Posted on 11/18/2018 10:53:43 AM PST by ETL
A Nod to the Man Who Changed It All
Al Fritz took a risk and created a bike that had a huge ripple effect ..."
After getting nearly taken out by a Japanese mortar in World War II, Al Fritz came home to the states and got a job at Schwinn as a welder. Fritz eventually worked his way off the floor and into management.
In the early 60s, word spread from Los Angeles that kids were modifying old Schwinn frames—bolting on Ape Hanger bars and adding other accouterments from early choppers.
Fritz made the kind of leap of logic which seems so obvious in retrospect, but is often overlooked at the time.
The logic goes like this: "If my customers are busting their asses to modify my product, wouldn't it just be easier if I sold them what they wanted?"
Thus, in 1963, Schwinn cranked out a run of Sting-Rays, despite the fact that no one at Schwinn, aside from Fritz, thought the homely children's chopper would be a success.
The Sting-Rays flew out of bike shops—46.630 of them at fifty bucks a pop. For comparison's sake, at the time the Sting-Ray debuted, Schwinn generally moved about 10,000 units of their best selling models each year.
Schwinn would have actually sold more Sting-Rays that first year, but they couldn't get enough 20-inch rubber tires from Uniroyal (their tire supplier) to slap on the things.
They rectified that problem in short order. Within two years Sting-Ray-esque bikes (other companies quickly followed Schwinn's lead) accounted for a staggering 60 percent of bike sales in the United States.
How many Schwinn Sting-Rays eventually wound up in people's homes? At the time of Fritz' passing, the LA Times reported that two million Sting-Rays were sold during the first five years of the bike's 15-year model run.
Millions and millions of the things prowled America’s cul de sacs and dirt lots. No matter how you slice it, it's a hell of a lot of banana seats and ape hangers.
None of this probably comes as a shock if you are anywhere between the ages of 30 and 60. If you fit within that demographic, you've probably ridden one of these things at some point in your life.
The ridiculously-easy-to-wheelie Sting-Ray also laid the foundation for BMX. As the sixties gave way to the `70s, modified Sting-Rays served as some of the first BMX bikes.
Clearly, it was only a matter of time before someone realized that there had to be a better mule for flogging on dirt, but still, when you look at a Sting-Ray, you're looking at the foundation for dirt riding.
A lot of those kids on Sting-Rays became BMX riders and, in short order, went on to become the first generation of mountain bikers.
From the Sting Ray to your mountain bike. Full circle…in a six degrees of Kevin Bacon kind of way.
Happy 50th to the Sting-Ray and a nod of respect to the recently-departed Al Fritz. You may not have met, much less known, Al Fritz, but the man had an impact on anyone who rides the dirt today.
Sorry, my reply was meant for the post just before yours.
You cannot fault the logic.
Yes, but there's nothing like a well-done *unique* custom.
had a Stingray bought and paid for by paper route money that i road till i went to work at the paper, seems like 100 years ago...
From the working bicycle to the garish 'show bike"
Yes, large, the better to see the 'garish' parts....
In my youth I “acquired” dozens of bicycles of all types.
I chopped them up and created many unique designs.
I thought the Sting Ray was overkill. I liked the front shock but the seat shock and gear shifter wasn’t practical. It was also extremely heavy.
Re 23.
They were so cheap the sissy gars would bust right above the seat.
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.
It says Sting Ray but it looks like a modified Lil’ Miss- Sting Ray hybrid.
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!
Had to paint my POS stingray with metal flake rattle cans. I get resentments thinking about it.
Great story.
I never heard of or knew anyone who actually sold Grit before.
Mine was red.
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