downtube42

To some degree that's what I'm saying. Schwinn built bikes that made sense for transportation, and Americans increasingly considered bikes to be recreational. Bikes for transportation isn't a 21st century urban invention. We didn't have minivans full of kids going to soccer games in the '60's and '70's, we had kids riding bikes to little league and Cub Scouts. The Collegiate was a transportation bike for college students; some college campuses didn't even allow students to have cars. I can imagine Schwinn seeing those kids and college students growing up and continuing to want transportation bikes. But that didn't happen, they grew up wanting Detroit iron for transportation and lightweight bikes for recreation.

If you look at the widespread use of mountain bikes for urban on-road riding today, what's that about? Upright seating, wider softer tires, emphasis on ruggedness rather than light weight. That's what Schwinn built, but the growing market wanted something else.

I don't know if anyone at Schwinn stubbornly stuck to the idea of transportation bikes, or if they were simply asleep at the wheel. But out of it all, we have 40 year old Schwinn bikes that still roll today, nicely filling a transportation niche.