I am often asked if the E/F frames could have been updated and continued in production. Marketing issues aside, I believe great advances could have been made, but the necessary metallurgical advances, namely the HSLA (high strength, low alloy; Nivachrome is an example) family of steels, came too late. These steels emerged from the auto industry in the late 1970's as car makers tried to reduce weight and increase strength to comply with federal mileage, emission, and safety standards. HSLA steels combine properties that before had been seemingly mutually exclusive. They're far stronger than the 1010 grade steels used in E/F frames, and they maintain their high elongation (meaning, they don't become brittle), so they're ideal for stampings, while their low-enough carbon content assures excellent weldability. The unique combination of high strength, high elongation, and excellent weldability would have allowed the stamping operations of the head and bottom bracket shells, and been well suited for E/F. The result would have been truly significant weight savings. Combined with a built-in aluminum kickstand, (which was a project under consideration at Schwinn) and a three piece crank, how does a sub thirty pound Varsity sound? (With more aluminum parts it could have weighed twenty-four.)
These changes were not to be, however.