Originally Posted by
D1andonlyDman
I've not ridden a Schwinn since I was about 14 and I had a Sting Ray Fastback, but I wouldn't sneer at a Waterford Paramount. That being said, I think the issue with Schwinn is that they absolutely OWNED the U.S. Market in the 1950s to 1970s, and they used that dominant position not to move better bikes into the market, but rather, to produce predominantly heavy bikes that were over-priced relative to quality.
You can say Varsities were heavy but you can't seriously say they were of poor quality for their price relative to anything else on the market in the 60's. This is because there basically
wasn't any market before the bike boom. I invite you to look at your local Craigslist for 1960's bikes and see what you find. It will mostly be kid bikes and cruisers. The market for multiple-speed adult bicycles was less than 200,000 a year. The only serious competitor was Raleigh. The other competitors were Murray and Huffy and department store bikes that were really dreadful, or much racier imports. The (French!) RD is armored, the single-piece crank has a patented stamped-in shifting ramp and a disk that actually keeps your shoelaces out of the chain, the shifters work very nicely, and the whole package is stone-axe reliable. If you wanted something nicer they had that too, Super Sports with chrome steel frames and Paramounts with lugs and butted tubes.