Edward Schwinn, CEO, just wasn’t as passionate about bicycles as his ancestors were. Yoshi Shimano, who was Edward Schwinn’s personal translator during his business trips to Asia, described him as “a nice fellow“, who “had a lower degree of interest for the business“. Schwinn is the American icon that has built some of the best-known and most-loved bicycles of all time.
Although they were fabricated in the same shop as the Paramounts, from there Schwinn’s fillet-brazed frames took a different production path. Hence Paramount serial numbers are unique to Paramounts and serve as a tally of Paramount production, while serial numbers on the fillet-brazed models were mixed in with other Schwinn models. This is also why the fillet-brazed models came in the same colors as lower-priced Schwinns, which contributed to their obscurity.
Adding to the excitement and the bottom line, Waterford is building a highly-sought after, limited run of 75thanniversary Paramounts. By 1990, other United States bicycle companies with reputations for excellence in design such as Trek, Specialized, and Cannondale had cut further into Schwinn’s market. Unable to produce bicycles in the United States at a competitive cost, by the end of 1991 Schwinn was sourcing its bicycles from overseas manufacturers.
In 1900, during the height of the first bicycle boom, annual United States sales by all bicycle manufacturers had briefly topped one million. Nevertheless, Schwinn’s share of the market was increasing, and would reach in excess of 1 million bicycles per year by the end of the decade. The boom in bicycle sales was short-lived, saturating the market years before motor vehicles were common on American streets.
Due to rolling on 700C wheels, this bike is suitable for riders who are between 5’4″ and 6’2″ tall. This endurance performance road bike is available with a carbon or aluminum frame and Shimano components from different groupsets. In addition to “department store” models, the company also makes higher-end bikes known as the Signature Series.These include road, mountain, hybrid, cruiser, urban, electric, and kids bicycles that can be found schwinn bicycles on Schwinn’s website. The road bike has two types of handlebars for the road cyclist various needs. They are lightweight and create a more aerodynamic riding position, while also allowing you to better transfer your energy to move the bike. The flat-bar handlebars allow you to sit up in a more upright position to reduce strain on your back, wrist, and shoulders, but they are less efficient in speed than the drop-bar road bike is.