Schwinn Releasing New 'Sting Ray' - BUT NO BANANA SEAT!

[matcom]

anyone who had one of these knows what i'm talking about

<snip>

There's just one problem with the new Schwinn Sting-Ray: It isn't a Sting-Ray. No banana seat. No longhorn handlebars. No treadless rear tire for burning wicked skid marks onto sidewalks.

It's like when "Bewitched" brought in a new actor and pretended he was still Darrin. What's next? Volkswagen coming out with a Beetle that looks like a Humvee?

That doesn't mean the chopper-style edition of Schwinn's pedal-powered icon isn't eye-catching and cool. But a bona fide Sting-Ray? Schwinn honchos can call it that till they're metallic-blue in the face, but even Al Fritz, the retired engineer who designed the original in 1963, questions the new version's DNA. "It's a beautiful-looking bicycle," he says, "but it is not a Sting-Ray."

What it is, apparently, is a stroke of marketing genius. Labeling the low-ride cruiser a Sting-Ray was bound to catch the attention of baby boomer journalists — like this one.

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-et-rivenburg08may08.story

[Richardo]

1. THIS...is a Sting-Ray

The new one IS cool, but you need those handlebars...

[THUNDER HANDS]

11. that's one ugly bike

the old one, that is. The new one looks kinda cool except for the dorky front end.

[Ready4Change]

2. New one is cool, but

I'd call it a chopper, not a Sting-Ray. That would tie into the current tide of custom motorcycles, too.

[lovedems]

3. Awww! I had a 1976 red, white and blue stingray with a banana seat!

It was a great bike! I rode the heck out it.

They need to bring the banana seat back "for old times sake".

[CrownPrinceBandar]

6. I had that bike too.......

it was the bike I learned to ride on.

[ikojo]

17. I had one as well...I LOVED screeching the tires

and leaving skid marks on the road! I was also the no hands riding champ of my class!

I miss that bike.

[trogdor]

4. Check the country of origin.

The original Sting-Ray was made in the USA. I bet the new ugly-ass bike will be made somewhere across the Pacific.

[TheMightyFavog]

14. Actually...

PacificCycle, The company that bought out Schwinn in 2001 is based in Madison, WI. I believe they have a factory down there.

[mulsh]

5. I chopped my stingrays

swapped the forks for forks from a 3 speed, took a while to realise the banana seat/sissy bar combo shifted my weight too far back. switched to a standard saddle. kept the butterfly handlebars. did it to 3 stingrays.
this was back in the late 60's. if I was younger and lighter I might buy one of these new fangled "sting rays". I thought they stopped making sting rays years ago when they figured out kids were into bmx.
I don't have a problem with the new stingray. change is good.

[TheWizardOfMudd]

7. Here is what mine looked like

I got it for Christmas when I was 11. MY LIFE BEGAN when I got that Sting Ray! I finally had the freedom to go all over my side of town, to stores, ice cream shops, etc., and I used it to throw my paper route.

Those were the days. My buddy and I rode our Sting Rays about 20 miles, round trip, to buy firecrackers.

[SEAburb]

8. If it doesn't have a banana seat, it isn't a sting-ray

The banana seat and butterfly handle bars is what makes a bike a sting-ray.

[tsakshaug]

9. give it another name

Banana seats, Sissy bars....
putting new forks on it....
building jumps-skidding....
What more was there to life

give the new bike a different name.

[catmandu57]

10. All that and wheelies

There was a kid down the street that could ride a wheelie forever, once he popped the front end up he left it there forever.

[misanthrope]

12. Don't you mean...

..."What's next? Will Volkswagen make a Beetle with a radiator?"

This is parallel to what VW did with the new Beetle. The Beetle was originally supposed to encompass the word "accessible." It was supposed to be for the "everyman"; easy to purchase and repair. This new contraption from VW is anything but. It is an overpriced piece of modern planned-obsolescence similar in scope to the new Sting Ray.

[Beaker]

15. the new beetle is really just a Golf with a new suit.

nt

[jmowreader]

16. You can't even see the engine in a New Beetle!

I wouldn't even want to contemplate getting the engine out of one.

As for the bike...strange. I guess it's supposed to look kinda kewl, like an Orange County Chopper (the OCC marketing machine has endorsed this bicycle; you'll find the OCC logo on it), but since I don't like choppers--too fucking hard to ride if you're not used to extended forks--I'll pass on the "new Sting-Ray."

Now, if one of these just happened to fall off someone's SUV on the way past my house...



I wouldn't be looking very hard for its owner.

OTOH, if I was going to build a bike to spec, I'd start with a Cannondale CAAD5 frame (which is sized to the rider) and mount a Campagnolo Record gruppo, sew-up treadless tires with aero spokes on the wheels, and a seat with a hell of a lot of padding.

[Kickin_Donkey]

13. As someone said above ...

if it doesn't have a banana seat, it ain't a Stingray. That distinctive banana seat MADE the Stingray.

I got a new yellow Stingray for my birthday around 1975. That bike soooo reminds me of my childhood.

[ikojo]

18. Look at these funky chunky bikes...

http://dclxvi.org/chunk/meet/chopper/gazandbmx/index.html

[democracyindanger]

19. Kids are gonna get killed riding that

Seriously. Look how low it is. It's almost as low as a Big Wheel. The difference is that kids go a lot more places and through a lot more traffic on a bike.

That, PLUS the blasphemy.

[pintobean]

20. Mine was a 2 speed.

No shift lever. To change gears, you lightly tapped the breaks. Very cool.