarmisluters (Oct 4, 2022)

mrg said:


> I don't remember who but one of the guys in the Mt Tam crew ( the Repack race ) in Marin, I'll have to ask Charlie Kelly or Joe Breeze next time we're there or maybe some of the Marin Caber's will weigh in here.



Could be that Schwinn was tired of getting more possible legal litigation over new names that they could just go ahead and use the Spitfire name they already owned, and stay busy selling bikes.  

When the Spitfire came out in 78, it sold like hotcakes, every one in my middle school and high school wanted one. 

I got my first brand new bike as a black Schwinn Spitfire from Aviation Cycles in Manhattan Beach .  They didn’t have the black in stock, I then impatiently wanted a blue or red one but my mom made me wait for the black one. It got stolen at school then I got a black 5 speed Spitfire from Circle Cycle in Torrance.  

The Schwinn beach cruiser popularity was short lived imho as the 26 bmx bikes came and also died with the arrival of 24 bmx.


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## Xlobsterman (Oct 4, 2022)

sarmisluters said:


> Could be that Schwinn was tired of getting more possible legal litigation over new names that they could just go ahead and use the Spitfire name they already owned, and stay busy selling bikes.
> 
> When the Spitfire came out in 78, it sold like hotcakes, every one in my middle school and high school wanted one.
> 
> ...




The Spitfire actually came out in the 77 model year..........

And chances are that if you purchased a bike from my old shop Aviation Cyclery, is that I am the one who assembled it.





My KLUNKER 5 that came from my shop


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## SirMike1983 (Oct 4, 2022)

Ah they reference the goofy Front Freewheel system.  One of those solutions in search of a problem typical of the 1970s.
And I like how old school three speeds soldiered on until the bitter end.

One question I do have - the page references "Schwinn-built lugged models". Aside from the Paramount, were lugged frames not Schwinn-approved imported rather than Schwinn-built?


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## Xlobsterman (Oct 4, 2022)

SirMike1983 said:


> Ah they reference the goofy Front Freewheel system.  One of those solutions in search of a problem typical of the 1970s.
> And I like how old school three speeds soldiered on until the bitter end.
> 
> One question I do have - the page references "Schwinn-built lugged models". Aside from the Paramount, were lugged frames not Schwinn-approved imported rather than Schwinn-built?




The 1979 Schwinn catalog references those models as Schwinn built lugged frames!






						1979 Schwinn Catalog
					

1979 Schwinn Catalog online



					bikehistory.org


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## SirMike1983 (Oct 4, 2022)

I guess for the few years at the end of the 70s and early 80s, Le Tour/Super Le Tour were lugged and brazed and made in Chicago even though earlier were Schwinn-approved foreign bikes. The catalog quotes 18 gauge 1020 steel, which was basic steel road frame material. Still an interesting and short chapter that I did not know existed. The blog below says it was a short-lived Chicago lugged production running 1979-81, then back to Japan.









						Schwinn Le Tour Complete Guide
					

History of the Schwinn Le Tour It’s the early 1970s and bicycles are booming.  Lightweight road bikes are becoming very popular, and Schwinn doesn’t have one that’s more affordable.  They…




					frugalaveragebicyclist.com


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## Xlobsterman (Oct 4, 2022)

SirMike1983 said:


> I guess for the few years at the end of the 70s and early 80s, Le Tour/Super Le Tour were lugged and brazed and made in Chicago even though earlier were Schwinn-approved foreign bikes. The catalog quotes 18 gauge 1020 steel, which was basic steel road frame material. Still an interesting and short chapter that I did not know existed.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




They were all good bikes! 

I had the 1980 Voyageur 11.8 in black with the red trim. These were the top of the line production lightweight bikes back in the day.


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## mrg (Oct 4, 2022)

I'm still thinking Schwinn planned on dropping the Spitfire name completely for 79, it just wasn't trendy/current enough and use just Klunker till the trademark trouble so went the easy way ( Spitfire ) and made sure they could use Cruiser for '80!


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## Xlobsterman (Oct 4, 2022)

mrg said:


> I'm still thinking Schwinn planned on dropping the Spitfire name completely for 79, it just wasn't trendy/current enough and use just Klunker till the trademark trouble so went the easy way ( Spitfire ) and made sure they could use Cruiser for '80!




It is hard to say what Schwinn was thinking at the time? One thing we do know for sure, is that they were very slow to react to some of the market trends during that time period! The Spitfire name didn't slow down the demand for these bikes at my shop, they were one of our best sellers during that time!!!


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## mrg (Oct 5, 2022)

I think Schwinn created trends like Stingrays & Klunkers/Beach Cruisers in the mainstream industry by following local treads ( especially Calif trends ) but were slow on the BMX & Mt bike but really lost it on the business/labor end of it.


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## Xlobsterman (Oct 6, 2022)

mrg said:


> I think Schwinn created trends like Stingrays & Klunkers/Beach Cruisers in the mainstream industry by following local treads ( especially Calif trends ) but were slow on the BMX & Mt bike but really lost it on the business/labor end of it.




The Sting-Ray is a Schwinn icon that did set a trend of sorts in the bicycle industry!

But IMO, the Cruiser phenomenon I believe just fell into their lap thanks to the beach crowd in Southern California. It is quite interesting that the first production Cruiser in 76 was named the California Cruiser. But then the issue with that name being trademarked, Schwinn quickly changed it to the Spitfire for the next 3 model years. It wasn't until the 1980 model year that they used the Cruiser name on the bikes again? Regardless of the name, the Spitfire & Cruiser were a hot seller in our shop during that era!


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## mrg (Oct 6, 2022)

Schwinn's Al Fritz had a eye on trends and when kids in socal were customizing their 20"ers he went to management with the idea, they thought he was crazy but we know how that went!, wonder how the figured out the StingRay name? maybe GM approved thinking kids would grow up and buy their cars! but wonder did Schwinn have to pay GM?, a few yrs later in the same area there were beach cruisers and then the norcal/Marin Clunkers ( more name troubles ) and as said Schwinn lost it's way after that!


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## GTs58 (Oct 6, 2022)

Not sure how much of this on the Cali Cruisers is accurate.









						He built the beach cruiser and sold a lifestyle
					

Larry McNeely designed the sturdy upright bike for jaunts at Southern California beaches. Can you feel the wind in your hair?




					www.marketplace.org
				




As far as I know there were no infringements with the Klunker 5 and no lawsuits.

Bikes with names that cars had was a popular thing and Huffy had multiple models with car names. No name infringements since the product was not car related.


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## mrg (Oct 6, 2022)

GTs58 said:


> Not sure how much of this on the Cali Cruisers is accurate.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




That's pretty much as I remember it but I remember there was infringements with some of the Mt. Tam crew that Klunker was still to similar to their Clunker.


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## GTs58 (Oct 6, 2022)

Here's some real internet BS! ............................Dumb and Dumber going to stupid! This should be tossed in the internet trash can. The author is an idiot. 



			https://ezinearticles.com/?The-History-of-Mountain-Biking-and-the-Schwinn-Klunker&id=7169639


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## mrg (Oct 6, 2022)

Man, that author doesn't have a clue! he's all over the place! The StingRay morphed into BMX and the Klunker/Cruiser into the Mountain bike! he is wrapping it all into one!


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