Ontare?
 

Hey Schwinn Gurus,

I used to spend alot of hours at the local Schwinn shop in the 80s, but never ran across this. Does anyone have a story?

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/bik/484722771.html

One of Schwinn's first cracks at an aluminum framed bike. The model name was only around briefly, I believe as a result of a trademark conflict. So I'm guessing that is indeed a pretty rare Schwinn. Someone who knows more will doubtless be along shortly.

AFAIK, it was Schwinn's first aluminum framed bike. It was supposed to be called the Avion, but that is the name that brought on the dispute, so it was renamed the Ontare. I think that name only lasted for one year. The next year the model had a three digit numerical name, and I believe there were about three different models.

Pretty sure the name "Ontare" had to be changed for trademark reasons as well - maybe that's why Schwinn finally went with numbers for those aluminum-framed models.