Then
In 1963 Schwinn introduced the Stingray, a new
kind of bicycle that had kids across America
drooling to the point of dehydration. Drawing
inspiration from popular muscle cars of the day,
Schwinn engineers designed the Stingray with a
sleek, low-slung cantilever frame, meaty rear tire,
high-rise handlebars and bucket style banana seat.
By 1968, the Stingray had evolved into an even
more stylish machine called the Krate.
Krates had a chopper-esque 16” front wheel, a
springer suspension fork, floating seat struts and
shorty chrome fenders. The ‘68 Krate was a five
speed, but by 1971 Schwinn was offering Krates
in a single speed version.
It wasn’t long before Orange Krates, Apple
Krates, Lemon Peelers, Pea Pickers and Gray
Ghosts were criss-crossing neighborhoods from
coast to coast.
Schwinn would sell over 1 million Stingrays and
Krates, bikes which eventually gave birth to the
sport of BMX and became an important slice of
Americana along the way.
Now
Your new Krate is a reissue of the original 1972
single speed. Some details were updated to meet
current standards or changed slightly to allow for
current manufacturing processes, but the bike is
as true to Schwinn’s original design as possible.
The frame is internally lugged, TIG-welded,
ground and hand polished to replicate Schwinn’s
original “electro-forged”frame building process.
Frame geometry is exact to 1972 specifications.
The ‘72 Krate reissue is available in red (Apple
Krate) and orange (Orange Krate).
Tomorrow
Your new Krate uses Schwinn’s original serial
number system, including codes for both the year
and month the bike was produced. A bike pro-
duced in January of 72 might have the serial
number AA00001; a bike produced in February
of that same year would be BA00001, and so on.
Take care of your Krate and it just might be
worth something some day. But at the very least
it will provide you with enjoyment well into the
future—regardless of whether you ride it or just
hang it on the wall.
