Russ Webb & Charlie Cruising

The Schwinn Phantom was first introduced in 1949. This classic cruiser is a true collectors item.

This bike was an instant success, becoming a top selling bike that remained popular well into the 60's, and never losing favor with the beach crowd.

The phantom cruiser made another comeback in the mid-90's.

And so, the cycle of cycling becomes a never ending cycle...

Russ Webb & Charlie Cruising

The Schwinn Stingray. A Classic.

When I think of my childhood, I recall my days on a bike and at that time 5-7 yrs, I was pedaling a stingray. This was my very first bike, and I loved it. How could a kid not like this cool chopped out little gem.

In truth, I was just riding the tail-end (1973) of the stingray’s illustrious career. The stingray was introduced in 1963, and inspired by a handful of west coast kids who worshipped the local hot rod scene. These kids were creating mashed up custom bikes with banana seats and crazy looking chopper handle bars.

Word got around to Schwinn headquarters in Chicago, where they dispatched an engineer with orders to observe the scene. Were these kids getting too much of that California sun? Was it a temporary fad? It turned out that these kids knew what they liked and signaled a new direction for Schwinn.

The Schwinn designers and engineers teamed up and produced the first stingray. Adults weren’t too sure what to think, but the kids went nuts. The bike was a top seller for over a decade.

Over the years, Schwinn was smart enough to introduce new colors and unique twists on the stingray styling. The stingray will forever be a classic for the boomer generation and many of these older models are collector’s items now fetching well over $2500.

Russ Webb & Charlie Cruising

The Schwinn cruiser is a classic American icon. It's well known that Schwinn is responsible for many firsts in bicycle engineering and design. The cruiser is one example. Introduced in 1933, the wide profile balloon tires turned some heads as well as broke tradition with bicycle design at the time. However, the real breakthrough came with the introduction of the reputable Black Phantom cruiser in 1949. This was one of the finest models yet and a big time success.

The cruiser went mainstream throughout the 50’s, and in fact remained popular with the beach crowds. As it turned out, this bike was the perfect workhorse for lugging around your beach gear, surfboards and taxiing the ladies around on the handlebars - my personal favorite.

As a kid growing up in southern California, I was on the moon when I got my first cruiser. I could barely ride the thing. But I quickly grew into it and found myself cruising the beaches in the summertime, doing my paper route and basically lived with the thing. We called it a strand cruiser, named after the strand along the beach where you could see the strangest people running, walking, roller skating and cycling… think Venice Beach and you get the idea.

A few genuine characteristics of the cruiser are its wide saddle seats, chain-guard, fenders, sturdy steel tube frame and those wide balloon tires. The cruiser is more suitable to flat terrain because it’s a pretty heavy bike.

Historically, the cruiser made a renewed comeback in the mid 90’s with the release of a new Black Phantom edition. Yet, in my neighborhood this bike was always a hit!