Found this picture of my dad and uncle while going through my father's effects. He was born in 51, and looks to be 15 or so (he's the guy on the left) so this was taken in the mid 60s. My father owned a ton of different vehicles, and I'm finding more photos of cars and motorcycles every time I dig through the photos. He was a gearhead, and I am as well, and this is a treasure trove to me. He didn't tell stories about most of this stuff. This is the first bicycle I've found in the photo stash, and I'm really interested in what it was.

Charles.

Looks like a moped perhaps. Is that not a tank and a speedo on it?

I agree with [MENTION=103617]jetboy[/MENTION], it does look a bit Moped like.

Can you get a higher res scan of the headbadge, and perhaps we can play around a bit with the light and contrast.

I've never seen a moped like that from the 60s. I have seen pics of vintage bicycles with similar speedometers, however.

Charles.

It looks like an early Stingray, perhaps some other brand's knock off even. Those speedometers were a popular add-on in the mid-late sixties, as were the tall sissy bar on the back of the seat. No idea about a possible engine/moped, but there were accessories that looked like motor and tanks some put on these bikes. Mattel and Marx both had toy motors that also made sound effects.

Those forks look like a custom built springer and extension, never seen them before. Schwinn made a springer that was based on their older models' chromed single spring front forks on their full size bikes.

Someone that has in-depth knowledge of the various Stingray, Mantaray and Krate bicycles can give a better set of thoughts than I can offer.

Bill

Looks like a very production-made front end, so likely the whole bike was produced in numbers.
Perhaps regional distribution limits how many of us would have had a chance to ever see one of these bikes. But keep poking around and I can almost guarantee that someone is going to recognize it. Unfortunately, I do not.

If regional matters, dad was born and raised around Cleveland, Ohio.

Charles.

Monark used a dual-spring fork but it had the typical rocker ends on it and not what looks like telescopic action on this one.

I'm from that neck of the woods and the same age, but I don't recognize it.

Looks to be more late 60's to me considering the haircuts. The bike in focus and the one outside the garage have sissy bars. the one in focus has ape hangers, and I'd bet the other has as well.

The bike in focus looks like it has a rear caliper brake and maybe a 3-speed hub. Are you able to enlarge the photo enough to read cap/crown on the sprung fork?

Not sure about the bike but the fork appears to be off of a Whizzer Pacemaker.

From what I understand, the Schwinn Stingray itself was a knock off of the custom chopper style hot rod bikes the cool California kids had been building for themselves for a few years. The custom builders would start with a Schwinn child's model cruiser, and add high rise handlebars and a sissy bar, etc. It's possible the bike in the picture is one of these. If so, that's very interesting, as I've heard of these bikes for years but never saw one.

Schwinn supposedly resisted the trend for a few years, but then finally gave in and came out with the Stingray.

If anyone knows more and would like to flesh out this story, I'd love to hear it.