We sold a lot of Tri Bikes at our dealership in the 1960's and 70's, since we were located close to a very large retirement community, Sun City, AZ. In the early days of tri bikes, they were all sold and assembled as conversion kits. Men's, and Ladies frames, 20", 24", and 26", Middleweight, and Lightweight width wheels, we tried it all. This has nothing to do with Schwinn tri bike models which did not even exist at this point. By far, the best compromise was a lady's frame for safe mounting. The 24"-wheel size placed the bike lower to the ground for better stability making it at least harder to turn over. And the lightweight wheels were the best choice for the higher air pressure helping offset the harder rolling resistance of having three tires on the ground. We sold Gobby tri bikes and conversion kits, and Ret Bar tri bikes and conversion kits. Ret Bar eventually landed the Schwinn tri bike contract and built the back half of the Town and Country model. Gobby landed the Sears tri bike contract. The two companies were located only ten miles apart and both sold thousands of tri bikes nationally. The double wall S-5 or S-6 rims proved to be very strong from the wheel "side loads" experienced on a tri bike. Any time the Grand Kids got to ride a tri bike on "two wheels", Grand Ma had a repair bill to pay. The "single purpose built" single bar tri bikes had even better stability than a Schwinn "conversion kit" Town and Country model.
John
John