However, worker dissatisfaction, seldom a problem in the early years, grew with steep increases in inflation. In late 1980, the Schwinn Chicago factory workers voted to affiliate with the United Auto Workers. Plant assembly workers began a strike for higher pay in September 1980, and 1,400 assembly workers walked off the job for thirteen weeks. Although the strike ended in February 1981, only about 65% of the prior workforce was recalled to work.
In time bicycles became less expensive, but by the end of World War I automobiles had taken their place as the popular form of transportation. Bicycles began to serve more as vehicles for children, which led to the development of heavier and sturdier models. From mongoose bmx bike the 1920’s until 1938 Arnold, Schwinn & Co. became primarily a producer of heavy-duty juvenile bicycles. Fillet-brazed bicycle frames are strong and have a neat and clean appearance, but they are uncommon because of the additional craftsmanship required.
Unlike its progenitors, the Klunker proved incapable of withstanding hard off-road use, and after an unsuccessful attempt to reintroduce the model as the Spitfire 5, it was dropped from production. Despite a huge increase in popularity of lightweight European sport or road racing bicycles in the United States, Schwinn adhered to its existing strategy in the lightweight adult road bike market. For those unable to afford the Paramount, this meant a Schwinn ‘sports’ bike with a heavy steel electro-forged frame along with steel components such as wheels, stems, cranks, and handlebars from the company’s established United States suppliers. Though weighing slightly less, the mid-priced Schwinn Superior or Sports Tourer was almost indistinguishable from Schwinn’s other heavy, mass-produced models, such as the Varsity and Continental.
The Paramount series had limited production numbers, making vintage examples quite rare today. The 1960 Varsity was introduced as an 8-speed bike, but in mid-1961 was upgraded to 10 speeds. Other road bikes were introduced by Schwinn in the early and mid 1960s, such as the Superior, Sierra, and Super Continental, but these were only produced for a few years. The Varsity and Continental sold in large numbers through the 1960s and early 1970s, becoming Scwhinn’s leading models. The wheel rims were likewise robust, chromed, stamped steel with a unique profile designed to hold the tire bead securely, even if pressure were low or lost.
Unlike Schwinn, many of these brands were perennial participants in professional bicycle racing, and their production road bicycles at least possessed the cachet and visual lineage of their racing heritage, if not always their componentry. One example was Peugeot, which won several Tour de France victories using race bikes with frames occasionally constructed by small race-oriented framebuilders such as Masi, suitably repainted in Team Peugeot colors. In reality, mass-market French manufacturers such as Peugeot were not infrequently criticized for material and assembly quality — as well as stagnant technology — in their low- and mid-level product lines. Nevertheless, Peugeot proudly advertised its victorious racing heritage at every opportunity. While not as prominent at the winner’s podium, Japanese brands such as Fuji and Panasonic offered consistently high quality, reasonable prices, and state-of-the-art-derailleur, crankset, and gearing design.
Questor/Schwinn later purchased GT Bicycles in 1998 for $8 a share in cash, roughly $80 million. The new company produced a series of well-regarded mountain bikes bearing the Schwinn name, called the Homegrown series. This includes sales, revenue, price, market share and growth rates by type. Post your bicycles, parts or literature that you want to sell or trade.
But I cannot understand how that marketing system becomes per se unreasonable and illegal in those instances where it is effectuated through sales to wholesalers and dealers. Its parts and accessory business is less than 4% of its total sales. Like other bicycle producers, Schwinn manufactures the basic parts of its bicycles and purchases components from parts producers.
If they cannot, vertical integration and the elimination of small independent competitors are likely to follow. Meanwhile, the Court has, sua sponte, created a bluntly indiscriminate and destructive weapon which can be used to dismantle a vast variety of distributional systems — competitive and anticompetitive, reasonable and unreasonable. The Greenville plant was not a success, as it was remote from both the corporate headquarters as well as the West coast ports mongoose bmx bike where the material components arrived from Taiwan and Japan. Additionally, Asian manufacturers could still produce and assemble high-quality bicycles at a far lower per-unit cost than Schwinn at its plant in Mississippi, which had to import parts, then assemble them using higher-priced United States labor. The Greenville manufacturing facility, which had lost money each year of its operation, finally closed in 1991, laying off 250 workers in the process.