Originally Posted by
mstateglfr
Absolutely- personal taste is key. The example was more to show that the same company can make low end and high end things. Hating the company based on the low end stuff seems odd if the high end stuff is good. Its also why I listed all those other brands- they made low end and high end products.
Is it Schwinn's designs that are bad? Or their history? Just trying to understand not liking them specifically when they are but one of many who produced products all across the quality spectrum.
Speaking only for myself (as someone who also doesn't seek out or gravitate toward Schwinns), it's impossible for me to mentally disassociate that name with bike boom crap, the Stingray, and other two-wheeled detritus.
Yes I know they made Paramounts and other good, desirable bikes- but the negative association is far stronger. I also know that Peugeot, Bianchi, and countless others perpetrated similar 'crimes', but the difference there is that the mental association with
winning and
quality is a lot stronger; the misdeeds are thus easier to ignore. As European brands, I'd also be lying if I said they didn't retain a certain aura or mystique about them that Schwinn
just does not have, even if rational minds know it's just a smokescreen.
Lastly, no one likes a loser, and their famous
corporate mismanagement and myopia will forever be a cautionary tale.