Schwinn backpedaling
By Jennifer Harper THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Men of a certain age who relish the memory of their old
Schwinn "banana seat" bike may want to pull a wheelie:
The company has reintroduced this two-wheeled icon of
the 1960s. Schwinn introduced the reinvented Sting-Ray
bicycle in Madison, Wis., yesterday, billing it "The
Rebirth of Cool." The bike is unabashedly a relic from
the all-American playground. "With its raked-out fork,
knees-to-the-breeze seat position, a huge rear tire and
enough bad-boy character to raise eyebrows, this is no
ordinary bicycle," Schwinn says. Schwinn received design
advice from Orange County Choppers, the New York-based
custom motorcycle shop whose work has been inspired by
the films "Easy Rider" and "The Wild One." The shop is
busy working on a line of special edition Sting-Rays,
complete with fancy logos and extreme features. There is
also talk of adult-size Sting-Ray bikes as well, sure to
cause a stir on the typical Sunday morning bike path.
"The new Sting-Ray is for the kid who wants a bike that
offers the riding experience of a chopper," said Schwinn
spokesman Joe Werwie. "Just like the original model,
every kid can customize his Sting-Ray with cool
accessories coming soon like custom wheels, high-back
sissy bars, over-sized chain guards and more," he said.
Ironically, the Sting-Ray, along with a few other
youthful playtime icons, has lost its American roots.
Schwinn's parent company, Pacific Cycle — which also
owns Flexible Flyer sleds and Murray, Roadmaster, GT and
Mongoose bikes — was sold to Montreal-based Dorel
Industries in February. Nevertheless, the newfangled Sting-
Ray could inspire a little old-fashioned father-son
bonding. "You react to this style bike the way you do to
a muscle car. And men who had a bike like this in the
late 1960s and 1970s can share their enthusiasm with
their own sons," said Carl Burgwardt, curator of the
Pedaling History Bicycle Museum in Orchard Park, N.Y.
The original Sting-Ray was introduced in 1963 when GTOs
and Corvettes were the masculine cars of choice, though
TV's mild-mannered Captain Kangaroo became an official
endorser three years later, pronouncing, "Schwinn bikes
are the best." Schwinn sold about 1 million Sting-Rays a
year until 1982, when young riders began answering the
edgy siren call of mountain biking. But nostalgia is
part of the appeal of bikes. Everyone remembers what he
or she rode as a child, creating an instant market for
manufacturers who originally built a youthful dream
machine. "This isn't Schwinn's first repop, or reissue,"
Mr. Burgwardt said. "They came out with a reissue of
their old 1950s Black Phantom model. Columbia and
Roadmaster also reissued some of their old models, too."
But a reissue does not necessarily make a collectible
for those who will shell out an average $2,000 for a 40-year-
old child's bike with original chrome, wheelie bar and a
glitter seat. "You don't create a collectible bike. They
just happen," Mr. Burgwardt said. The new Sting-Ray will
be on sale in stores such as Wal-Mart and Toys R Us by
April, with prices beginning at $180.