Bikes of America (and Canada!)
- Thread starter Canuk
- Start date
Canuk
Senior Retro Guru
The T/A was actually named the “Totally Aerodynamic” for its teardrop-shaped frame tubing. This bike was much loved for its light weight and cool styling. With a frame weight of just over 4 pounds and constructed of aero tubing that was obviously invisible to the wind, you had to be crazy to think any bike was faster than the T/A.
Based in Redding, California, Skyway created many of the cool things that we liked about BMX in the 1980’s.
Skyway gave the bike world their nylon Tuff Wheels, an inexpensive mag wheel that came in a variety of great colors. They created the Tuff pedal, a super light graphite design that spun on bushings instead of steel ball bearings. Skyway helped us to accessorize even further with colorful brake pads that could compliment or contrast with our mag wheels.
Based in Redding, California, Skyway created many of the cool things that we liked about BMX in the 1980’s.
Skyway gave the bike world their nylon Tuff Wheels, an inexpensive mag wheel that came in a variety of great colors. They created the Tuff pedal, a super light graphite design that spun on bushings instead of steel ball bearings. Skyway helped us to accessorize even further with colorful brake pads that could compliment or contrast with our mag wheels.
Canuk
Senior Retro Guru
In the early ’70’s, dedicated BMX bikes were a rarity.
The Schwinn Sting-Ray was the most popular kids bike around, and these little Schwinns were the natural choice for early BMX.
Like the brown 1970 Sting-Ray that we have elsewhere in this museum section, this BMX bike started out as just another Schwinn but was heavily modified to handle the rigors of bicycle motocross action.
Here’s how the design process probably went down (either verbally or in somebody’s head):
“For the green machine, the banana seat stays, but the chrome fenders are out. Plastic mud guards look more “moto” and will hold up better.”
The Schwinn Sting-Ray was the most popular kids bike around, and these little Schwinns were the natural choice for early BMX.
Like the brown 1970 Sting-Ray that we have elsewhere in this museum section, this BMX bike started out as just another Schwinn but was heavily modified to handle the rigors of bicycle motocross action.
Here’s how the design process probably went down (either verbally or in somebody’s head):
“For the green machine, the banana seat stays, but the chrome fenders are out. Plastic mud guards look more “moto” and will hold up better.”
Canuk
Senior Retro Guru
This Peloton has great frame geometry and fantastic ride characteristics that had previously only been found on bikes in their Paramount division.
Built from Columbus SL frame tubing and expertly constructed in Japan, the Peloton’s frame flexed in just the right ways, it was stiff in areas where it was supposed to be stiff, and it was aligned straight and brazed right.
The Italian Columbus tubing and Japanese production made a great quality frameset, and yet begged the question “Why couldn’t they have made this in America?”.
The styling, which was a bit understated for 1985, diverged greatly from what was happening with mountain bikes and kids’ BMX freestyle bikes that year. The traditional design suggested that Schwinn was not keeping quite in step with their market
Built from Columbus SL frame tubing and expertly constructed in Japan, the Peloton’s frame flexed in just the right ways, it was stiff in areas where it was supposed to be stiff, and it was aligned straight and brazed right.
The Italian Columbus tubing and Japanese production made a great quality frameset, and yet begged the question “Why couldn’t they have made this in America?”.
The styling, which was a bit understated for 1985, diverged greatly from what was happening with mountain bikes and kids’ BMX freestyle bikes that year. The traditional design suggested that Schwinn was not keeping quite in step with their market
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