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Richard Schwinn on Schwinn

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Do you think he meant the Klunker 5? It had the name, so at least they had heard of the concept. Although come to think of it, Schwinn called the King Sting an "All Terrain Bike", and the Klunker 5 never made it into the catalog. I'd say the 1983 Sierra was their first real mountain bike.

The King Sting was their first production MTB with the BMX flair as were most of the the MTB in the early days. The 83 Sierra you mentioned was almost the same as the Sidewinder, and still listed as an ATB in the catalog. The bikes slowly evolved into what most people perceive as a MTB with cantilever brakes, and those funky triangle handle bars that I never really liked............LOL

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I really enjoyed hearing the history of how they distributed their bicycles and the changes over the years. Barry

The local Schwinn dealers in my area back in the day, would place their bike orders, then they would be shipped via rail direct from Chicago. We would all coordinate the off loading of the box cars on the same day, and we would all unload each others bikes into rented trucks for transport to our storage facilities.
 
The local Schwinn dealers in my area back in the day, would place their bike orders, then they would be shipped via rail direct from Chicago. We would all coordinate the off loading of the box cars on the same day, and we would all unload each others bikes into rented trucks for transport to our storage facilities.
Thank you very much for the information. Very interesting. Barry
 
Although some of the "Facts" are shall we say questionable, like the year the Aerocycle came out, I really enjoyed hearing the history of how they distributed their bicycles and the changes over the years. Barry
The innovation of the distribution network is discussed pretty extensively in the “No Hands” book. I was hoping for more information or some “insider’s perspective” in Richard’s talk, but it’s really far less than what the book goes in to.
 
The King Sting was their first production MTB with the BMX flair as were most of the the MTB in the early days. The 83 Sierra you mentioned was almost the same as the Sidewinder, and still listed as an ATB in the catalog. The bikes slowly evolved into what most people perceive as a MTB with cantilever brakes, and those funky triangle handle bars that I never really liked............LOL

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I guess I think of the '83 Sierra as the first Schwinn mountain bike because of the brakes, in my experience cantilever brakes have more stopping power than caliper brakes. And the earliest Sierras were built in Chicago, or at least the frames were, even if they were just Sidewinders with cantilever brakes and a Tange fork. From what I've read (mostly on the MOMBAT website) most people consider the 1984 High Sierra as Schwinn's first competitive mountain bike. But you were right in the middle of it, so you've got an advantage over me. I got back into bicycles a few years back, before that I hadn't had one since me and my brothers shared a 3 speed as kids, and that only lasted until my youngest brother decided to take the rear hub apart to see how it worked. My next bike after that was a CL350 Honda.
 
I guess I think of the '83 Sierra as the first Schwinn mountain bike because of the brakes, in my experience cantilever brakes have more stopping power than caliper brakes. And the earliest Sierras were built in Chicago, or at least the frames were, even if they were just Sidewinders with cantilever brakes and a Tange fork. From what I've read (mostly on the MOMBAT website) most people consider the 1984 High Sierra as Schwinn's first competitive mountain bike. But you were right in the middle of it, so you've got an advantage over me. I got back into bicycles a few years back, before that I hadn't had one since me and my brothers shared a 3 speed as kids, and that only lasted until my youngest brother decided to take the rear hub apart to see how it worked. My next bike after that was a CL350 Honda.

Regardless of what exact year Schwinn produced their first production MTB or ATB in the early 80's, they were way late to the scene since they knew about it in 1975 as referenced in the other video I posted.
 
Regardless of what exact year Schwinn produced their first production MTB or ATB in the early 80's, they were way late to the scene since they knew about it in 1975 as referenced in the other video I posted.
I have to agree. The lesson I draw from Schwinn is that Frank Schwinn made innovations that the rest of the industry had to follow or get left behind. But by the early '80's, other people were making all the innovations, and it was Schwinn that got left behind. I give Ed Schwinn credit for maintaining a decent standard of quality, but other than that he might as well have been running a widget factory.
 
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I do find it entertaining that he states Schwinn was the first company to enter the market with a production Mountain Bike. I am assuming he is referring too the King Sting that came out in 81?

I was building custom mountain bikes long before Schwinn introduced the King Sting.

Here I am on my custom Champion BMX style MTB in 79 that I built for myself when working at the shop. This pic was taken at a street race in Manhattan Beach, Calif.

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Ok ... i goof something! I posted my bike to say .. i agree with dude! Ive alway thought that “big bike” should have been honest and just sold mountain bikes as bmx for grown ups! Hell most older teens were crafting them in their dads garage! Ive got some sweet chrome bmx bars and center pull brakes i could add .. but im gun shy around front brakes!
 
I did watch the thing about the schwinn heir...i gotta say i was left wanting! Some of it i found really fun. But ...as we all know the ending was sad! He could really put together a sweet “schwinn experience”...if Disney had a Schwinn mountain ride id use all my E tickets on just that!
 
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