I used to own a Sting-Ray. A couple of them, actually. I traded my ’66 for a higher performance version in ’71. It was great for awhile, but then I wrecked it and moved on to more normal wheels. I always missed those Sting-Rays and years later bought another for my oldest son’s first vehicle. Oh wait – you thought I was talking about Corvettes? Sorry – there is no “-” in the name on that one. I am talking about the Schwinn versions and how my boys and I engaged in some inter-generational bonding.
While this may appear to be a suburban re-creation of “American Gothic” it is actually the poorly-concealed impatience of a birthday boy being forced to 1) sit still on his new bike as daylight rapidly ebbs and 2) accept his little sister slowing things down even more by forcing yet another picture.
My first two wheel bike was a 1966 Schwinn Sting-Ray, in Radiant Coppertone. It was presented to me on a sunny morning in our driveway on my seventh birthday before my father left for work. I had become quite adept riding a two wheeler that had been handed down from some cousins. OK, as long as a (girl’s) two wheeler with training wheels counted. But there were no training wheels on this bad boy and, although I had some trepidation, I screwed up my courage and decided that the day had come to man-up and ride for real.
My father gave me a start and I was thrilled as I sailed down my street. I was mainly thrilled that I remained upright, amazed at how this phenomenon actually worked. I knew nothing of gyroscopes at that age but began getting a feel for the machine. I then realized that my first problem as a rider of a two wheeler was ahead of me: an intersection. I was not confident enough to get through a 180 degree turn without stopping. Getting going again was an entirely different thing. With no dad-push I was on my own. After many failed attempts I finally got moving and triumphantly began the ride back to the house. I felt no small amount of pride as I saw my the familiar white Country Squire coming my way – yes, it had taken me long enough to get moving again that he began to doubt my quickly-advancing skills. There may have been a motherly request involved.
By that evening the stupid plastic streamers had been removed from the ends of the hand grips and I had become competent enough to ride in the small confines of the family driveway. And irritated that I had to sit still for pictures when I could be riding instead. From that day onward the golden Sting-Ray was my constant companion.
I grew up in an era when summer days were kind of like going to work. After a “Bye, Mom” I would leave the house and ride to one of my friends’ houses. From there we would do whatever young boys do at various houses or just around the neighborhood. My Sting-Ray gave me that freedom to roam with my buds in our suburban subdivision.
By 1970 I was ready for an upgrade. The gold Sting-Ray was traded for a Pea Picker – the green version of the Sting-Ray “Krate” series that ran from 1968-73. It synced right up with the Muscle Car Era and was the Hemi ‘Cuda of kids’ bikes. Except in actual performance because my friends who got more practical bikes with bigger wheels would leave me huffing and puffing to keep up. It was the first vehicle I wrecked (a tale I have told before) and judging from the prices I have seen, I wish I had that one back.
But I digress. The Schwinn Sting-Ray may be the most famous bike of its era. Every kid who grew up during “The Wonder Years” either had one or wanted one. It was the “it” bike. According to the folks at bikehistory.org, the Sting-Ray was not something Schwinn intended to build. But Al Fritz, Schwinn’s director of research and development had noticed that kids in California were customizing twenty inch bikes in ways that made them mimic motorcycles. Banana seats and chopper-style handlebars transformed the entire attitude of the bike. Fritz built a prototype to present to Schwinn management. Which was amused by the idea, but gave the go-ahead anyway.
To everyone’s surprise, Schwinn sold over forty five thousand of them within the first couple of months of its 1963 introduction, a number that would have been higher but for limited supplies of tires. For some perspective, a 10,000 unit run for a popular model had been considered a success.
The 1975 Schwinn Sting-Ray lineup, both in “Flamboyant Red”.
As reported in a piece at bikemag.com, Schwinn sold two million Sting-Rays during the first five years of the model’s run. When adding similar bikes from other manufacturers, the Sting-Ray style of bike accounted for a full 60% of bike sales in the US in the mid ’60s. In the Sting-Ray, Schwinn had built the 1965 Ford Mustang of the kids’ bike world, except that the Schwinn had a much longer run.
Fast forward about twenty-five years. My eldest son had outgrown his training wheel bike and was ready for a two wheeler. When you have children with January birthdays, there is a problem. You know those stores that are brimming with all kinds of things for kids between Thanksgiving and Christmas? (Or at least they were in the late 90’s.) Did you ever go back and check the shelves in mid-January? I did and found the place picked clean of interesting kids’ bicycles, a situation I lamented about at the office.
One of the secretaries asked if I would want to buy the bike she had bought from an older lawyer in my office. It seems that the yellow Sting-Ray that these folks had bought their son for his birthday in 1976 had been put up for sale and our secretary had purchased it for her son. Unfortunately, the first time he took it out his friends made fun of him for riding an old hand-me-down bike. The lad’s parents gave up and bought him a new bike. I knew the yellow Sting-Ray would be in great shape. The original owners were the kind of people who took care of their things and if that bike had ever spent a night outside, it’s rider undoubtedly found himself in trouble over it.
I drove to the secretary’s house, looked the bike over and handed over what they had paid for it a short while earlier. The first thing I did was take it to a bike shop to get a good lubrication and tune up. The guy at the shop was impressed with its condition and remarked that the seat and hand grips for the yellow bikes were very hard to come by. He also told me that it was built in late 1975, which lined up with what I had been told about its early life.
On the birthday I left a series of clues that would take him on a treasure hunt through the house before he would find his bike. Being a lover of all things classic and knowing what an icon the Sting-Ray was, I presented the bike with the appropriate buildup about this being a genuine classic, far better than anything available in the stores today. All true, and I believed every word I said about it. And still do today.
My son was thrilled. On the first decent day outside he learned how to do two wheels. There is a small church in our neighborhood where each of my kids got their early bike practice. There was a good sized asphalt parking lot that was empty but for an old Dodge van that parked out at one end. Oh, and there was a single wooden light pole smack in the middle of the lot. Which was like a magnet. What do you think each of my children ran into, and more than once? Go figure.
The Sting Ray served until the second son was ready, and we then bought a new, larger bike for older brother. Son number two took up where his brother left off, enjoying the feel of the banana seat and the high rise handlebars. Then tragedy stuck.
All that time we had been riding on original twenty-five year old rubber. One day during a family neighborhood ride the back tire finally packed it in with a spectacular blowout. It was time for a larger bike for the lad anyhow and rather than put new tires onto it, it went down into the basement until I could decide what to do with it.
The problem with basements is that things go down there much easier than they come back out. I would grumble a little when the bike would get in the way of getting at Christmas decorations, but otherwise it was out of sight and out of mind.
The biggest difference between four wheel and two wheel varieties of Sting-Ray is that an aging baby boomer can drive the four wheeled one. The bike? Just nope. This one is strictly for kids. So it is time to say goodbye.
The other way that bikes are better than old cars is that “malaise” did not hit bikes in the same way that it hit American auto manufacturers. There is nothing about a 1975 version of this Sting-Ray that makes it inherently inferior to a similar one made earlier in the run (as is the case with that other Sting Ray). The Chopper-style banana seat and the Krate-derived taller handlebars even make this one more appealing than my old ’66.
Reader/Commenter Syke was good enough to give me some pointers on selling it when I corresponded with him a year or so ago. But life got in the way again and it went back to the basement for “a few days”, which turned into a few months. OK, more than a few. But now I am serious.
I have mixed feelings about selling it, but those are mostly about memories of young children with a few of my own childhood thrown in. Which, I suppose, is one of the reasons I am writing about it now – creating a way to nail those memories down with some good pictures to call them forth when necessary. And a CC piece online takes up a lot less room than this bike does in my basement.
Always wanted one of those BUT…I had a large afternoon paper route and needed a bike with a humongous front basket.
Rob, did you actually use a Schwinn cycle truck for your papers like the one you show here?
Yes. After I got my paper route, my dad picked up a very well used bike like this at an auction. It was so beat up, I could never read any markings. I remember the wrap around basked and the front stand because both were so unusual. No chain guard, but I just tied a strip of cloth around my pants leg when it got too cold for shorts.
I finally figured it must be a Schwinn when I had to get a new tire. Only a Schwinn tire would fit the rim properly. I guess Schwinn used some odd size rims and the tires wouldn’t interchange with other bikes. Bike was a heavy bear to peddle, but my route was pretty level.
I’ve share the story here before about my own ‘71 Sting-Ray many times, so I’ll be brief to “get the comments rolling” here, but I loved that bike.
I always got teased because mine wasn’t a Peeler, Picker, or Crate, but I wanted a blue one, and was very happy with my “non-ZR1” regular Sting-Ray with 3 between the knees, and a 40 MPH speedometer, and a treaded slick on the back…. ahh memories. I will concur that the performance on these was better than their more expensive brethren. Kinda like a Notchback 5.0LX Mustang from the Fox Body era was faster than its flashier GT sibling.
Sadly, I have no pictures to share others than this low-res version I found on the web of a Sting-Ray that appears to have all the same options that mine did.
Great piece, JPC, as always. 🙂
That picture is actually a 5speed fastback. Not a 3speed. I know because i had a 5speed fastback. The fastback is identified by the skinnier tires and the single top tube, lacking the two additional reinforcing tubes on either side of it.
I’m 66. The only things I kept from my youth are my record albums, my set of 1965 Topps baseball cards and my Schwinn Sting Ray.
I don’t ever recall seeing many with the whitewalls. Cool!
The first couple years were offered with whitewalls. My friend Bucky had a Sting Ray from the first year they were offered. Gold. Second year was Emerald Green. Third year was purple.
iirc, they also had an optional 2speed “kickback” shifter in those early years. A friend had a 2 speed stingray with one whitewall tire. Must’ve had to replace the tire after the whitewalls were no longer available. The 2 speed kickback had a strange shifting mechanism. You changed gears by momentarily reversing pedal direction.
There was also the Schwinn Slik rear tire…..
Love the pictures of lil’ young Jim!
In the early seventies, my younger brother had a bike model like that. I can’t remember the brand, it was orange. The generic term for that type of kids-bikes here was chopper (pronounced as sjopper. Local diminutive: sjopperke).
I had a more conventional Sparta, blue frame with white fenders.
The chopper was fun, but my Sparta did much better when riding fast and it was easier to ride it in a perfect, straight line (regardless speed).
Cool write up JP
I got my first Sting-Ray in 1979. It was a pretty basic metallic blue one and I had to have one because it was called a Sting-Ray, like the Corvette. I kept it for 4 or 5 years and beat on it relentlessly until the summer of 1985 when I got into BMX bikes and got a Mongoose but I put many happy miles on my blue Sting Ray.
Then about 5 years ago, I found a nice green 1970 Sting Ray Fastback 5 speed that looks like this one (except mine has fenders) at a swap meet and I had to have it to match the green ’68 Coronet I had at the time.
Of course the Sting Ray was the precursor of the BMX bike, as kids rode them in the dirt and did jumps with them as much as they rode them on the street. The evolution to BMX was a parallel to the invention of the Sting Ray: swap the bars and seat and go off-roading. It helped to have the genuine Schwinn, as the Columbia’s. sears, Murray’s, etc. broke under the strain.
While I never had a Sting Ray a lot of my friends did; they were indeed tough bikes. But all that changed in ’79 or ’80 when I got my Mongoose. That was back when they just sold the frames; you had to build the bike yourself or have the Stealership build it for you. I loved that bike. I was devastated when, despite being securely locked up, it was stolen from the bike rack at the video arcade. Never saw it again. But I got my first Honda Trail 70 shortly after, and when I had gas money, life was good again.
Begged my Dad for an indentical Radiant Coppertone Fastback that a friend was selling in 1974. Nope, ride it back to his house! Settled for an Apollo Racer. 30 years later they were just too expensive. When Walmart began selling reproduction Schwinn Stingrays for $65 I bought 2!. Gave one to a 10 year old neighbor who rode it for years and now my son rides mine!
A great story, cool wheels, family relationships, adventure… although your sister doesn’t look too thrilled in the photo either.
I had the generic version of the Sting Ray, in metalflake green which I modified with a high sissy bar and motorcycle gas tank which I made out of an empty ditto machine solvent can that I got from school.
Being in Canada, the cool bike for us was the English Raleigh Chopper, with three speed Sturmey Archer geared hub. Several of my friends had one but alas I did not.
I had a Raleigh Chopper just like that one! It was a hand-me-down from family friends who were better off financially. In hindsight, it was an interesting ride, albeit super heavy and slow.
By the mid eighties, BMX style bicycles we’re in, and banana seats and raised handlebars were decidedly not cool. I was so happy to ditch the Raleigh when I saved enough money (and was tall enough) to buy my own Schwinn 10-speed. Wish I still had it.
My buddy had one of those Choppers too. My “Mustang” bike was a Raleigh of some name, and I did manage to get a photo of it. She was blue, and I enjoyed the “gearshift” lever which drove a three speed drive train. That bike was replaced by my Juenet Captivante 10 speed bike in about 1974 or so, and I still have her today.
I have two, a ’76 Bicentennial and a ’77 that was built 9 days after I was born.
Here’s the ’76…
…and here’s the ’77 (with my ’73 Speedster).
My first Corvette was like the one pictured below. Mine was a three speed. My second one was a 69 Coupe with a 427 (L36) with a four speed.
You guys were lucky. When I turned 8 (9 July 1958) my parents surprised me with what was the killer dream bike in the pre-Sting Ray era. A brand new Schwinn Mark IV Jaguar. A 26″ balloon tired “middleweight” (aka, heavy as hell “paper boy’s bike”) with massive amounts of chrome, a heavy tank with horn in the middle of the frame, front and rear carriers, headlight, Sturmey Archer AW 3-speed hub with coaster brake, and Weinmann front caliper brake. The bike cost dad somewhere between $90-100.00, back when a normal kid’s bike sold for something like $29.95.
A bike that was way too big for me at the time, and dad was absolutely incensed that I’d actually ride the 20″ regular kid’s bike that I’d had for the past year (bought used) instead. To the point that he took the kid’s bike away from me and forced me to ride the big bike.
Of course, five years later, when the Sting Ray became THE bike to have, there was no way my parents were going to buy me a new Schwinn, not when I had a perfectly good one sitting in the garage. Never mind that I was being made fun of by the other kids for riding that weird bike (then again, my parents were totally oblivious to the concept of inadvertently shaming their children thru their choices of clothes, toys, etc.).
So, I hit the local Sears, bought a cheap banana seat, picked up a set of high rise handlebars from a neighboring kid, taught myself basic bicycle mechanics and built my own (immediately discovering that a young child’s bike was geared quite a bit lower than one intended for a middle or older child). Dad was nice enough, once I got the bike built, to offer to take it to his dealership’s paint shop and have it repainted Chevrolet dark blue.
That Jaguar? It got put back into use around the age of 15 (when everybody else was running away from bicycles and counting the minutes until they turned 16 and got their driver’s license and use of mom’s car) for daily transportation and the ability to get away from home and family. And it stayed with me until my sophomore year of college, being used as daily transportation around Erie, PA and Gannon College because I hated using public transit. Finally, in early 1970, I got my first adult bicycle (a Schwinn, natch), and shortly after my first real job, mechanic fort A.R. Adams Cycle, a Schwinn/Raleigh dealer.
While I fully understand the draw and marketability of the Sting Ray (it’s right up there with the GTO/Roadrunner/etc. both for desire and usability), it still stuns me that I can spend years digging up the parts and restoring a 1935 Armstrong ladies frame roadster (think Downton Abbey village bicycle) and still have something that only worth 1/3rd, at best, what that yellow single speed, coaster brake String Ray will bring.
Crates? You’re talking insane money.
Just the same, without the Sting Ray, I would have never learned bicycle mechanics, something that’s stuck with me for over fifty years now, and something that’s been a hell of a boost to my life.
Since I don’t have a picture available, that Jaguar was one model above Don Page’s Corvette. Metallic red with about fifteen more pounds of chrome accessories bolted on.
Hey! I have a ’76 Stingray in Kool Lemon, too!
I love it, it’s one of my prized possessions and at 33, I still ride it, too. It came out of rural north-central Iowa a few years ago. Cleaned it up, got a better seat and it rides very smoothly.
If I were you, I would just hold onto it. Sounds like you appreciate it quite a bit, as you should! Besides, what’s $200 or $300 that you’d get for it?
Watch what you’re offered on that Sting Ray because a lot of the vintage bike market has fallen off heavily since we last talked. Five years ago I closed down a modestly profitable ‘fix and flip’ plus serious restoration bicycle shop at my home when I moved. Planning on reopening it at my present location once I retired, I discovered the fix and flip side is a shadow of what it was five years ago, and the restoration side is there but being done more for fun than profit. So I’m still working on bikes, but nowhere near as many as I expected to.
I am dealing with (primarily European) adult road and racing bikes, not kid’s toys with a heavy pull of past memories, so I may not know this market in the slightest. For all I know, this is the child’s equivalent of muscle cars, in more ways than one.
DougD;
Thank you! In 1970 I got my first “real” bike. I’ve talked about it over the years but never remembered the name.
Now I know…it was an orange Raleigh chopper!
I am jealous, you must have been one of the cool kids… 🙂
A very nice bike. Never had a Schwinn, although I had a knock-off version of a Sting Ray by, I think, Murray. It was yellow with a black seat and sold when I was about fifteen or sixteen to a couple of kids in town.
My father chose the replacement. It was a Sears three-speed, what I referred to at the time as being an old persons bike. In appearance, the Corvette above is highly reminiscent. I did not like that bike at all as I wanted a ten-speed that didn’t weigh 350 pounds like this Sears version. To make matters worse, my sister got the female version at the same time. I guess it was cute to have the his-and-hers go to the son and daughter instead of the intended husband and wife.
Anyway, with a case of childhood asthma and that stupid bike, it was impossible to keep up with friends, particularly when going uphill on gravel roads. I have no clue what happened to that bike.
Rant over.
Jim, I am inclined to agree with Sam about keeping it. Might it be fun to have around when Son #2 or Daughter #1 has children???
Wow, Jason. I, too, had a yellow Schwinn knockoff, also replaced with a Sears 3-speed. And I had asthma as a kid, too.
My brothers and I constantly swapped components from bike to bike, and were jealous when one of the neighborhood kids got colored tires for his bike (remember those? always wanted a set for my car).
We all got adept at riding wheelies for long distances. Mom was standing on the porch one evening watching the gang and my brother hollered at her to “Watch this!”
He popped a wheelie and the front wheel immediately fell off! That was one hard landing!
Here’s the Sting Ray knock off:
And the three-speed:
That is the exact bike I had. I’m not sure I ever rode it enough to even show any wear on the tires.
My first and only bike was a Sting Ray knockoff that was made in Poland and was light green w/a white banana seat and wide whitewall tires. I rode it for 4 years until I went to high school in 1976 & haven’t ridden a bicycle since.
This was great, I distinctly remember last summer when we were all in St. Louis and crashed that private party at the collector car dealership and they had all the Sting-Ray models lined up hanging in the rafters and you were talking about them and their differences. This makes the whole story complete for someone who didn’t live through the craze at the time.
In 1967 the cool kids rode Sting-rays. My father bought me a Raleigh with 26 x 1 3/8 tires and a 5-speed hub gear. In the 1950s A Sturmey Archer made several variations of 4-speed hub gears extending the classic 3-speed with a dual planetary stepped sun gear design. My Dad figured out that by adding a second shift cable on the other end of the axle the 4-speed could be made into a 5-speed. He then built about a half dozen custom 5-speed bikes including a matched pair of Phillips for himself and my mom.
We were shopping for a new bike for me for my 10th birthday when we came across the Raleigh 5-speed. He was excited that the manufacturer had finally figured out what he had and made a 5-speed identical to his custom ones. So of course he had to buy me the bike. I still have it.
Even though the cool kids were on Sting-rays I could easily outrun them. And I knew I had the coolest bike because it was the factory version of my dad’s invention. And I also had the coolest dad.
I’m a firm lover of the Sturmey-Archer S5, have one on my 69 Raleigh Sprite (the 3-speed Sports with the 5-speed hub), although in operation it’s nowhere near as nice as the AW 3-speed. The problem is the left shift lever is a lot clunkier than the right.
For those who’ve never seen one of these, but are used to the classic 3-speed internally geared hub bicycle, a quick (ha!) explanation: The hub has cables going into both sides of the hub thru the axle. On the right (drive) side is the classic 3-speed many of you grew up with, cable into chain and a pull rod. On the left is a cable going into a bell crank actuating a push rode. With the left lever pulled and cable tension pushing on the push rod, what would be first gear on the right side is a sub-first. Second (direct drive) ignores the left side. Third is turned into an overdrive. With the left lever in the forward (not pulling on the cable), you have the normal three speed, although in this setup the three speeds available are 2, 3 (direct drive), and 4. Gears 1 and 5 need the left lever pulled.
Unfortunately, the clunkiness of the left side means getting into over/underdrive mode doesn’t happen immediately by pulling the left lever. Going 1-2-3-4-5 my maneuvering a combination of the two levers is an occasional occurrence at best.
Having some severe hills in my area where I commute, I tend to run the bike as if it had two three speed transmissions. Left lever pulled, I get 1-3-5. Left lever not pulled, I get 2-3-4, just like my other 3-speed bikes.
Actually that first gear sub low is the critical one, it’s an excellent hill climbing gear. Fifth/overdrive is geared too high for the flats (I’m running a 48t front, 23 tooth rear, much lower geared than stock because I run a cadence like my derailleur racing bikes), and I’ve never seen a need to pedal like made to accelerate downhill. That’s what gravity is for.
I was the very proud owner of a brand new Schwinn Sting Ray in (1966?) which I paid for with my own money. I researched my purchase very carefully, and chose a most excellent Violet color. The banana seat had a silver metal flake in the pearl white vinyl. The rear tire was fatter than anything I’d ever seen on a bike; much fatter than today’s mountain bikes. Wide whitewalls? You bet! I chose the three-speed with the car-style gear shift, and I had a front brake. Handsome, handsome, handsome, and great quality. I paid somewhere around $70 for it, which the CPI calculator says is close to $500 today.
Some of the later year Sting Rays had a smaller front tire which looked cool and offered a five-speed instead of my three speed, but I felt those choices inferior for my purposes. A friend had a Raleigh (model name?) with those features but he always had trouble with chain-jump, and I found his steering too quick. My three-speed was tough as a TorqueFlite.
Sigh. It’s long gone now. Someday I will find it in my heart to forgive my mom who gave it away to my cousin while I was in college. Mom! Gee! What were you thinking??
I’ve attached a picture I found on the net of a bike equipped similarly to mine right down to the chrome fenders. I know that (the real made-in-USA) Schwinn is long gone, but I don’t recall the story of their demise. Was it purely a price thing? In my day, there was no better quality bike than a Schwinn.
My understanding is that Schwinn was sort of done in by a General Motors kind of mentality. Their management was insular (family only) and they failed to see trends coming – I think the Sting-Ray was the last big wave they rode, and that was almost an accident.
Their plants and processes were old and the lightweight materials that became popular elsewhere were head-scratchers for them. From what I have read they peaked in the 50s and everything was a long, slow downhill glide until they finally went bankrupt in the 90s.
I read the Schwinn biography and you have that about right. Every subsequent generation of family who ran the company took it down a few pegs. They really tanked in the 70’s when they didn’t anticipate the trend and market favor to lightweight road bikes. In the end, the brand name was sold to a Taiwanese concern who still makes the bikes (no super low end) in Asia with the Schwinn brand.
Sadly, Schwinn has taken a severe nosedive in quality. Back in the day, they were the Cadillac of kids’ bikes (back when that name meant something, too). As someone else mentioned, the Schwinn Sting-Ray knock-offs sold elsewhere simply didn’t last as long. But they sold, and that didn’t go unnoticed by Schwinn.
Today, the Chinese bikes at Walmart are a mere shadow of the quality the name Schwinn used to have. I guess they were just doing what they had to do to survive against the wave of dirt-cheap Chinese bikes that began proliferating.
At least there are two different levels of Schwinn bikes, though: the big-box cheapos, and the higher end Schwinns still sold at the Local Bike Shop (LBS). So, I guess it’s still possible to find a decent Schwinn; just don’t expect to find one at Walmart, Target, etc.
The demise was caused by the UAW union which had infiltrated Schwinn. You can make Chevrolets with the impediment of a union workforce. You can not make Schwinns with that burden.
The definitive book is “No Hands – The Rise and Fall of the Schwinn Bicycle Company”. Authors Judith Crown and Glenn Colman, both writers from Crain’s Chicago Business. Book published in 1996.
Schwinn unfortunately went bankrupt in 1993, and the family lost control of the company. The name was sold to another firm that already owned a number of previously failed bicycle marques, has all their bikes made in China, and the brand no longer means anything compared to what it used to be.
Reading the history of the last twenty years of Schwinn is like reading the history of British Leyland. Or GM in the 80’s/90’s. That bad.
I think they’re still making bicycle shop quality Schwinn’s today, but I haven’t seen one in a few years. The WalMart bikes have won out. Although, if you only look at the most expensive WalMart models, they’re passable. Not good, but passable
Actually, Walmart has just launched a line of high end carbon-frame mountain bikes in the $5K and up range. They’re not available in stores … only “direct to consumer”. They compete with similar web brands like YT, Canyon etc. Not sure if this will last or it’s just a vanity effort by some younger Walton family offspring who are serious mountain bikers (and have contributed a lot to Arkansas trails). But there’s no question these are top quality bikes.
They really had another chance in the 90’s when the mountain bike craze hit. They blew that one too.
I was always curious that the mountain bike craze coincided with the SUV craze. And mountain bikes at that time were as likely to be seen off-road as those SUVs…
Yeah, they didn’t take it seriously. They managed to miss mountain bikes (and the original ‘clunkers’ that led to the mountain bikes were Schwinn middleweights with derailleurs, because of the frame’s strength) in an exact reversal of how they caught on to Sting Rays.
And they they also tried to deliberately avoid BMX, because they were worried about the possible product liability.
My first bike was a used Schwinn. I would not be surprised if it started its life as a Sting-Ray but the banana seat had been replaced with a regular one and the chain guard was gone. It had the chopper-style handlebars, though. Dad and I wet sanded the frame smooth and spray painted it metal-flake light blue. Several of the neighbor kids had new Sting Rays and man, did they look good. But I was proud of the bike Dad and I painted together and was very happy to ride it.
I’ve never shown any athletic aptitude. I was a klutz on the ball field. But I took to riding my blue Schwinn like I was born on it. Just got on it and rode away.
I’ve mentioned it before, but those top-tube mounted shift levers, while cool looking, would never make it in today’s safety conscious world. In fact, I think they were regulated out of existance in a rather short period of time. I wonder how many male adolescents ended up with sore genitals after being gouged by one of those things. Not to mention that you had to take your hand off the handlebar and take your eyes off the road to shift. The move to handlebar-mounted shift levers must have been a revelation.
It’s funny how closely the ‘muscle-bike’ fad copied the musclecar era. At some point in the seventies, the trend definitely started moving away from the Sting-Ray, chopper style to the much more practical 10-speed road bike.
OTOH, seems like those chopper bicycles made something of a resurgence recently, and you still occasionally see some quite radical looking bikes, although they are now more motorcycle-oriented than trying to mimic a two-wheeled, sixties’ musclecar.
And, as antiques, the muscle bike market very much parallels the muscle car market: Prices well above what you’d expect to spend for such an item, given its usefulness and practicality. And after the Boomers all die off, they’re going to sell for pennies on the dollar.
Can attest, having borrowed my buddy’s Fastback with the shifter back in the day. The original “ow, my balls”.
By the way, the coppertone bike in the photos had to be brand new, because after the first couple of days of use, the white plastic cap on the end of the kickstand always fell off and got lost.
As an elementary age kid, I had to make do with my sisters purple and white banana seat bike, but always coveted a Stingray, preferably an Orange Krate. I was very embarrassed to be seen on it. I ended up getting a nice Schwinn Stingray Fastback exactly like the one pictured above with the thumb shifter in 2011. I got it from a mailman who was a bit younger than me, out of his shed. He didn’t have the same affection for it as kids in his generation favored BMX bikes. It was a solid 7.7/10. The lettering on the chain guard was a 9 out of 10, unusual. For a lot of reasons it had to go, mainly because I had a ton of bikes already and it wasn’t being used much, and I wanted it to be enjoyed. Sold at full ask on Craigslist bought by another middle age dude in search of connection to his childhood and he was thrilled.
I would like another one, and a single speed old Coppertone like JP’s would be great. Or…I’ve been thinking about a Manta Ray…the upgrade to the Stingray which they thought would be what kids would buy when they got a little bigger. This bike model never took off and they are much harder to come by. The proportions are a little off…but I’d still like one.
If anyone can get to the Ann Arbor area in a reasonable amount of time, each year there is a great vintage bike show last Sunday of April. Great time: show, swap meet, auction, and plenty of bikes like this. Great article JP, thanks!
http://www.ann-arbor-bicycleshow.com/
I had an orange fastback and was looking for a manta ray when i got a little bigger. At age 13 i ended up with a 10speed schwinn suburban instead because i decided the manta ray was too juvenile. I had to have full fenders and a cargo rack. I didnt need muddy splatters on my back anymore. It didnt get much use though. It competed with a small motorcycle and a small motorbike. And at age 15 a car was added to the collection.
Yes any Schwinn sting Ray bikei My friends and I grew up with or around to us it was like driving top line cadallic ride in style they where an are still the best custom Low Rider bike to built .I still every frame has this shapes every but bolt is diamond cut looking we took prime in our bikes stingray will always rule one of kind
I had one as my first bike, around ’76/’77. It was a 20″ model but had a slightly shorter frame and a smaller crank sproket. It was a strong bike and it was my ticket to freedom. Those cheaper Huffys were lighter and quicker though. By the early 80s the BMX style was the thing to have, but I had to buy that with my paper route money. A chrome Sears from the catalog.(a rebadged Kent model) I upgraded it with a bigger “gooseneck” and stronger rims from the Schwinn dealer so the bike could survive Sunday paper duty, with that heavy bag on the handlebars. Eventually most of the mechanicals were upgraded so it became a mostly-Schwinn bike anyway.
Never had a Sting Ray but have had Schwinns over the years, starting with a lime green Varsity ten speed and then in college a sky blue Collegiate five speed.
I still admire the quality of Schwinn. This is primarily the paint and chrome but also the durability of the Schwinn frames. I still have several Schwinns and I like the Suburbans best – especially those with the three speed Sturmey Archer IGH. My daily rider to the gang mailbox a block and half from home is (the “middle weight”) 1955 Schwinn Flying Star with a two speed Bendix hub.
And that’s why Schwinn had a LIFETIME guarantee against frame breakage. In the time my dad’s Schwinn dealership was going (1965-1977), there might have been 3 frames total replaced under warranty.
A great article, and great memories. Even though these were simple one speed coaster bikes, they meant freedom for many kids. When my parents retired to the country, I remember riding as far as I could all day. There was no bike shop locally, the only source for bikes was Canadian Tire. My first bike was a Supercycle Cougar in 1974. Supercycle was the Canadian Tire house brand, and most of their bikes were made by CCM. It was heavy, made of cheaper steel, but I’d ride for it for miles all day during summer vacation, along with a couple friends. I think the best ‘wheelie’ bike CT sold back then was the CCM Marauder. Interesting how so many bikes with 1960s names and styling cues, lingered well into the late 70s. Though most wheelie bikes were very rugged, I found their Achilles heel, was flats were common. As the tires and tubes were pretty cheap. It took us a couple bike trips to the middle of nowhere, and slow rides/walks home, before we made getting patch kits our priority.
Being reminded of wheelie bikes, and long bike rides as a kid, I recall how bad highway roadside litter used to be back then. You’d see so many pop cans, old tires, Valvoline/Esso motor oil cans, etc. from the seat of a bike. I always think of ‘Wink’ soda pop cans being especially highly visible.
These little bikes really are (imho) culturally and historically significant. The 10-speed bike boom of the ’70’s was built on kids who started on on a Sting-Ray or whatever Sears, AMF, Western Auto, or Raleigh clone they were lucky enough to bag. It wasn’t all built on an oil embargo. I also put forth that moto-coss, mountain-biking, bmx, and old guys on Harleys (or, at least the popularization thereof) got its start with these bikes.
Great story and beautiful bike! I get the vintage Schwinn thing, though I have no experience with them at all. It was a world I was never part of.
>>>made fun of him for riding an old hand-me-down bike
When I was that age, I would have laughed at ninnies with flashy brand-new bikes, because they obviously had no clue. In early 1980s NYC, a flashy new bike was a magnet for older bullies to take it away from you, and you’d never see it again. And if you left it unchained, even in your own yard behind a fence, it was liable to get stolen. What you wanted was something beat-up that didn’t attract attention. My first proper bike, when I was about seven or eight, was an ancient adult bike handed down from Grandpa, and anyone who would dare make fun of it would get a fist in the eye. As far as I was concerned then, riding my full-sizer, a Schwinn Sting-Ray like this looked like a little boy’s bike, and banana seats were for girls.
Besides, it was the 1980s, so Schwinns weren’t cool anymore, the thing to have was a BMX bike, but I didn’t like those either. My parents bought me a new Randor BMX to replace Grandpa’s old junker a couple of years later, without asking me. And it almost immediately got stolen. I never owned a brand new bike again.
By age 12 or so I was already tinkering with old bikes. I went through a succession of old English 3-speeds, which were common and cheap because nobody wanted them. My favorite was a Humber with the Sturmey Archer system that I pulled out of the trash and fixed up.
Funny… completely different realities.
I find the contrast between JP’s (birthday party) outfit and the kid in the ad notable-
Ad kid- Longish hair, corduroy jeans, tennis shoes.
JP- Not so much…
It’s Richie Cunningham versus the Fonz!
IMO JP looks cooler for two very significant reasons you may have missed. 🙂
JP’s handlebars are raked back. The cool kids did that. Keeping the handlebars in their upright ‘factory setting’ position, was conformist.
The kid in the ad is wearing ‘floods’ (too short pant legs) with white socks. Not a cool look at all! At least JP’s floods are better concealed. 🙂
The other reason is that the 1966 catalog had pictures that were all taken at Disneyland. There was a big difference between Southern California 1966 and Fort Wayne, Indiana 1966. 🙂
JP-
In 1966, I was living in St Joe, Michigan, so I know exactly where of you speak. 😉
I seem to recall that Schwinns used non-standard components. I remember a hardware store tire would not go on a Schwinn rim. And the axle nuts were not standard size – I now think they were British cycle threads. When I lost a nut I ended up forcing on an SAE nut and essentially cutting new threads. Twelve year old me was not much of mechanic.
I can sure believe Schwinn using their own, proprietary stuff. OTOH, the competition was a whole lot cheaper, too, and they would go with the least expensive components.
At least with Schwinn components, they’d hold up better. And if you ‘really’ wanted the correct part, you can bet that a local, authorized Schwinn dealer had it in stock or could get it for you (at a price, of course).
Such is the joy of owning the market. Schwinn in the US and Raleigh in the UK had their own standards (threadings, tire sizes, etc.) while all the rest of each nation’s competition standardized on something else. In the UK, Raleigh eventually bought out every competing brand, so eventually all bicycles became various levels of Raleigh.
In the US, Schwinn absolutely refused to have anything to do with any other bicycle manufacturer to the point that during the Bike Boom the industry came up with certain standards that, once adhered to, allowed each bicycle to sport a sticker saying it was ‘up to standard’.
Schwinn refused to have anything to do with that standard, primarily because their bikes already were at a level above what it took to get that sticker, and Schwinn wasn’t about to lower themselves to everybody else.
Schwinn hardware: On the Schwinns I like (“light weight” and “middle weight”) the head bolt is 1/2 inch. The seat post bolt is 9/16 inch. But the pedals are secured to the cranks with (quite standard) 15 mm drive. The brakes on the light weights were usually Weinmanns (from Belgium or Switzerland) and brake hardware was metric. The derailleurs on Varsitys, Collegiates and Continentals were Heuret – French. They were later replaced by Japanese parts. So were the side pull brakes.
Schwann bought quality but they got the best price. There was a year when Sturmei-Archer did not fill the order for shifters and hubs; Steyr in Austria got the deal that year (with what were really just copies).
Yup, Schwinn tire sizes were proprietary. Everyone else’s 26 x 1.75″ tire was replaced on a Schwinn by their own 26 x 1 3/4″ size (for example), and they would NOT fit each others’ rims.
Did anyone else notice the smooth, finished appearance of the connection between the top-tube and the fork-tube? I realize it’s a steel bike (most of today’s bikes have an aluminum frame, meaning machined, brazed welds) but, still, the comparison of the finished look of the old bike versus the machined, crude, painted-over spot-welds on today’s bikes is stunning.
Old-school Schwinn bikes were expensive, but if you notice the details, you see why.
Yes. That is the mark of a Schwinn “electro-forged” (welded) frame. Beautiful, clean but also heavy. The only sloppiness to be found on a Chicago Schwinn frame is at the bottom bracket – but what kid or dad looked there?
You brought back a lot of memories with this post, J.P…..
My dad was a Schwinn dealer in Lima, OH (Charlie the Bicycle Man) from 1965 to 1977. I put together a lot of Stingrays and Krates working there in summers and on weekends while in school.
The only one missing from the photo is the white Cotton Picker. I’m not kidding!
Great story JPC. I come from a family of bicycle enthusiasts. It is my favorite way to remain active. We have a bit of a bike story too. My dad actually bought his first “expensive” bike in 1974, a CCM Mistral. It was a 10 speed and a pretty good bike for its day. Dad commuted on that bike for many years and miles but it held up well. He did do some upgrades over the years, better wheels and tires, updated cassette and derailleur and others. He eventually replaced it with a newer bike in the early 2000s and passed it on to my youngest brother, who still has it today and rides it today.
I never had a Schwinn or the like. My first bike was a Norco Dirstmaster which I got as a birthday gift. It looked like a dirt bike and remember it being pretty heavy. I thought it was pretty cool for the time.
Great post, I too got a Stingray for Christmas in the early 70’s. Metallic purple. That bike went through a load of different iterations and modifications. Western Auto sourced bmx style handlebars with clear fake Oakley grips, a couple of different paint jobs, a crankset off a 10 speed to increase the stroke, a Western Auto 7 spoke steel rear wheel as I tended to regularly bend regular spoke wheels. I put a lot of miles on that bike in the neighborhood and along the railroad tracks.
Never had a Stingray mainly as it was after my time. My first real bike, when I was seven, was actually too big for me and I needed a curb to get on it. It was a Schwinn 26″ three speed in black. I remember the hand brakes and the small 3 speed shifter on the handle bar. In 1968 it was replaced by a Super Sport that was blue. I remember that one as being heavy considering it was a touring bike. It was replace in 1984 by a Nishiki in blue which I still have to this day.
Thought of getting one in the late 60s as many were modding them but I found the short leg position really bothered me. The bike was clearly not a distance bike and that is what I used my bikes for.
I was in fifth grade when I got my chopper style bike. It was 1965 and it was generic “Stingray” bike. I think my parents bought it at the local J.C. Penney’s store. We called them all Stingrays, but we did notice that the Schwinns were considered the upper echelon of the bunch. Especially when the fancy Orange Crates and other models came out. On how I lusted after those bikes with the cool springer front end, drum brake,stick shift, rear slick tire and sprung seat. I was happy to ride my bike though. It was gold metallic with a white seat and chrome fenders. Just a coaster brake, single speed bike. As I got older we all got bigger and the little choppers just didn’t cut it anymore. The bike for the seventh and eighth grade boys was the Schwinn Varsity ten speed. That was the Cat’s Ass!
Our bikes, whatever the model, were extremely important to us. They gave us the freedom to roam far and wide, and we did! Kids and parents Today can’t imagine how much freedom we enjoyed during the 1960s and 70’s. We just had to be back by dark, that was the rule. We didn’t have cell phones so that our Mom’s could keep track of us.
In my circles you quit riding bikes during the eighth grade. Then you started riding the bus. Whether by yourself or in a group with other kids we would ride all over the City. This was considered cool and grown up. Of course everything changed on your sixteenth birthday.
You remind me that I saved up my money and bought a Genuine Schwinn headlight and generator set with the generator that was driven from the sidewall of the rear tire. This allowed my friends and I to have a headlit ride home for those times we were allowed to stay out long enough that it was dark when we rode home.
Exactly right Jose. Kids did get a lot of freedom in those days and your bike was your ticket to a much bigger world. My recollections match yours very well. Schwinn’s were pretty common in my town but Sting-Rays were pretty rare, I’m not sure why. Maybe the Sting Ray was viewed as frivolous. Anyway I always wanted one but never had one although my buddy had a green 5 speed Sears Spyder with the gear shift and that was really something.
The 49cc honda is what put an end to most schwinn mileage back in my day. Seemed to happen around 8th grade for most. A little earlier for me. Then the little hondas started to evaporate when a driving permit was obtained.
In Australia, our equivalent to Schwinn was probably Malvern Star originally made in Melbourne, they made copies of the Sting-Ray called Dragsters, all the cool kids had them, so of I course I had a plain 24″ bike with a single speed coaster brake.
When we moved to central Victoria from the flat northern part of Victoria it was decided that I needed a bigger bike with maybe with some gears to help cope with the hills I had to now contend with, I don’t know how my parents found it but somehow they found a very second hand 27″ Malvern Star “Skidstar”, they had a similar type frame to the Dragster but in a proper fullsize.
It was in a metallic copper much like the your vintage bike, but dull and weathered.
the console shifter for the 3s Sturmey Archer on the bar soon failed and I converted it to fingertip shift.
It would have been a nice bike when new and it did me ok for a while.
Someone above mentioned the TorqueFlite when discussing the his 3 speed , and I would agree, The Sturmey Archer and the TorqueFlite were both beautiful ways to transmit power.
Being too many and thus largely unfunded, our lot all had bikes from the Victorian Railways lost-and-not-claimed depot (some vast warehouse of crap, mainly umbrellas, somewhere in Melb?) and so I learned to ride on some ancient penny-farthing wheeled monster. Seriously, at 6 or 7, the wheels were surely 82 inch ones, with one gear, and worse, a girl’s bike, because my attempts to balance up on the boy’s version of same had too often sent me wincing inside with a third testicle forming.
For reasons I cannot recall but am probably still raging about somewhere inside, one brother got a brand new bike: a purple-flake Malvern Star dragster just you describe. Man, how I wanted that T-bar gearchanger (in fact, in the Dandenong foothills, man, how I just wanted another gear). But I never got to ride it till that brother outgrew childhood and abandoned it for girls and growing a teen mullet (that stayed on top way, way too long incidentally). By my time, the bike was a wreck, so we stripped the fripperies off it, put on a same-size front wheel, and converted it to the BMX style then in vogue. Which is surely a makeover unmatched in the industry.
This was such a joy to read, JP. I love that Schwinn gave cool model names to their bicycles.
While Schwinn bikes might have been expensive back in the day, the ability to spend some truly outrageous sums on a bicycle today are heart-attack inducing. I haven’t done much research on it, but I think it’s actually possible to spend $20k for a very light road bike with the best components. And, if you’re really trying, you can spend even more. A lot more.
Even adjusted for inflation, I doubt any Schwinn ever came close to that threshold.
Hello JP, look what you started, I am loving all the replies of “kids” reminiscing about their own “schwinn time” I wish I could read them all, as I too have fond memories of my own, thanks for taking all of us back for a moment, the day may come that I may not remember my name or what year it is but I will be able to tell u in detail about my Schwinn Sting Ray,…
My brother got me into Schwinn bicycles and I have several. I have a Stingray rat rod that he built and gave me for Christmas one year. He has a ruby red stingray. I actually took a Typhoon and tried converting it into a lowrider, complete with the parts.
Put a 38cc 4 stroke motor on my 1970 Orange Krate. Will haul my 190 lb. frame up to 35 mph.
In 1985, after these were way passé for most, I was 7 and dearly wanted one. My father found a Schwinn dealer all the way out in Glen Ellyn, IL, and found me a used one. I can’t remember the model year but I do know it was towards the end of the run. It was metallic green with yellow seat, grips, and accents. (Yes, it was Packers colors which was mildly embarrassing for a Chicago kid but I wasn’t going to complain.) Sturmey Archer 3-on-the-tree and all. I loved that thing, but it did bring out an unfortunate adult paranoia of never liking to leave my vehicle parked anywhere. Man I was always nuts about leaving that thing locked up.
Great story! Bicycle trends are interesting; the 1960’s Stingray craze, the 1970’s 10 speed racer fad, the 1980’s BMX trend, and the 1990’s Mountain Bike mania. I’m happy with a full fender commuter bicycle- my 2006 Bianchi Bergamo, which I had Magnetic dynamo lights installed on. I don’t get my pants real wet or need to buy batteries for lights.
My winter bike is a used 1979 Schwinn Suburban, always wanted a Schwinn as a kid, but my first bike was a Sears Stingray knock off – it was purple with a metallic flake banana seat. Schwinn’s were built like tanks, but very expensive.
I didn’t realize that the Stingray was available throughout the ‘70’s. In 1971-72 there was a full sized adult version, the 24” Schwinn Manta-Ray.
Although I was skilled at changing, and patching tires that was about it, as far as my mechanical skills would take me. I get incredibly impatient fixing things, especially if it involves moving parts, but have the patience of a Saint for things like model building or woodworking, go figure.
I think Stingray bikes will likely go down in value, due to baby boomers downsizing, and disinterested gen-Xers, at least that is the trend for collectible toys.
Excellent, wonderfully written, beautiful, on point sweet memories! Funny so funny still and always fresh to many of generation’s X,
I had a truly great awesome limited edition red white and blue banana seat bicycle, anything but meow lol 😆 the great old days, between the daisy chains and laughs,
The banana seated generation’s preconditioned constant awe and wowed population of the sub atomic big wheel big boy American dreams ferris, the carnival casting so perfect so right on so never ending, just five minutes ago,
An island variant roller coaster expresso I had the’74 edition designed in advance of the celebration of birthdays two for USA 🇺🇸’76.
From my beautiful Mom and Dad in lieu of my old block and old friends to comfort their older son in the moving process to the new block on the other side of town.
The new block the court, the cul-de-sac the kids were impressed with the bike I was in a shock of sorts polite but a slightly bewildered “happy”, it was all good but man that god darn bike was great, later I learned so were my new friends.
From loving the moment, copyright © 2022 RAJA ™️
❤️ Bobby Alario, always:)