The Classic and Antique Bicycle Exchange

Now a new chapter begins with the sale of the Schwinn brand to Pon Holdings, a manufacturer of high-quality bicycles. The press release from Pon Holdings emphasizes that Schwinn is one of the major known brands of bicycles in the USA. The fate of the Schwinn brand is still unknown but being part of a larger company with deep pockets may lead to innovation and perhaps even to upgrading their offered bicycles. In 2001, Schwinn was purchased out of bankruptcy by a more bicycle-savvy company called Pacific Cycles. Under Durel Sports, the iconic Schwinn brand was transformed into a bicycle company that sells low-cost models in big-box stores such as Walmart, Target, and Kohl’s.

After a series of production cuts and labor force reductions, Schwinn was able to restructure its operations. The company renegotiated loans by putting up the company and the name as collateral, and increased production of the Airdyne exercise bicycle, a moneymaker even in bad times. The company took advantage of the continued demand for mountain bikes, redesigning its product line with Schwinn-designed chrome-molybdenum alloy steel frames. Supplied by manufacturers in Asia, the new arrangement enabled Schwinn to reduce costs and stay competitive with Asian bicycle companies.

With their aging product line, Schwinn failed to dominate the huge sport bike boom of 1971–1975, which saw millions of 10-speed bicycles sold to new cyclists. Schwinn did allow some dealers to sell imported road racing bikes, and by 1973 was using the Schwinn name on the Le Tour, a Japanese-made low-cost sport/touring 10-speed bicycle. Schwinn developed strong trading relationships with two Japanese bicycle manufacturers in particular, Bridgestone and National/Panasonic.

With no buyers, Excelsior-Henderson motorcycles were discontinued in 1931. Putting all company efforts towards bicycles, he succeeded in developing a low-cost model that brought Schwinn recognition as an innovative company, as well as a product that would continue to sell during the inevitable downturns in business cycles. W. Schwinn returned to Chicago and in 1933 introduced the Schwinn B-10E Motorbike, actually a youth’s bicycle designed to imitate a motorcycle. The company revised the model the next year and renamed it the Aerocycle.

schwinn bicycles

The serial number appears in different places on the bike depending on the year and the place the bike was made. Not all vintage Schwinns have serial numbers or follow a set convention for placement and numbering. If there is huffy mountain bike a serial number, it will always appear on the actual frame of the bike, rather than on a removable part like the seat, handlebars, or wheels. The Schwinn family bicycle company started in the 1890s by making safety bi…