"Dealers, they come to us, they want our line!" in Jan of 1896...after being in business less than a Year? How many dealers??? at least two I guess. Advertising can be a bit optimistic at times.
Advertising back then was challenging to say the least.
What Schwinn at Chicago was producing
and what the “Boys from Marketing” were
advertising with drawings or illustrations
of the product was not 100 % accurate.
It was like they were on different planets!
Which has caused much debate today on
what is original and what isn’t.
I have several original bikes of the same
model style but different years.
And each one has the hand-painted decals
on the fork tubes with variations.
All are original, but were painted by different
people at the factory over the years.
Keep in mind that these products were created
mostly for “junior” who didn’t really give a hoot
if the decal was off an inch or two or the horn
was not correct for that brand....
he was just happy to own a bike!
