love the Sting Ray, but...
- Thread starter drew03cmc
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The Stingray is alright but Huffy & Murray's muscle bikes had multiple better styles to their frames.
But even though Schwinn came up with the frame style Huffy came out with the Penguin before Schwinn had the Stingray. although kids originally came up with those kind of bikes first then the companies took notice. At least that's what I remember reading awhile back anyways.
But even though Schwinn came up with the frame style Huffy came out with the Penguin before Schwinn had the Stingray. although kids originally came up with those kind of bikes first then the companies took notice. At least that's what I remember reading awhile back anyways.
I grew up in the muscle bike era,but never was lucky enough to have a Schwinn Stingray.The only banana seat bike I had was a red,white and blue Sears bike.(Free Spirit?)A kid down the road had a bike with a steering wheel for handlebars.Does any one know who made those bikes?
Since I am going through my second childhood, I am trying to build a 26" muscle bike from a USA made Murray cruiser that I gave $10 for.So far I have found a set of motorcycle handlebars for $2.50 and removed most of the stickers.I put on a wider blackwall tire I had on the rear and bought a tire for the front.Looking for a sparkle blue banana seat and sissybar and I will call it done.
Since I am going through my second childhood, I am trying to build a 26" muscle bike from a USA made Murray cruiser that I gave $10 for.So far I have found a set of motorcycle handlebars for $2.50 and removed most of the stickers.I put on a wider blackwall tire I had on the rear and bought a tire for the front.Looking for a sparkle blue banana seat and sissybar and I will call it done.
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papawrandy said:
Huffy "The Wheel" ???
papawrandy said:
A small company in Savannah made one.
I dunno bout that title, butt - 1963 Rollfast Scat built by D.P. Harris Co. , New York , NY possibly the first one made.drew03cmc said:
First factory made muscle bike was the John T. Bill & Company Penguin made for them by Huffy, released on March 3rd 1963. The Stingray was not released until June 1963 after seeing the success of the Penguin bikes...
Leon Dixon of the National Bicycle History Archive of America notes regarding the Stingray being the first: "This is a very serious myth. First, Schwinn merely copied the Huffy Penguin which existed BEFORE the Sting-Ray. And these bicycles were pioneers in the 20-inch bicycle revolution/genre, but certainly did not necessarily father BMX. AND... the first Sting-Ray was officially stated by Schwinn as being NOT a 1963 model, but officially known as a "1963-1/2" model. Either way, Huffy was on the market first."
http://bikerodnkustom5.homestead.com/br ... uscle.html
http://www.jimlangley.net/ride/bicyclehistorywh.html
Anyway, the penguin and Stingray frames are not that dissimilar, and if you want something like them have you considered a Bratz bike frame? They are cheap and plentiful, the chrome parts on them are cheap and horrible, but the frame itself seems ok, might give you what you want without breaking your price barrier.
This bike was made from a Bratz frame by Peatbog, one of the nicest bikes around:
viewtopic.php?f=67&t=56351&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
If you are not fussed about that particular frame shape, but want the muscle bike look with big apehangers and a banana seat, there are some very nice bikes out there, try looking up Murray Eliminator 1 and 2, Iverson Dragstripper, Huffy Rail... Not saying that all of these will be in your price range but might give you ideas with a frame you already have or can find cheaply. Other brands such as AMF or Columbia made Muscle bikes too, and can sometimes be found cheaply.
Check out this wiki article for more information. It states however that Muscle bikes only had 16-20" rims which is not true, there are a few examples of 24" muscle bikes and those are highly sought after for larger adult riders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelie_bike
Luke.
P.S. Most of those photos come from this site, just takes some searching to find them sometimes...
Leon Dixon of the National Bicycle History Archive of America notes regarding the Stingray being the first: "This is a very serious myth. First, Schwinn merely copied the Huffy Penguin which existed BEFORE the Sting-Ray. And these bicycles were pioneers in the 20-inch bicycle revolution/genre, but certainly did not necessarily father BMX. AND... the first Sting-Ray was officially stated by Schwinn as being NOT a 1963 model, but officially known as a "1963-1/2" model. Either way, Huffy was on the market first."
http://bikerodnkustom5.homestead.com/br ... uscle.html
http://www.jimlangley.net/ride/bicyclehistorywh.html
Anyway, the penguin and Stingray frames are not that dissimilar, and if you want something like them have you considered a Bratz bike frame? They are cheap and plentiful, the chrome parts on them are cheap and horrible, but the frame itself seems ok, might give you what you want without breaking your price barrier.
This bike was made from a Bratz frame by Peatbog, one of the nicest bikes around:
viewtopic.php?f=67&t=56351&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
If you are not fussed about that particular frame shape, but want the muscle bike look with big apehangers and a banana seat, there are some very nice bikes out there, try looking up Murray Eliminator 1 and 2, Iverson Dragstripper, Huffy Rail... Not saying that all of these will be in your price range but might give you ideas with a frame you already have or can find cheaply. Other brands such as AMF or Columbia made Muscle bikes too, and can sometimes be found cheaply.
Check out this wiki article for more information. It states however that Muscle bikes only had 16-20" rims which is not true, there are a few examples of 24" muscle bikes and those are highly sought after for larger adult riders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelie_bike
Luke.
P.S. Most of those photos come from this site, just takes some searching to find them sometimes...
Muscle bike thread here http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=11599
clamdigger said:
Like Luke said the best evidence we have available shows the Huffy Penguin was first and the Stingray was second. After the Schwinn bike was a national success every other company jumped on the band wagon. There was a bike book that said the first banana style bike was made in 1962 but that was shown to be untrue.
If the New York Times was doing a article on the old muscle bikes and someone came up to them and said "I have the first factory banana seat bike and its a Rollfast" and the New York Times said '"show me the dated evidence" and the guy said "you'll just have to take my word for it" The NYT would laugh. No firsts with no proof. People can say anything they want, but if they can't prove it then it's just personal speculation. The Ross bike company made a banana seat bike called the Polo bike that also came out in 1963.
