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My Memories of Two Vintage Schwinn Bicycles
If you are a fan of old, collectable bicycles, then it is virtually impossible to ignore any that are made by Schwinn. Vintage Schwinn bicycles are among the most sought after bicycles among collectors of all kinds. Models from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s are among those that are especially valued today.
As a young boy, growing up in the early 1960s, I recall how much I enjoyed riding my vintage Schwinn bicycle. Of course, I did not realize the value of what I had at the time. My older brother had a 24" balloon tire model, and I had a similar 20" model. They both were painted alike, red and white. These were very sturdy bikes, and would last forever if taken care of. The metal frames were relatively heavy in comparison with many of today's bikes. We had no hand-brakes or extra gears, so the only speed we had was the speed we were able to reach by pedaling as hard as we could. And pedal we did, all through the streets of the residential areas of Jersey City. We had identical red and white streamers extending from the handgrips, and also had speedometers on the bikes to tell us how fast we were going, and how far we had traveled.
All the children in the neighborhood enjoyed riding their bikes together. We would go through various fads as we tried to outdo one another in trying to make our bicycle cooler than the one next to us. One fad was to take a baseball trading card, and attach it to the wheel frame with a clothespin in such a way that the card would lean into the spokes of the front wheel. As your wheel turned, the spokes would hit the baseball card, and it would make a loud stuttering sound, like a motercycle engine. We even tried to achieve the same effect with balloons, but they would not last very long, as you can imagine, and it seems to me that baseball cards were the preferred solution.
Eventually, my brother's 24 inch Schwinn heavyweight bike was handed down to me. Some of the neighborhood kids eventually got Stingray bikes with the banana seats and high handle bars. Many of them had 5 speeds, controlled with a real gear-shift! At the time, I felt really out of date with my old, single-speed Schwinn heavyweight. But it was all that I had, and so I made do with it and continued to ride it throughout my childhood. I only wish that I had known then how valuable my bicycle would be today. I am sure that I would have taken much better care of it, and would have made every effort to save it. It truly was a vintage bicycle.
