A story and a question.
In the beginning, all high rise bikes had one speed coaster brakes, no fenders and were as simple as possible. Later, the multi-speed versions were introduced with 2 speed kickbacks and 3 speeds with caliper brakes. By 1966, most of my riding was either neighborhood trips or downhill off-road runs in the hills that would later become famous for the development of mountain bikes. Schwinn introduced the Fastback with it’s Stik Shift and thin tires. I thought the derailleur and tires would be too fragile for the type of riding I were doing. In addition, the caliper brakes did not function well enough if they got wet.
So, in early 1967 I make a decision. What I really needed was a street bike and an off-road bike. So I kept my coaster brake '65 Deluxe Sting Ray (liked the extra padding in the seat and the rear fender) and added a 3 speed Stik Deluxe Stingray to the fleet. It was perfect.
Within a decade, the BMX rage hit and the Sting Ray stumbled along, getting rid of the Slik rear tire and ending up with disgusting color schemes, stuck somewhere in limbo with no true identity, neither a BMX nor a Muscle Bike. Schwinn who was in position to influence trends with their image and advertising abandoned the Muscle Bike. Kind of like Harley Davidson giving up on the V-Twin and making a poor stab at 2 Stroke dirt bikes. Other manufacturers made cool muscle bikes but didn’t have the promotional resources to grow the market.
Years later, Schwinn offers the Sting Ray chopper and it sells extremely well but is too uncomfortable to ride. It shows that the market is there but the bike has to be rideable. They should have hired John Brain to help.
So, did Schwinn kill the Muscle Bike through neglect or could they have made Muscle Bikes a continuing success story if they managed it properly?
Bill
