"The Last Schwinn Made In America"

[Rusty Klunker]

I think that's the first head badge stamp I've seen that didn't fit the DDDY pattern. Since your bike is 1989, maybe it was supposed to be 3019? I think we had a discussion on here once before on whether the year digit was supposed to go at the beginning or end of a "proper" Julian date code.

This is the only one I've seen that started with a number higher then 3

 

[AS-1]

This is the only one I've seen that started with a number higher then 3

Have you ever seen a documented 1989 Greenville bike?

 

[GTs58]

I found my copy of the Reporter informing the dealers of the head badge stamping. I have never heard any talk about the musical chairs moving the numbers around bass ackwards, and why the heck would they even think of doing that. Do you have that list of the models Schwinn was building at Greenville?

 

[AS-1]

I found my copy of the Reporter informing the dealers of the head badge stamping. I have never heard any talk about the musical chairs moving the numbers around bass ackwards, and why the heck would they even think of doing that. Do you have that list of the models Schwinn was building at Greenville?

View attachment 2106355

 

[AS-1]

I'm glad you posted that Reporter article. All of a sudden, it dawned on me. OK, the headbadge number for January 1, 1976 is 0016. What is the headbadge number for January 1, 1986?

 

[GTs58]

I'm glad you posted that Reporter article. All of a sudden, it dawned on me. OK, the headbadge number for January 1, 1976 is 0016. What is the headbadge number for January 1, 1986?

It would be the same number every 10 years.. I just went through eBay and looked at a bunch of Preludes. Still used that head numbering in 1988. DDDY.

 

[AS-1]

It would be the same number every 10 years.. I just went through eBay and looked at a bunch of Preludes. Still used that head numbering in 1988. DDDY.

Exactly. But the Ps were all built offshore.

This is weird. I just went and checked my 1990 KOM S-9 MOS and the headbadge date code is 1000. OK, that has to be the 100th day of 1990, but it was built in Japan.

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

There probably aren't many 1989 Greenville bikes left in circulation but I would personally appreciate it if any member who owns one would post pictures of their headbadges and their BB serial numbers. I also hope that @dihummer posts his research on Greenville serial numbers. I recently acquired a previously unknown 1984 Schwinn document entitled Schwinn Information Center (53 pages) which includes a remarkably complex and comprehensive description of approximately 30 bicycles. We know that many of the bikes cataloged in 1984 were built offshore but nobody seems to know exactly which ones. Bikes like the Peloton had to have been on the designer's drawing boards well prior to the closing of the plant in Chicago. How long had Schwinn been in contract negotiations with Panasonic prior to 1983? Was Schwinn acting in good faith with the union representatives if they were negotiating with Japan, etc. at the same time? The years from 1983 to 1991 were much more complicated than we, the 20th Century Hobbyists, will ever completely understand.

I have discussed some of this with John Palmer @Schwinn Sales West who became a Schwinn Regional Sales manager in 1984. He was there. He sat in on regularly scheduled business meetings in Chicago. I hope he will come back into this conversation. Unfortunately, even though those critical years I mentioned above were covered to a certain extent in No Hands, the intricacies and details of the product development and manufacture during that period have never really been explored.

I don't want to relitigate the whys and wherefores of the failure of our beloved Schwinn. I would, however, very much like to understand how they were able to stay alive in Greenville for as long as they did. Could they build frames? Yes, we know that, but could they build tubular rims. Handlebars? We know they could paint and apply decals, but what did the paint line actually look like? Enamel, etc. or powder coat? Other than John, did any living CABE member ever go on a plant tour? Did they take pictures? Do they remember specific details?

Richard Schwinn lived it. Mark Mattei lived it. The kind of information that will answer our questions is the kind of information they, and others like them, have in their memory banks. For us to more fully see those historic years, we don't need speculation, we need eye witnesses.

@AS-1 so you think you can suck me back into this wacky serial number discussion, not a chance! LOL.

I will discuss my view and impression of the Greenville Factory. First, I seem to recall it was called the Washington Manufacturing Co., maybe someone can confirm or correct that memory. I never was invited to visit it. It was a very difficult destination to get to, at least from the West Coast. Maybe North/South travel was better from Chicago? This isolated location proved over time to be one of the reasons for the factory failure. The premise of this factory was to take pre-made parts assemblies, weld the frames, assemble them into a finished bicycle that would be shipped to one of the four Regional Distribution Centers. If your building bicycles with mostly foreign made parts you are going to have to deal with the long-distance logistics' of moving those parts around the world. Although you would normally move those parts on ground and water transportation for cost savings, you need to be able to use "air transport" during emergency times to fill in the voids and keep the factory production line at a steady predetermined speed.

None of the Chicago management personnel wanted to relocate from the Chicago Burbs to beautiful Greenville, MS when the Chicago factory closed. In fact, one of the few people that I talked to that did visit the Greenville factory was Dave Staub. Dave was the General Manager of Schwinn Sales West, and designer of the PDG Paramount bike line. He visited Greenville to inspect the facility to see if they would be capable to build the PDG model line. Dave and I commuted to work and home together for an hour and a half each day, we spent lots of "what if time" discussing the possibilities. Dave's did not have a high impression of the Greenville area. He said it started with the motel/hotel they stayed in. He said that "muddy water" came out of the shower. He said that stuck with you the entire day.

Wheel building is an art. It might not matter much when discussing juvenile models, but it is very important on the mid to higher price point models. You might be able to use oil driven machinery (which they used in Chicago) to get the wheel tensioned and true to a certain point, but at some point, you need skilled workers that understand the difference between tight, overtight, centered, true wheels. You cannot expect the dealer to take every wheel off of a new bicycle and finish the wheel truing. We had been supplying good wheel quality from National (Panasonic), Giant, and CBC (China Bicycle Co) for a long period. The Chicago and the Greenville built high end models never figured out how to build quality wheels. Dave Staub worked closely with Bill Hinkey of Sta True Wheels in Santa Ana, CA to develop the Schwinn bike Kit program for the Paramount Frame program. Sta True built "Pro Level" wheels for the bike kits sold out of SSW. There's no way that Greenville could have ever come up to the quality necessary to build the PDG bike models.

Richard Schwinn put his heart and soul into making Greenville successful. Dave Staub and I were sad it just did not work in spite of his hard work. I think it's one of the examples where some Ivory League bean counter made a location choice based on low factory cost, low-cost work force, a "right to work" state which was a big plus after just dealing with the UAW strike. But you need to have a work force that is knowledgeable about bicycles. You need a location that is an asset to recruit new workers. Greenville was not a good location choice for the new "much needed" factory.

John

 

[GTs58]

Exactly. But the Ps were all built offshore.

This is weird. I just went and checked my 1990 KOM S-9 MOS and the headbadge date code is 1000. OK, that has to be the 100th day of 1990, but it was built in Japan.

I cannot personally verify this, but I saw no markings indicating those Preludes were made in Japan or Taiwan. This announcement says they were being produced at Greenville.

 

[Rusty Klunker]

Have you ever seen a documented 1989 Greenville bike?

Just saying I have never seen one posted anywhere with the first number higher then 3.
I also have a couple late 80's cruiser one being and 86 and none having a first number higher then 3.