When I was a teenager, I rode Schwinn bikes.

Huffy stingray!

I had a red Raleigh Grand Prix. I had friends with Schwinn Varsitys, and they were bulletproof, but weighed a ton.

My parents were big on Sears, so I rode a "Free Spirit" for years. 😁😁 I did crave an Orange Krate when I was younger!

That said, a neighbor about 5 yrs ago had a garage sale and I bought an almost new early 60s Schwinn Collegiate for 20 bucks. I love it. When we had a problem that required a plumber in the garage, he REALLY noticed the Schwinn. I was laughing because he had a 19 yr old apprentice with him, who was apparently not giving the Schwiin enough love. 😁😁 Plumber grabbed the bike and started yelling, "Look at this! Gorgeous American work! They were all made in Chicago! You don't see frames like this anywhere anymore!" I was glad someone else showed it some appreciation!

Bought a green 27 in 10 speed Schwinn with my lawn mowing money when I was 14. Before that we scavenged parts from the city landfill about 3 miles from our neighborhood and built our own 20 in banana seat jobs. You could cut the forks off one and drive them onto the other and make a "Chopper". That landfill was heaven to all the boys in the neighborhood. We found and brought home more stuff than our parents appreciated. Of course that box of about 50 playboy magazines we found got passed around. Looking back some of those are probably worth a lot of money now.

CCM Targa. The official 10 speed of Canada.

Had an Apple Krate and grew into a Varsity. Schwinn was the best.

JC Higgins. It was the Sears brand. I had my uncle's hand-me-down till I got my Shwinn Varsity.

Yup. Same. Entire neighborhood

Went from Stingray... through the years of Apple Crate, orange Crate, lemon peeler...then Varsity, Continental, and Collegiate. My parents were furious that I upgraded an 18 month old Collegiate for a Continental. (Or vice versa)

My yellow Schwinn was the bomb back in the day. We were always changing our seats and handlebars to different positions just to be cool at least we thought so! Now I’m missing my old bicycle!

I have a Schwinn Varsity hanging up in my garage, Dam heavy bicycle. I haven't ridden it in 20 years, but expect it to still works if I replaced the tires.

Got a brand new Schwinn 10-speed for my 15th birthday. They had an actual showroom and I remember “test riding” 3 or 4 before I made my choice. I ride the heck out of that bike. My Dad am still has it along with my Mom’s old Schwinn as well.

Schwinn was for the kids who could afford to go all the way to El Dorado for tires. I had a Western Auto.

We first got Huffys then moved up to Schwinns.

My first bikes were yard sale bikes. I couldn't even tell you if some of them had a brand.

When I went to college, freshmen couldn't park on campus so I bought my first, new 10 speed... definitely Schwinn.

I had a beautiful metallic red stingray, then a metallic green stingray. My dream bikes! But I grew up in the hood and both were stolen and never recovered. Never got another one after that. I can still feel the sadness thinking about them.

Well fancy pants rich McGee over here.

Best bike I ever had was a Schwinn Continental. Unfortunately I bought it from my future brother-in-law and it wasn't long before we found out it was stolen. My mother found the real owner and made me give it back. Did get some of my money back from Sam, but that made me unpopular with his friends since he was buying drinks for everybody. With <my> money.

Raleigh3 speed. Total piece of crap.

Schwinn suburban

Blue schwinn stingray with a white sparkle banana seat the graduated to a green schwinn 5 speed with regular handle bars and hand breaks

Stardust stingray, still have! Continental ten speed

Rich kid

Schwinn 10 speeds until I discovered they were among the heaviest on the market.

Had a red Schwinn Hollywood (I think) girls' bike. We lived in the flatlands and the bike was so heavy I could ride all over the neighborhood, making turns at intersections, with my hands off the bars.

Had a Schwinn 10 speed myself. Flipped over the handlebars and broke my collarbone. Again.

Rich kids had Schwinn. The rest of us had Columbia.

Worked summers and bought my yellow 10 speed Schwinn Continental in '76. Rode that thing everywhere, on road and off. Several of us would ride up to O' Brian State Park from St. Paul, camp overnight, swim and fish, then head back on Sunday.

Schwinn Beach Cruiser

10 speed Schwinn is what I had.

I had a Kmart 3 speed, but what I wanted was a Schwinn 10-speed. Which I eventually bought for myself when I got my first job. A screaming yellow Le Tour model.

started with Schwinn, moved up to the Ross Apollo 5 speed, then the Olympic Bruce Jenner decathlon 10 speed

Schwinn Hollywood

It was Schwinn til Huffy came around.

Schwinn was also my favorite. From my first gifted to me 3 speed. From there I've bought several 10 speeds as I got older.

The rich kids schwinns, use poor gets got used bikes or they were from Sears, mine was used, but I was better then nothing, when I got older I bought a new bike, didn’t like it as much as my used bike, my brother destroyed my used bike

Western Auto Stingray knockoff.

Schwinn Jr Stingray

Schwinn Stingray 3spd

Schwinn Continental (my Dad skipped Varsity stage because 'you'll grow into it')

Azuki because couldn't touch w/ Continental. Ditched all for Honda ct70

My family has a picture of my little sister getting a Schwinn bike in 1966 from Santa! We joke that the pic reminds us of the later movie The Exorcist because in the pic she's so estatic her face and hair are blurry! Reminds me of how crazy Christmas morning could be back then!

i had a fantastic purple 5-speed schwinn stingray, with ape hangers and a really tall sissy-bar. my cousin borrowed it to go to his little league game...then his dad showed up, and he forgot that he had ridden it there, and rode home in his dad's car. i never saw my stingray again. my dad replaced it with a 10-speed continental, saying it was time for a more "grown up" bike(it wasn't). he never liked my stingray...or pretty much anything else i had a penchant for.

Schwinn Collegiate five-speed, in root beer brown metallic.

In the 60s, I had a blue Schwinn Stingray, with banana seat, sissy bar, two speed Bendix brake system, with a handlebar mounted front brake. Coolest bike I ever owned!

Royce Union. Babysat, did yards and paper route to pay for it

Still riding my 1978 Schwinn Traveler 3. It's in excellent condition, a couple years back I tore it down and rebuild it, love that bike!

We couldn't afford a Schwinn, so I saved up and bought a 2nd hand Sears lookalike 5 speed sting ray. Good enough. Later, I bought my brother's 10 speed. Also, good enough. (There's a pattern here). Later, I bought a 67 Mustang from my sister (straight 6, all rusted out). But, more than good enough.

We all had Schwinn's too!

I got a used one when I was in junior high.

Schwinn Varsity

I saved up $100 for a brown Schwinn 10-speed. I loved that bike so much.

I still have a Schwinn.

Western Flyer from Western Auto.

I rode western flyer and Schwinn as a younger child, as a teen i rode a Peugeot

Schwinn Stingray frame and forks, all the rest were parts I mish-moshed from friends, relatives, and whatever I could afford from the BMX shop.

Damn, wish I had pix of my ride.

I still have and ride a Schwinn. I bought it at Canadian Tire when I was in my early 50's.

Not as a teen but a Stingray with a banana seat. I still remember my Dad taking me to the Schwinn bicycle shop to pick it out. I was 10. It was copper metallic flake.

I had a full sized ladies bike, a nice green Huffy, in the age when stingrays were cool. My parents, being the type of practical people who’d buy us a coat a couple sizes too big so we could wear it two or even three years, thought I should have a bike I could grow into rather than something trendy. My younger brother? Had this gorgeous metallic purple stingray. Oh the unfairness of it all.

Schwinn was for rich kids

A Schwinn!

Had a “lil chick” or something - with a sparkly banana seat.

Schwinn. It wasn’t sexy but it was viewed as reliable like a Honda Accord. 😂😂

Schwinn sold bikes to the US consumer market, but THE Schwinn to own was the one that they supplied to the USA Olympic Cycling Team, the Schwinn Paramount.

A Schwinn, then a Fuji, then a Schwinn Mirada when I got to high school.

Columbia stingray

Western Autos and a couple of Schwinns. Schwinns were pretty hard to destroy.

Huffy with banana seat.

10 speed

As a pre-teen, I was insanely proud of my single speed yellow huffy with a banana seat. We rode down a hill and played chicken, flying across a busy street, or braking and leaving a skid patch, until a kid ended up in a coma getting hit by a car. By the time I was a teen, I walked, and waited to get a car.

You were fancy. Huffy Bandit was my ride until I got my bitchin Motobecan 10 speed.

Sears Free Spirit 1976 bicentennial colors. Friend was a Schwinn snob.

I had a Varsity but my friends and I modified Stingrays for kicks.

Schwinn Thrasher?

Mine was a blue Stingray!

Getting all uppity, aren’t we? /s

I had a Huffy Stingray

Huffy stingray and a Schwinn 10 speed later.Never had a brand new one though.Also never knew bikes came in different sizes besides wheel diameter.

In chronological order

1. Murray (1962)
2. Triumph (1967)
3. Flandria (1971)
4. Fuji (1974)
5. Bianchi (1980)
6. Klein (1995)
7. Independent Fabrication (2008)

After the stingray and single speed bikes, my first "real" bike waa a Peugeot UO8. Cottered crank, since I couldn't afford the UO10 with the upgrades. Nearly 50 years later, I still have the little tool kit that came with that bike. It has these combination tire levers and wrenches that are still quite useful.

Uh hello? Sears Free Spirit. Duh. Way better than one of those clunky old Murray bikes.

I coveted Schwinn Varsitys. Rode a some sort of Sears bike. Perhaps it was a JC Higgins.

I know my wooden tennis racket was a JC Higgins. The rest of the tennis kids had aluminum T1000s. One day my mom brought me a T1000 knock off she got at Gemco. I head off to a tennis tournament playing with this thing. About third game in I snapped the racquet in half on a serve. Turns out it was metallic covered plastic. Played the rest with the JC Higgins. Won the consolation bracket. Turns out the other girls were afraid of my serve, since it must have been something to snap a metal racquet in half.

Red, no speed, english racer? Kinda remember a tall sissy bar. It's all lost in the fog.

a Schwinn - bright green.

Jeunet Franche Comte, mixte frame.

Would have loved to of had a Red Line, but had to settle on a Raleigh Rampar BMX.

I have no idea about the brand name but it was a gorgeous sparkly blue frame with a silver sparkly banana seat.

My first bike was a Schwinn Fair Lady. Then I got a 5-speed Schwinn (can't remember the model). Only brand my parents would buy even though we didn't have a lot of money).

A Columbia Newsboy Special that I ride to this day.

Dad bought most of our bikes at the police auction. We had all kinds of different bikes. One I remember was a genuine Schwinn purple Sting Ray. No way was my dad about to spend money on a brand new bike. We weren't poor, but Dad grew up in the Depression.

50 plus years later, I've come full circle. I'm a VERY avid cyclist, and have two bikes: a 2023 Specialized Aethos Pro, and just bought a 2025 S-Works Aethos that is now my most prized and valuable possession.

Schwinng 😂

Huffy banana bike. Purple frame, white banana seat. I adored that bike with all of my heart.

edit to change bile to bike.

Schwinn Orange Krate, then graduated to a Schwinn Varsity.

Sears Spider, a Stingray knock-off. The chrome rusted pretty quick but I had a bike!

Yellow schwinn; black banana seat

When I was a teenager, never had a bike

I rode the Huffy Thunder Road - late 70’s-early 80’s. That bike was just awesome. I rode it till I was able to finally get my first motorcycle.

Good bike- started on 3 speed ended on six.

Mongoose

I had an all-green "frankenStingray" that my dad built out of parts he found - green tires, green streamers, green Stingray Fairlady frame (guess what my favorite color was?). Banana seat with those classic daisies on it. Sissy bar. I loved that thing!

1971 Metallic Green Schwinn Stingray, , dropped banana seat, hangman sissy bar. At age 11, I WAS Easy Rider

Orange Schwinn 10 speed for me!

Still have my 1970 yellow Schwinn Collegiate :) We take rides now and then, that guy weighs a TON

Huffy

Ooo fancy. I rode whatever J C Penny was selling. That’s also where my .22 semi auto came from. Versatile store.

Green Stingray! Loved that bike!

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Redline bmx with skyway tuff wheel mags

Yellow Schwinn Stingray!

Schwinn Stingray- the single speed version, then a Schwinn Continental .

Ross Apollo five speed. Then when I was 16 i won a Schwinn 10 speed from a church raffle.

Everyone wanted a Schwinn. Also mongoose or blue max

Schwinn Super Le Tour 12.2 with a Brooks leather saddle

Huffy

Maroon Schwinn Varsity.

I had one of these.

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This is a bike story from the mid 1960's, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada.

My Mom and Dad could not afford to get me a bike. So I found parts and pieces of wheels and frames and parts and collected them in the backyard. (I did not steal). I would find the bits in the ditches and river edge. I would work on my bike, as an 8 year old kid hoping for some sort of miracle that I could build one. These parts where garbage, bent, ruined and pretty much hopeless.

My Uncle Tom, a great man, kind man, and one of the best men that I have ever known, next to my Dad, looked at my collection of crap and spent some time with me trying to put it together as a "bike". It was at a loss and there was not enough parts and pieces to do anything with.

My Dad let me use his tools as long as I put them away neatly. So I worked on this project as I watched the neighborhood kids rolling past on their bikes.

Tom, showed up one day with a pile of bicycle parts, frames, gears, wheels, tires and all of the stuff that I was missing. The back of a pick-up truck just piled with stuff. All of the stuff to build a real bike. A whole pile of parts. frames, and everything to build a whole lot of bikes.

I built myself a bike. Then Zooming down to my fried Glen's house, showed him my bike and we built one for him also. Man, we had custom built bikes.

Many years later, a couple of decades in fact, my dad called and asked me what he should do with my bike shop in his shed. My Mom and Dad wanted to sell their house and move to a place more simple for them in their retirement.

I asked if there was any way to donate the stuff. Boy scouts, community service organizations, etc. No one wanted this stuff. I paid for a scrap company to take it all away and take the burden off of my Dad.

I suppose this seems like a stupid sort of story. But it is mine.

And you where talking about bicycles.

English made Raleigh. Loved it so much.

My first 10 speed was a Schwinn!! Loooved that bike, I could ride it forever without holding the handle bars it was so perfectly balanced,.

Schwinns. Best had ram head handlebars, banana seat and 5 speed shifter on bar.

We rode Schwinn’s up until HS then we graduated to cooler 10 speeds. I rode an English bike called a Viscount. Fun fact - the Schwinn family lived a few towns over from me and I had a friend who hung out with the kids. They had a huge summer mansion on a lake in Wisconsin.

Schwinn Typhoon.

Pre-teen in the 60s, but definitely Schwinn. A girl down the road had just gotten a green Schwinn. She knew green was my favorite color, so she told me I'd better not get a green one. (I guess she wanted the only green one on the block.) So I got purple, which is my second favorite color.

I was a child at the height of the Schwinn era. The Schwinn Varsity was always envied. If you had a Raleigh Rocket you were top notch.

We couldn’t afford either so mine was from White Front.

I had a womens yellow Schwinn Breeze 3 speed as a teenager. I thought 10 speeds were too complicated!

I had a Scrambler for years, then upgraded it with a new frame and forks in the proper BMX style. I then bought some cheap 10-speed that I rebuilt/repainted until I received my dream bike, a chestnut brown Schwinn Caliente with the cool Shimano FF system. Rode that thing through college even though it was a bit small for me by then.

I saw a larger Caliente at a thrift store recently and was tempted to grab it, but unlike a lot of junk from my childhood this would have taken up a lot of space.

I started out on a Schwinn as my first bike. Once I hit my teen years, I first had a Sears 5 speed road bike. Heavy, but did the neighborhood. Then a local bike shop opened selling Zebrakenkos. Wicked light, simple, and the frame was very tight. I bought one, upgraded all the parts over time and rode it all over. It was stolen out of my garage right before I graduated from HS. I was super bummed out.

I have a Schwinn triathlon bike from 87 and a Schwinn hybrid from 91. They both get rode frequently and still have a lifetime warranty.

Schwinn, still do. Never put the time into looking at other bikes (although did buy a used Trek once). You could do no better than the original Stingray.

I got a Peugeot UO-8 my senior year in high school. Still have it and still ride it.

We were a Schwinn family. I had a Cross-Fit. When it was stolen, I inherited my father’s Cross-Cut and I still use it. It now has a hodgepodge of replacement parts and is currently in need of a service, but it still works well. Was purchased new in about 1991.

I rode a Schwinn Super LaTour for years until I upgraded to the Paramount. Frame was chromed, Cinelli bars, Campagnola drive train. Cost me $600 in 1972, rode that bike until 1983 when I sold it to a Navy Seal. Wish I still had it.

Among others, distinctly remember: A green Stingray style knockoff that looked cool but wasn't actually that fun to ride. A black and tan standard Western Flyer with side baskets I bought from/for delivering newspapers. And my dream bike, a metallic champagne 12 speed Free Spirit with Suntour Positron shifters and a disc brake in the early 80s!

Red Continental five-speed.

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Schwinn Le Tour. Saved up for several weeks after starting my first job. Paid $189, which turned out to be almost half what I later paid for my first car!

Currently have a Fuji SST2.1 road bike and a highly modified (to take out weight) Trek ProCaliber 9.6 mountain bike.

Got a Raleigh Record when I was 14. The bike I had prior to that was British too.

No Schwinns.

I still have my fuchsia Chicago Schwinn. In High School and College, I rode a ten speed but I can’t remember what brand. I sold it 25 years ago. The Schwinn is rusty and creaky but still works.

Was there any other kind of bike back then?

https://c7.alamy.com/comp/CWGER6/black-raleigh-chopper-bicycle-parked-on-stone-flagged-pavement-outside-CWGER6.jpg 

Black/Orange Raleigh Chopper. Maybe the only cool thing my parents ever did was buying my that chopper.

Huffy, Schwin was top tier.

Me too. Sturdy workhorses.

Second hand Frankenstein bikes for 60’s-70s home made BMX because we broke them all the time. Then a Raleigh 10speed for jr high/high school that lasted until we went to pizmo and rode it in the ocean.

HUFFY!

I ride Fuji, Diamondback, and Black Ops

Oh and also why only around town? Why not to other towns? I always ride to other towns ofc

I have the small BMX from Black Ops, but I should probably the bigger one

I have the Fuji Adventure Hardtail and Fuji Raicon 1.7 full sus, and also a Diamondback Atroz 2 Full Sus

I had k-mart bicycles

My first bike was a big, black Schwinn Typhoon. I was maybe 6 or 7. We lived on a hill and, for the longest time, I couldn’t grasp how to brake so I usually ran into the back of an old car parked at the bottom of the hill to stop.

My first 2-wheeler was a 3-speed green Monkey Wards Hawthorne with a banana seat. Later I got a green Schwinn Suburban. Rode the heck out of both!

Schwinn Varsity in a reddish orange color.

So did I. 1969 Schwinn; looked like this:

https://philadelphia.craigslist.org/bik/d/philadelphia-schwinn-breeze-vintage/7754010579.html

I was so proud of that bike. I think it cost $25. I was 14.

I had a red 24" Schwinn Typhoon. Could barely reach the pedals when I got it, rode it til I got a Chevy C10.

Purple Schwinn varisty with the gear levers on the bottom frame. Neighbor kid had the Schwinn Apple Crate, a bad-ass looking sting-ray style bike. Those bikes were built like tanks back in the day.

Schwinn, both for my kid's bike with the banana seat, and then a Ten-Speed for Junior High.

My first non hand-me-down bike was a purple Schwinn Hollywood. I received it Christmas of 2nd grade. I was too weak to even sit on the seat for a Christmas morning photo because I had the Hong Kong flu. I had that bike until I was 12 and received a 10-speed Schwinn for that Christmas.

Schwinn Orange Krate 1968! Still have it!

My one Christmas present when I was nine years old. A girl's Schwinn Bike. Oh, how I loved it! It came with a headlight and a basket in the front. It was pink and white. That gave me freedom to ride everywhere in my neighborhood.

We lived on N Kilpatrick Ave in Chicago, and Schwinn’s manufacturing plant was on S Kilpatrick Ave, a few miles away. Never rode anything BUT a Schwinn until Schwinn was but a memory.

I still have my Schwinn Stingray with the high rise handlebars, metal flake banana seat and 3 speed. I’m in my 50s. .

Schwinn :)

Schwinn Racer circa 1957 in green. It arrived under the xmas tree. Rode the wheels off it until I got a car almost 10 years later.

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When you were a rich teenager you rode Schwinn bikes.

I saved up my first communion money & bought a purple Schwinn with flowers on the banana seat. Loved it so much. The first day I took it out my brother & sister & I rode bikes to the bowling alley. When we came out all of the bikes were gone. Someone apparently stole all the bikes on the rack. My older cousin had the same bike- used of course & more worn out but she gave me hers.

I had a few bikes as a kid, over the years. However I still own and ride the Schwinn I bought in 1993.

I started out with an electric blue Schwinn Speedster in 1966 when I was seven years old. Next was a brief time with a used Schwinn Typhoon (black). When I was in junior high (1972) my parents bought me a new yellow Varsity which I adored. It was a bit heavy, but built like a tank and available with a large frame, 26" I think, which my long legs needed.

The yellow Varsity was stolen out of my garage, and was replaced by an identical orange Varsity ($105.00). I put toe clips on the pedals and rode it everywhere. I was in the best shape of my life!

Finally, in college I bought a red Schwinn Traveler which was apparently made in Japan. It was light but I never really warmed up to it.

I still remember the Schwinn dealership where all of my bikes were purchased. They always had an impressive inventory. Whenever the new catalog came out I would page through it so much it fell apart!

Baby blue Schwinn from Western Auto🩵

Huffy Stingray, got a schwin later that my Wife still uses. Currently have a trek for myself. Bikes all look fairly new, but the Schwin is over 30 yrs old.

Murray 3 speed stingray with a sissy bar.

I didn’t get a Sting Ray, but did finally have a Manta Ray which was like a Sting Ray for older kids. Looked a little weird at first but proved to be a badass bike.

Green Schwinn Suburban 10 speed shop sold it to me with turned down handlebars and skinny seat... Mom insisted on bike with fenders. I opted for carrier with briefcase hook. My sister even took it to college for 1 year. Eventually given to church rummage sale late 80s

Schwinn Hollywood. When I was in high school the bike shop guy helped me paint it black and I put flames on it 🔥

Royce Union.