Bikes of America (and Canada!)

[Canuk]

Carbon fiber began working its way into sporting goods in the 1970’s. Ski poles, tennis rackets, fishing rods, and even golf clubs were designed with carbon structural elements or a layer of carbon fiber wrapped around them.

Enter Graftek. The sporting goods division of the Exxon corporation. We’re not sure if this was a nervous attempt at diversification during the OPEC oil embargo or merely a natural extension of their fishing rod factory, but Exxon designed and built carbon fiber bicycles from 1976 to 1978.

Built in South Plainfield, New Jersey, these bikes went into production alongside fishing rods and golf clubs. The frame design evolved over the three model years, but what you have here are stainless steel cast lugs, carbon-fiber wrapped aluminum tubing, and a carbon wrapped steel fork (which was an upgraded option for the final year of manufacture).

 

[Canuk]

1967 Schwinn Typhoon

 

[Canuk]

Typhoon in Coppertone gold paint with some of the deluxe options. In the 1960’s, bicycle riders were looking for something a little faster and quite a bit lighter weight than the balloon-tire bikes of the 1950’s. Schwinn responded with slimmed-down versions of their Panther, Hollywood, Starlet, and Typhoon cruisers. Some of these bikes came equipped as 3-speeds, and some like our Typhoon here were built with a 2 speed hubs. The yellow-banded hub would change between its two gears each time you kicked back on the pedals.

The focus of the 1967 ad campaign and catalog text was to persuade adults to get on a bike. To that end, they suggested that cycling would mellow a fellow out…
…Cycling is an especially favorable type of exercise. It has a very good effect on the brain, on the mental state, and on the psyche. It’s the best antidote-this kind of muscular exercise-for stress and mental fatigue. Instead of tranquilizers, I advise muscular action-even to the point of fatigue, so that you won’t need medicine to tranquilize you”. Dr. Paul Dudley White, from the President’s Council of Physical Fitness, as quoted in the 1967 Schwinn catalog.

 

[Canuk]

1977 Roger DeCoster

 

[Canuk]

Roger DeCoster bikes were produced from 1976 to 1983 and were sold as frame kits mostly at Schwinn bicycle shops across the country. Manufactured by BMX Products, Inc., they were very similar to the Mongoose Motomag.

The bike kits came in long or short frame versions made of 4130 chromoly. There were different color versions in nickel, Red, Blue, and Yellow. Bikes like this one with the short frame were only available in the nickel finish. The only real difference between the Mongoose and the DeCoster frame is the oval (instead of round) cutout in the front head tube gusset.

 

[Canuk]

1971 Schwinn Grey Ghost

 

[Canuk]

From 1968 to 1973 Schwinn took their style cues from Detroit (well, they actually did that for decades). At the time, GM was selling “Muscle Cars” to adults, so Schwinn made Sting Ray “Muscle Bikes” for kids. With the Krate series, Schwinn went a step further with the “Muscle Bike” idea and went from stock to modified. What is the next step after racing a stock muscle car? Why, racing a dragster, of course. The Krate series is a bunch of dragster-inspired bikes.

The Grey Ghost joined the Pea Picker, the Apple Krate, the Lemon Peeler, the Orange Krate and the Cotton Picker. While the white Cotton Picker is fairly rare (it was offered for just two model years), the Ghost was part of the Schwinn Krate series for just one year, 1971.

 

[Canuk]

Sunkyong Bicycle Mower

 

[Canuk]

1976 Schwinn Sting-Ray

 

[Canuk]

This bike was part of that early ’90’s Seattle music scene. It was used in the Soundgarden music video for the song “My Wave” off of their Superunknown album. Between shots of Soundgarden concert footage, they had great action sequences of a kid racing around the south Seattle warehouse district. In the video, the kid did some pretty sweet skids and evaded a car that may or may not have been trying to run him over.