[CR]Schwinn catalogues 1960 to 1979

I really enjoyed those Schwinn catalogues posted yesterday at http://www.geocities.com/sldbconsumer. You can see the evolution of the country during that same period, as you remember your own odyssey. A few notes. During the 70's the price of the Paramount really started to soar. In 1970, the track model was $224.95 and the road $300. By 1979 the track model was $650 and the road had tripled to $900. I don't recall a tripling of the cost of living, but it certainly rose substantially along with Paramount prices. For some reason from 1974 to 1976 Schwinn stopped putting the prices at the bottom of each bike page following the descriptions, but resumed the price listing by 1977. Were prices fixed by corporate headquarters during the listed years? Also in 1975 the catalogues started a complete component listing similar to the way it's done today, and the advertising started to look more like Schwinn was building modules for the Space Shuttle, while in the 60's they were simply selling the clean scrubbed, wholesome American lifestyle. The word descriptions were un-appologeticly fanciful with "radiant paint" and the "dubutante model" bike, and ample photos of healthy, un-competitive, good natured folks enjoying each others' laughter during the innocent years. A little fly in the ointment was that in the 1970 catalogue on page 5, it shows a woman on an economy model Schwinn Twinn tandem with a young man that seems to be more than a bit younger than she is. Page 4 shows the same woman with an much older fellow on a Paramount tandem. You can only imagine that she left the older man and moved in with the young stud, but was forced to adapt to a heavier , clunkier tandem in the bargain. There's a definite trade off, because I find the old heavy tandems to be a real handful, but maybe her new boyfriend was too.

Garth Libre in Miami Fl.