I read this book a few years ago and couldn't put it down. It saddened me because, as a kid, the Schwinn shop in my town was really special, they had a great catalog, and the dealership (Disher Bike Shop Dayton, OH) was so clean and the manager was great to work with. Schwinn's "Made in U.S.A." aspect means more to me now than it did then, but even as a kid I was aware that the frames were made in Chicago and carried a lifetime warranty. Their delivery bikes were the best! The franchise/exclusivity that they built up WAS a slow moving dinasaur that probably sealed their fate as they were always behind the times a little, but they were on to something with their "Schwinn Approved" parts on their bikes. Back then it meant that the parts they selected from other manufacturers were up to their (high) quality standards and could be warranted as such. If they would have cut some deals with innovators (that they weren't) a little more they could have kept the exclusivity going and pushed their products out onto the leading edge much better. Now when I go into a bikeshop and I see the little "Made in Taiwan" or even "Made in PRC" or "Made in China" sticker on the headtube I cringe. The manufacturers of the new bikes cut their bottom line everywhere they can, how often due you see a Shimano 105, or Ultegra equipped new bike these days does the bike have that same brand and model of crankset or brakeset. They also won't have the correct headset or seatpost even. These new bikes are marketed as high tech wonder-bikes and they're plastered with gawdy, obnoxious decals. Schwinn was retro back in the day and now that its gone, the (wide) niche, it left behind is still not filled. Look at Apple Computer: they're thriving and innovating because they are staying true to what they do, always innovating, and always keeping it proprietary (to them)...very risky, but they've proven that if you're confident and keep innovating, you can survive without watering things down. Look at Scion: here's a car company that let's you configure your ride to a certain extent yourself. This is cool! Bike companies have tried this: i.e. custom paint programs from Klein or Panasonic come to mind. There is a market out there for a bicycle company that uses computer build kits (Orbea comes to mind but I didn't like a lot of their weird component choices) to give the knowledgable customer exactly what they're looking for without going into the $5,000 bike range that is. The GAANSARI's and the RIVENDELL's are onto something with their niche marketing to single speeders or crusty tourists (like you and me). What I'm saying is that the market needs a "SCHWINN" style company, with ALL AMERICAN GUTS and COURAGE to give the AMERICAN consumer a high quality, American designed bicycle,with internationally sourced, innovative, fresh, quality, proprietary parts that does not insult the existing customer base and is so inspired that it wins an automatic market for a huge population of NEW customers. I believe this is possible, and that TREK and GIANT are not what I had in mind. Cannondale before THEIR BANKRUPTCY is closer, and elements of both GAANSARI and RIVENDELL are closer still to the pulse....its just too bad that our politicians universally blame the GLOBAL ECONOMY for why we Americans will buy CRAP, later resent it, but do nothing to reverse the inevitable dumbing down of our products.