One of the secretaries asked if I would want to buy the bike she had bought from an older lawyer in my office. 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. When you have children with January birthdays, there is a problem. My eldest son had outgrown his training wheel bike and was ready for a two wheeler. ![]() 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.įast forward about twenty-five years. 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. The 1975 Schwinn Sting-Ray lineup, both in “Flamboyant Red”.Īs reported in a piece at, Schwinn sold two million Sting-Rays during the first five years of the model’s run. For some perspective, a 10,000 unit run for a popular model had been considered a success. 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. Which was amused by the idea, but gave the go-ahead anyway. Fritz built a prototype to present to Schwinn management. Banana seats and chopper-style handlebars transformed the entire attitude of the bike. 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. According to the folks at, the Sting-Ray was not something Schwinn intended to build. Every kid who grew up during “The Wonder Years” either had one or wanted one. The Schwinn Sting-Ray may be the most famous bike of its era. 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.īut I digress. 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 synced right up with the Muscle Car Era and was the Hemi ‘Cuda of kids’ bikes. The gold Sting-Ray was traded for a Pea Picker – the green version of the Sting-Ray “Krate” series that ran from 1968-73. My Sting-Ray gave me that freedom to roam with my buds in our suburban subdivision.īy 1970 I was ready for an upgrade. From there we would do whatever young boys do at various houses or just around the neighborhood. After a “Bye, Mom” I would leave the house and ride to one of my friends’ houses. I grew up in an era when summer days were kind of like going to work. From that day onward the golden Sting-Ray was my constant companion. And irritated that I had to sit still for pictures when I could be riding instead. There may have been a motherly request involved.īy 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. 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. After many failed attempts I finally got moving and triumphantly began the ride back to the house. Getting going again was an entirely different thing. I was not confident enough to get through a 180 degree turn without stopping. I then realized that my first problem as a rider of a two wheeler was ahead of me: an intersection. ![]() I knew nothing of gyroscopes at that age but began getting a feel for the machine. ![]() I was mainly thrilled that I remained upright, amazed at how this phenomenon actually worked. ![]() My father gave me a start and I was thrilled as I sailed down my street. 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. OK, as long as a (girl’s) two wheeler with training wheels counted. I had become quite adept riding a two wheeler that had been handed down from some cousins. It was presented to me on a sunny morning in our driveway on my seventh birthday before my father left for work. My first two wheel bike was a 1966 Schwinn Sting-Ray, in Radiant Coppertone. 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.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |