Classic & Vintage - Production volumes?

Over here in New Zealand, the number of C&V frames is severely limited compared to the states (or so it seems), but over there it seems various ones keep popping up going by the CL mentions etc.

So in the golden years, what sorts of volumes were these manufacturers making? The Cinellis, Colnagos, Motobecanes, Bianchis, Raleighs etc? Were these factories turning out thousands of frames? or tens of thousands? or hundreds of thousands? Obviously high spec models were lower producton numbers, but how many?

just out of interest!

In 1975, Bikecology a large mail order and storefront shop who also imported bragged that Colnago had promised 500 frames to him that year. He was a major dealer, but not the exclusive importer to the United States.

Between late 1973 and late 1976 Masi California made what appears to be just under 2,000 frames total, that averages to less than 700 a year.

The shortage years were 1971-1972, demand was beyond supply for adult bikes.

Don't know if its true, but I heard Cinelli production was about 350 a year in the old days.

From http://www.sheldonbrown.com/varsity.html:


Between 1971 and 1979, Bridgestone built almost 1 million bikes for Schwinn--about 4.5 times the number of bikes Bridgestone-Japan built in during the Bridgestone years of 1984-1994

Production totals for electro-forged Schwinns in the same period were also in the millions.

-James

One company that gave production figures in their catalogs for each bike they made, for a couple of years is Bridgestone (USA). Amazing how few of some of those models were made in the late 80s

funny I was kind of thinking this today. where are all the midlevel bikes I sold in the early '90s, and how many were actually made.

we must have sold atleast 20 $450 to 600 level Bianchi Road bikes every summer. if we were one of say 1000 Bianchi dealers where are all those Sport SX and Campione d Italia bikes?

Raleigh was once one of the worlds biggest bicycle manufacturers...

funny I was kind of thinking this today. where are all the midlevel bikes I sold in the early '90s, and how many were actually made.

we must have sold atleast 20 $450 to 600 level Bianchi Road bikes every summer. if we were one of say 1000 Bianchi dealers where are all those Sport SX and Campione d Italia bikes?

Extrapolating from one retail point to another is problematic, the market is too diverse.
Did Bianchi have a dealership award program recognizing how many were sold in the past year?

Today, there is interesting production data that can be gleaned by the recall announcements where the number of units sold is often made public, I am equally surprised at the large and small numbers stated.

funny I was kind of thinking this today. where are all the midlevel bikes I sold in the early '90s, and how many were actually made.

we must have sold atleast 20 $450 to 600 level Bianchi Road bikes every summer. if we were one of say 1000 Bianchi dealers where are all those Sport SX and Campione d Italia bikes?

Same place they've been for the last 20 years - in the garage, gathering dust.

SP
Bend, OR

Same place they've been for the last 20 years - in the garage, gathering dust.

SP
Bend, OR
I suspect a good number are now getting "Drewed" too, into fixies and SS and sometimes painted with unrecognizable pastel and neon colors.:(:rolleyes:

Chombi

yeah that tears me apart. like this motobecane thats for sale locally. the seller toots on about how the bike has been in his/her family for all these years, and they've taken it upon themselves to grind off cable guides and braze-ons, fill in brake mount holes and completely dork the bike. i wonder how the rest of the family feels about this piece of family history being mangled for their offspring's latest whimsy.

155721

bloody fixed gear is rollerblading 2.0!!!

I looked up my 1950 Schwinn serial number the other day and there was a spread of 3000+ numbers for that day. I'm assuming they didn't skip any but maybe I'm wrong.
I'd like to know how many Paramounts and Superiors they made in a day.

Production totals for electro-forged Schwinns in the same period were also in the millions.

At the height of the bike boom ('73-'74), Schwinn was making 1,500,000 Varsities a year.

tcs