Originally Posted by
EKW in DC
I put "Schwinn" in " " above b/c there are Schwinns as sold in LBSs and there's big box Schwinns, a distinction that they state blatently on their
website.
Quote: Because it's likely that they will see more use..., frames and components on bike shop models are designed with this rider in mind. IOW, our big box bikes are POS designed for the huddled ignorant masses who ride their bike once every couple motnhs for two miles and call that a long ride. Wish I'd read that before I bought my bike...
I must say, it's extremely unwise (in my opinion) of Schwinn to try to be in both the "serious" and "big-box" genres of bicycle manufacturing. It's not that they're being "greedy"; it's that people go for brands, usually, in the hope of getting a certain quality. One "knows" what a Huffy in and one "knows" what a Bianchi is; with Schwinn, a person has no idea what the brand stands for. I remember hearing good things about them, for instance, and walking in to a Toys "R" us to see that — while the Trek I liked couldn't be had for less than $500 — I could own a Schwinn ("Yay!") for around one Franklin. When I got home to log on to Schwinn's Web site to research the model, and couldn't find it, I started digging, and learned, the bike I had seen had indeed been a "'Schwinn'" and not a "
Schwinn."