Revisit The Magic
Schwinn pioneered these bikes thanks to the foresight of Schwinn's designer, Al Fritz, who in 1963 heard that kids in L.A. were rebuilding their bikes to look like motorcycles, customizing them with high-rise, ape hanger handlebars and low-rider banana seats so the rider was lower to the ground.
Inspired, he designed his own lowrider prototype for the youth market called Project J-38 and rode it around the Schwinn warehouse. At first, his colleagues laughed at him, but soon his co-workers were taking it for a spin only to find that this odd contraption was actually fun to ride. The era of the muscle bike had begun.
Sales were initially slow, as many parents desiring a bicycle for their children did not find the Sting-Ray appealing in the least. However, after a few appeared on America's streets and in their neighborhoods, many young riders would accept nothing less than a genuine Sting-Ray. Sales took off and within a year, 70 percent of all bikes being sold in the U.S. were Sting-Rays. Schwinn began shooting all promotional material on location in Disneyland. Young Al was onto something big!
Schwinn Sting-Rays were on the market from 1963 to 1979 at the height of the muscle-car craze. There were essentially four models: The basic Sting-Ray; Sting-Ray Deluxe (that added chrome fenders and white wall tires); Sting-Ray Super-Deluxe (that added a springer fork); and the Krate series (that added a five-speed "Stik Shift," shock struts on the rear seat and the 16" front tire and 20" rear tire).
