From Newsgroup: rec.bicycles.tech
On 1/28/2026 10:44 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
"The Silent Schwinn Factory: How AmericarCOs Bicycle Empire Faded Away" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA2YEFxYm5U> (1:08:36)
Interesting, but it left me wondering if there was anything that
Schwinn could have done differently to prevent their eventual demise.
What Schwinn did that was wrong (failure to recognize emerging
markets, failure to follow trends, move to an isolated factory
location, inability to react to foreign competition, etc) were all
common problems after the 1970's. In my never humble opinion, what
killed Schwinn was their failure to adapt to the 1965 to 1975 bicycle
boom. Schwinn was stuck with a sturdy but overweight product designed
for kids, while the market now wanted light weight designs, more
suitable for adults. Schwinn recognized the market change, but
couldn't afford to build a new factory specifically for light weight construction. I'm not sure I could contrive a recovery plan that had
a reasonable guarantee of working.
"Bike Boom. 20th Century" <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bike_boom#20th_century>
There's almost never one cause.
All that's true but the introduction of Panasonic models
rebadged as 'Schwinn World' in 1972 was a good step.
('World' had been a very popular postwar Schwinn lightweight
model)
Schwinn's union troubles were a big factor and the
expeditionary venture to Greenville was supposed to address
that. Some parts of it were very positive (such as newer
lightweight designs which did sell well) but the loss of
local supporting industries and Chicago's deep talent pool
weighed the other way.
Economic and bicycle trend/fashion cycles both continued as
ever, and a particularly dangerous response is to borrow in
a slump. Ed Schwinn wasn't the only guy to take that misstep
but he's remembered for it.
There's a wealth of literature on this subject and as in
most things simple explanations miss the situation.
--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
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