Albert J. Fritz, former executive vice president of Schwinn bicycle
company. The man, the myth, the creator of the Sting-Ray.
Albert J. Fritz, former executive vice president of Schwinn bicycle
company. The man, the myth, the creator of the Sting-Ray.
"Blueberry Krate" (not sure if Schwinn actually produced this one)
"Pink Panther" Krate (may have been a special edition I think)
Post one is the classic.
I still have one just like it except for a more gold banana seat in my garage.
The post two bikes are after the shark was jumped.
Hopefully Mable is checking out the bike.
A dear family friend bought me a Schwinn Tornado in about 1960. It was red. I CHERISHED that bike.
A few years later, I saved up enough money for the Stingray handlebars and a banana seat.
It was a larger version of the Stingray.
In my mind, anyway.
My brother inherited the bike, and trashed it.
I still miss my Schwinn Tornado.
Sting Rays, Skateboards, Hula Hoops, Frisbees, Slip’n’slides, Super Balls. Helped keep me in the streets growing up.
I was ten years old when the Stingray bike debuted. I wanted one so bad, but my dad was an Army Major with seven kids, so that never happened.
I bought a new one for my youngest some years ago. Coolest bike I ever saw. He’s outgrown it now, so it’ll probably get passed down to one of my grandsons.
Mine didn’t have a shifter, and I rode it all over the place, circa1968
Thanks for posting, I had the Koal Krate, loved that bike. As a side note, crosdaddys business invented ‘stamped’ lugs and our first customer was Schwinn Bicycles ,Chicago.
I remember when those came out. I was in elementary school. Before then you had English 3-speeds and one-speed boys or girls Schwinns that were of some intermediate size with only difference the paint color. I had a red one, I think it was called a Tornado. Didn’t have the tins in between the top and intermediate bars. In a year, it seemed practically every kid on the planet had one of those Sting Rays.
“If my customers are busting their asses to modify my product, wouldn’t it just be easier if I sold them what they wanted?”
You cannot fault the logic.
From the working bicycle to the garish 'show bike"
Yes, large, the better to see the 'garish' parts....
I remember when the Stingray first came out. I was about 12 years old.
I had an old 26” J.C. Higgins (Sears, Roebuck) bike that was handed down to me from an older cousin. Needless to say, it had seen better days. I could barely ride it as it was so tall and I was just a little fella. Our wealthier neighbor up the road got one of the first StingRays in the area. He let me ride it on day and I was hooked. I just had to have one, but coming from a large, very poor, family, where there were more mealtimes than meals, it was totally out of the question....even as a potential Christmas present.
So what’s a man supposed to do? I couldn’t rob the local bank...although it did cross my mind...LOL. I was too young to get a job so I decided to try a paper route. I ended up selling The Grit, a weekly newspaper at the time. They were 15 cents/each and I made 5 cents off every copy sold. I boosted my subscribers up to about 110 customers and worked my butt off for $5.50/week profit. I delivered em whether it rained or shined. I wasn’t about to lose a single customer. It took me a good 3 months to come up with the money for the StingRay. After I had the money, I thought about how hard it was to make that money and decided to just stick with my old 26” JC Higgins since it had a basket and I used to deliver the papers. I saved my money instead. Yeah, I remember the StingRay real well.
A few kids in my neighborhood had Stingrays — mostly single-speed with the usual coaster brakes. They were very cool and all, but slow, and often hard to pedal in our mountainous terrain. I remember reading many years ago about boys injuring themselves, sometimes quite seriously, on those silly shifters mounted on the crossbar.
I remember the piece of black walnut my shop teacher gave me was hard as a rock, purd' near wore out my pocket knife.
Yep, had a knife...IN SCHOOL! Oh the horror!