Schwinn Stingray, muscle bike.

[60sStuff]

Besides the Banana seats, high handle bars, shifter, springer and seat strut shocks, there is the cool brake system that Schwinn used on the Krates.

Front Atom “drum” brake (68-73).
Rear “disc” brake (late ‘71-73).

Close up of the front Atom drum and factory replacement shoes (bonded, not riveted).

The rear disc brake shown here is a late 1971 unit (4-71) and is extremely difficult to find.

Chris.

[njsteve]

My 1970 Raleigh Chopper back when I got it in Summer 1970 and after I restored it around 15 years ago.

[60sStuff]

This is the other Krate bike I still own.
An (HF) = Aug. 1970 “PEA PICKER”.

At one time 25+ years ago I had all the Krate bikes, but have reduced that down to the above Sunset Orange and this Pea.

This Krate is also 100% factory Original including the Campus Green paint and it’s born with dated tires.

I found this bike hanging in an old Schwinn dealer in San Francisco covered in dust.
It took a few years before they would sell it to me, but it was worth it.

The paint on this bike shows a slight marble which is beautiful, that only comes with age.

A few options such as the speedometer and tail light add to the classic look of the Krates.

My taste for the Stingrays moved toward the early (63-66) models after I sold off the other Krates.

[454_Malibu]

Originally Posted by njsteve

My 1970 Raleigh Chopper back when I got it in Summer 1970 and after I restored it around 15 years ago.

My Brother and I both got the Raleigh Choppers about 1970sh? His was same color as yours. Mine was Orange.. The shifter was not like that./ they were round.. I will try to find pics if they exist.. Thanks Steve for posting!!

[njsteve]

Mine is a three-speed. Did you have the 5-speed or more? They had different knobs depending on the number of gears. My brother had a black 5-speed with two shifters side by side and the really tall sissy bar with the pad on top. Also, those knobs had a habit of geeting unscrewed and lost. It was hard to get a corrrect replacement T-bar knob set back then.

This was a girls version I restored for my daughter. Since there was no cross bar, they had the shifter on the center of the handlebars.

[AnthonyS]

Hey Roger, where, or when maybe, did you get that photo of an Orange Krate for sale for $75?! That's even way cheap for an offshore repop. Hah, I saw that and immediately started looking for one for The Boy... that must've been a scam. Gah.

[wheelhop]

That price is way too cheap!!

[njsteve]

That $74.99 photo is probably a scam since the reproductions don't have the shifters on the center bar.

IIRC that was one of the reasons that these bikes were killed off back in the 1970's - some type of safety issue back in the day with 1) taking your hands off the handlebars to shift, and 2) losing your nuts if you crashed and slid forward into the shifter. (OUCH)

[AnthonyS]

Originally Posted by njsteve

That $74.99 photo is probably a scam since the reproductions don't have the shifters on the center bar.

Yeah, and I don't think I want to buy something from a website with "something"18.com in it's URL...

[Lee Stewart]

I must have been about 12 when I decided a wanted a "Banana Seat" single speed Schwinn bike so I could do jumps and such. So I traded in my Raleigh 3 speed full size and some very hard earned lawn mowing and baby sitting money.

It was great until everyone got on their bikes to take a ride into town which was about 3 miles away and I am peddling my a$$ off trying to stay up with the pack. It lasted about 3 months when to my good fortune it was stolen out of our garage. I took the insurance money and borrowed what I needed from my mom and bought a beautiful lime green metallic Schwinn 10 speed full size bike complete with the racing handlebar.