Tuesday, August 11, 2015

I'm Such A Sucker For The Bicycles Of My Youth. I Only Actively Look For Mid Eighties BMX / Freestyle Bikes...But These 20" Schwinn Stingrays Were THE Bikes Of My First Years Of Personal Freedom. Status: Available.

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It's pretty amazing that a Vintage 1978 kids bike is even still around much less still functional, but (except for a blown rear tire and tube) this one is probably ready for another 37 long years of service!


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So this isn't a "Stingray", but actually a "Stingray Jr."  I'm no expert but according to the intenets here the Jr. frame is just a pre 1965 full size Stingray frame that was re-branded as the Jr. when Schwinn introduced a larger Stingray frame for teenage riders who were not moving up to 24 and 26 inch bikes. The "full size" Stingrays could then be had with multi-speed gears and handbrakes and such

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I did a little research while I was at work this evening on the serial number and came up with the year of manufacture: 1978.  I was thinking it was an earlier bike, but that explains the Jr. model designation.  I would have liked to have found a new set of appropriate tires for the bike but I been so busy.  There weren't any available at my local Targets and Walmarts.  The bike local bike shop had one available tire but the service there was abysmal on the day I stopped in.  I've got the bike available on craigslist at the moment, but if I can find some new tires I'll drop this off at the booth in Creve Coeur.

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1 comment:

  1. Nice find! Remember these well as we all had them or wish we did in the 60's. You could buy a reproduction a few years ago with the gear shift.

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