Russ Webb & Charlie Cruising

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Schwinn Krate

The stingray was introduced in the early 60’s and within a few years dominated the market with 70% market share of all bikes sold at the time. The stingray was born from the seeds of some tricked out bikes seen on the west coast. This inspiration gave the Schwinn Company plenty to work with and a new era in bicycling was born.

As all good things come to an end, the stingray’s popularity began to fade in the mid 70’s with the dirt busting BMX bike scene. With the big brother mountain bike soon to follow… it didn’t look good for Schwinn. They did make a comeback in the 90’s with a new cruiser revolution, but it wasn’t enough to keep the company profitable.

Schwinn faced bankruptcy in 1993 and restructured its debt load and eventually was purchased by Pacific Cycle in 2001. The Schwinn brand will always be synonymous with innovative bike design and fabrication. And what a story they have to tell!

Russ Webb & Charlie Cruising

The Schwinn Stingray. A Classic.

When I think of my childhood, I recall my days on a bike and at that time 5-7 yrs, I was pedaling a stingray. This was my very first bike, and I loved it. How could a kid not like this cool chopped out little gem.

In truth, I was just riding the tail-end (1973) of the stingray’s illustrious career. The stingray was introduced in 1963, and inspired by a handful of west coast kids who worshipped the local hot rod scene. These kids were creating mashed up custom bikes with banana seats and crazy looking chopper handle bars.

Word got around to Schwinn headquarters in Chicago, where they dispatched an engineer with orders to observe the scene. Were these kids getting too much of that California sun? Was it a temporary fad? It turned out that these kids knew what they liked and signaled a new direction for Schwinn.

The Schwinn designers and engineers teamed up and produced the first stingray. Adults weren’t too sure what to think, but the kids went nuts. The bike was a top seller for over a decade.

Over the years, Schwinn was smart enough to introduce new colors and unique twists on the stingray styling. The stingray will forever be a classic for the boomer generation and many of these older models are collector’s items now fetching well over $2500.

Russ Webb & Charlie Cruising

Welcome to our site. We've tried our best to give you a great selection of Schwinn bikes to choose from.

You'll find all the Schwinn classics right here, including the timeless beach cruisers, the stingrays, and the antique 30's, 40's, and 50's models.

In our quest for creating a complete site loaded with Schwinn bikes we have included newer models like those featured on this page.

We hope you enjoy the site as much as we have in putting it together.

Your Schwinn Comrades -

Russell and Charlie