What Happened To Schwinn? The Rise and Fall of America's Forgotten Bike Giant

What Happened To Schwinn? The Rise and Fall of America's Forgotten Bike Giant You knew the weight of it. You knew the chrome. You knew the Sting-Ray. Then one day — it was at Walmart for $89. Made in China. Schwinn didn't collapse because Americans stopped riding bicycles. At its peak, Schwinn sold one in every four bikes purchased in the United States. Every single one was made in Chicago. Then the family dismissed the mountain bike. Then they moved production overseas. Then Sam Zell — a man who called himself The Grave Dancer — bought the name for $43 million and sold it four years later for $80 million. The Chicago factory is gone. The workers are gone. The quality seal placed by hand on every bicycle is gone. What's left is a trademark on a big-box shelf. This is the full story — how America's greatest bicycle company was built over 98 years and sold for parts in less than a decade.