Without considering its function, purpose or effect, the Court declares this aspect of Schwinn’s program to be per se invalid. It likewise applies the same automatic rule of illegality to strike down Schwinn’s policy of ensuring that franchised dealers do not resell to unfranchised retailers, schwinn bicycles and thus subvert the whole distributional scheme. The company’s next answer to requests for a Schwinn mountain bike was the King Sting and the Sidewinder, inexpensive BMX-derived bicycles fabricated from existing electro-forged frame designs, and using off-the-shelf BMX parts.
Most people might not know this but Schwinn was involved in the marketing of motorscooters back in 2005. In the 50s, Schwinn changed its marketing strategy and became more aggressive when dealing with distributors; this was aimed at making the company a dominant force in the industry. By 1905, the annual sales of bikes had decreased to only 25% of the figures reached in 1900. Mechanical engineer Ignaz Schwinn is the German guy who started the Schwinn Bike Company. This is one of the oldest bike companies in the market having been established in 1895. Through most of the 20th century, the Chicago-based company reigned as a major manufacturer of American bikes.
The overall value of a Schwinn vintage bike will vary based on its condition, age, and scarcity. Irrespective of their age, most Schwinn cycles in good condition retain their value for a long time. It means that any bicycle more than 50 years old in a good or fair condition is likely to attract interest from other buyers. It also means that old Schwinn bikes before 1975 will be of greater value to collectors than a newer bike. Similarly, if the bike is scarce, such as the 1934 triplet or the Aerocycle, it may be priced in the thousands of dollars on eBay. In late 1997, Questor Partners Fund, led by Jay Alix and Dan Lufkin, purchased huffy mountain bike.
Thus by the 1990s,Schwinnhad declared bankruptcy andGiantwent on to make generate $380 million in annual sales, making it the world’s largest bicycle manufacturer. At this time, very few of the bicycles being produced byGiantbore their own brand name. In a bid to rectify this Tony Lo – one of King Liu’s business partners – began a campaign for brand recognition.
This financial firm proved equally incompetent in running Schwinn and Schwinn again declared for bankruptcy in 2001. [Footnote 2/12] Thus, applying the rule of reason to the vertical restraints now in issue is not at all “illogical and inconsistent” mongoose bmx bike with per se invalidation of the wholesalers’ horizontal division of markets. These retailers were predominantly the small independent bicycle sales and repair dealers mentioned above, who now represent nearly all of Schwinn’s outlets.
Even the paint colors were the same (remember that the fillet-brazed frames were hung on the general Schwinn painting line). Only the round Schwinn badge, downtube diameter and pointed seatstay tops are visibly different. During the bicycle boom of the 1970’s customers learned to equate lugged frame construction with higher quality. Richard’s Bicycle Book of 1972, a popular title of the day, states emphatically that, “In better bikes the frame is lugged and brazed…” and does not mention any other quality framebuilding method. Customers preferred lugged construction and equated lugless frames with Varsitys and Continentals or, worse, low-quality department-store bicycles. Until the recent rise of quality TIG-welded and composite bicycle frames, most high quality lightweight bicycles used lugs to join their frame tubing.
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.