Originally Posted by
montclairbobbyb
Schwinn's were built to LAST... at least the frames and the one piece cranks, among other things. The steel, seamed rims (of the 60s/70s) were dogs and had a tendency to develop flat spots, and the derailleurs (while built to take abuse) were pigs as well. But I'm sure our grandchildren will see these same Schwinn framed creations still rolling on better rims and updated components 50 years from now.
‘those were the Schwinn Tubular Rims as they called them - actually pretty strong, they got dented if one ran over railroad tracks or a big pothole with under inflated tires, any rim would.
‘those had a series of drain holes to assist the draining of the plating tank fluids, they also did copper, nickel, chrome. High zoot.
other than the very early 60’s, Schwinn specified Huret mechanisms until Shimano wrestled in. There was a derailleur guard accessory that attached to say a varsity rear axle that would probably protect it from a tank shell.
weight? Not a concern.
the electroforged process was a marvel of engineering and production technique, again, weight? Part was styling. They ran that equipment intensive process for too many lines of bikes, an blind alley that was attempted to be addressed by the LeTour. That took a while. Setting up a plant outside of Chicago dodged the UAW, (anyone recall the Schwinn Labor Strike?) but was a total start from scratch effort for the framebuilding.