just picked up a brand new 2007 schwinn sting ray. now this is not the new style chopper one. this is the reproduction old school one with the banana seat and sissy bar and ape hangers. God is it ever awesome. and it was only $75 at Wally World:)
sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
my childhood bike was an original one of these...i have no idea where we got it, i'm only 20. i tried to bring it to my apartment and my dad was not havin it..good thing too because the bike i had here just got stolen.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
Wow, first schwinn sells it's brand to some foreign company and the quality goes downhill. I think the repros were like 200 a few years ago when they did the series before the company sold. Prolly because the knew what was going to happen... which apparently has, stingrays at effin wal-mart. Well, i guess maybe now I can afford one anyway, but I doubt it'd have the same soul.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
The orignal Schwinn Bicycle Company of Chicago went bankrupt in the 1980s, the name was bought by an outfit in Colorado and the company named GT-Schwinn corperation. GT-Schwinn, unlike the original, never made anything but their top shelf bikes in North America, and of those only the frames. They went bankrupt about seven years ago and the Schwinn name was bought by the same firm in Quebec, Canada, that took over the CCM name after they went belly up in the late 80's. Schwinn never sold their name to an foreign company, the creditors did, twice, and they haven't sold a 100% US made bike under that name in over two decades.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
I have a '68 Orange Krate, '72 Rams Horn fastback, and a '70 base model Stingray, all in near mint condition. BTW, the "current" Schwinn company in financial trouble, and near bankruptcy. IMO, these "reproductions" are an insult to the original. I wish an American company could buy the Schwinn name, and start building quality bikes again.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
Arran, thanks for the details, but you must have noticed the recent shift in quality of product adorned with the Schwinn name. Schwinn-GT was a good partnership, and resulted in the diesel chromoly bmx bike I own and the aforementioned mountain bikes, but the new bikes now are more like a Pacific than anything else. Just my 0.02, I don't mean to rain on your parade Louis (it IS a good deal!)
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
What's up with that? $75?
They're marked $88 here! What a rip off!
Lame either way, I guess. They at least look decent.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
I'm going to wally world tomorrow to see one of these...
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
I've seen them. Capitalization on American Choppers, mostly. Look really cool and seem popular to buy a bike engine kit to throw on it.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
You couldn't afford them and wouldn't want them...case in point Indian motorcycles.
Nostalgia only goes so far.
Moe
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
matt these arent the american chopper ones. they look almost just like the old ones. they are pretty chinsy, but i didnt really buy it to ride it. they were marked $88, but the lady at the register scanned the wrong code from the factory, not walmart. apparently, walmart brought the price up a bit from $75 to $88 for the holidays.
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this is the one i got, but it doesnt have the rear shocks.
lemon peeler
regular string ray
this is the ghost 5 speed. its got a 5 speed internal hub with a twist shift, and a front drum brake. think anyone will make a stick shift for these?
and if anyone in my area (cincinnati ohio) has an original with a stick shift, sitting around, i may be willing to buy it, or maybe trade some moped parts...
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
dang the first one didnt work.
there you go. thats the one i have.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
i found an old schwinn beach cruiser a while ago. i'm no schwinn expert, so i couldn't put a date on the bike, but it has a 60's or 70's era mesinger seat that is definitely original.
so i cut the bike in half.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
Pete Aronson, of http://www.hyper-formance.com/, who lives just down the road from me, has a lot of NOS and reproduction parts for the ORIGINAL bikes, but they are not cheap, and the one part you cannot get at any price, is the 5 speed stick shift. They are not legal to sell any more. People pay huge amounts of money for these things, even in poor condition. If you had one, someone with a CNC mill might be able to duplicate it for you.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
I went and didn't see them (columbus. OH) and was very disappointed. I've always wanted a grey ghost, but I'd take any one of em at that price if it were decent enough. They're not on the website either so I don't know...
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
I have one 5 speed Sting Ray that I modified by putting a Krate fork and atom wheel on, the hard part was locating the rear slick which I did but $40 is kind of steep so I went with a standard tire. The new WM ones have the 20 inch slick with the krate style rear fender without the shocks on bananna seat. I might have to get one for the parts. I've kept another stock 5 speed Sting Ray back for later. All of the repops lack the atom front wheel.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
I went down to the local Wally Mart (I had to go there anyway), and found one black Sting Ray with the front springer fork and a 16" front wheel. It was priced $88. The original Schwinn never made a black Sting Ray, and the only Sting Ray models to come with a 16" front wheel were the 5 speed Krate series, and they had a drum front brake. The last Schwinn company (before Pacific) did make repos of the Orange Krate, and the base Sting Ray shortly before Pacific took over. Both were single speeds, but were of much higher quality than these Chinese made ones, and also cost a whole lot more. The ones I've seen were fairly close to the original in quality and details, except for the Orange Krate being a single speed with a coaster brake and no front brake. With all the parts out there, it would be fairly easy to assemble a new bike almost identical to the Krate series, except for the stick shift. You could either build the 5 speed rear wheel, or use the rear wheel from a Sun EZ1 recumbent. The new Chinese copies do not have the S2 rims.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
they sell the stick shifts on ebay for around $200. theyre always on there.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
I was riding one of these around in wal-mart, I bought it. Schwinn collector will hate it, guys who want a little bit of being 10 again will love it
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
there you go mike, thats more of why i got it. when i have a kid some day, he will have a sweeeeeeeet bike too.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
I know these are crazy expensive, but why would it be illeagal to sell? Just currious?
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
I have an extensive Krate collection...mostly accessories. I have an NOS stickshift, the wiffle bat holder, an nos ZOOM sound effect motor, an nos Schwinn speedo, nos 'coke bottle' holder(with coke logo), nos turn signal system, nos generator head/taillight system, so much crap it isnt even funny....
Everything is for sale, if you want stuffs, email me. Brennano@gmail.com
All of the NOS stuff is packaged in OG plastic, and is in MINT+ condition.
Yeah, I spent all of my money in High School on scooters, mopeds, and krate stuff.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
Schwinn had to quit selling them, because they were considered a safety hazard (Ralph Naderism), and I was told, by someone in the Schwinn restoration business that that is the reason they are not allowed to sell reproductions. I can't absolutely verify this, but I have searched everywhere, and can't find anything, other than used and NOS, both way above my price range for a replica project, and if this guy could get them, he would, he could sell truckloads of them.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
They are all used or NOS. I've never seen any new reproduction ones. You could sell reproductions for $50 and make a fortune.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
I'm a Schwinn collector, and none to crazy about these Chinese copies, BUT, I do have to say they are a lot better than the bazillion plus BMX bikes out there. Since all toy BMX bikes are made in China as well, I would rather see kids on Chinese Sting Rays than those things. I keep wondering when the BMX thing will ever end. My youngest daughter raced BMX for a couple of years, on a $1000+ Redline bike, and was not allowed to ride it on the street.
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
We got some snow yesterday, i forgot how bad those slicks are. 37yrs old, 300lbs and on my ass. FUN!
Re: sure its not a moped but its a ped of sorts
A friend of mine had a redline, trashed it in 6 months, I got it, put new wheel bearings in, new crank and crank bearings and cup "cup was destroyed" and new forks.."forks weren't bent...they were worn thru at neck" he really screwed it up in 6 months....his parents bought him a brand new one...shame is he didn't even race :/
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