charityleague

I'm a member of a non-profit, and we hold an annual sale, and donations come in throughout the year from sustaining members of the organization. One of our donations was a Schwinn Fair Lady bicycle, tan in color with a banana seat. I looked on the angelfire site that gives information for Schwinns manufactured as late as 1982 in Chicago, and the serial number, based on that chart, would indicate a manufacture year of 1983 (1982 begins with BT and mine has BU) though I can't find any information about Fair Lady bicycles made in Chicago in 1983.

I read that the Chicago plant closed in 1983, but this has all the markings of being made in Chicago. The plate on the headtube says SCHWINN with Chicago at the bottom, and there are no stamps on the plate, as mentioned that one made in their Greeneville plant would have.

The bike has Schwinn Spit Fire tires, which I assume are original. There is a black plastic piece on the handlebars, so I'm not sure if that was for a reflector or for a basket, but it appears that something was broken off. There's even a sticker on the underside of the banana seat that specifies it is for one rider ONLY.

I would appreciate any information on the bike, so we know how to price it and try to sell it. If it's worthless, I'll make a donation to the organization and keep it for my almost 8 year old daughter, who has been drooling over it!

Thanks so much!

Drummerboy1975

It's basically a girls stingray. Not worth a whole bunch, 50.00 maybe.

TireLever-07

The "Slick Chick" "Li' Chick",, ETC. were the girls versions of the Stingrays. It seems almost always girl's bikes survive better over the years. Less likely to be driven off ramps, abused at skateboard parks, and having their fenders, chainguards removed and lost. Chris

Scooper

Here's the 1984 Schwinn Family Bicycle catalog page featuring the Fair Lady. Before the Chicago factory closed, Schwinn shipped the electroforged frame machinery to Murray, who built EF frame bicycles for Schwinn under contract for a couple of years.

Drummerboy1975

The Lil Chick is a smaller bike, not as true of a 20" as the Fair Lady. Thats why I compared the Fair Lady to a Stingray.

charityleague

Thank you so much! We had it priced at $50 for the sale, so it looks like we were right on for the price. It didn't sell, so my daughter has begged me to keep it. Looks like a donation to the League is in order!