Schwinn Stingray, muscle bike.
 

Most everyone that likes the 60’s-70’s Muscle Cars is aware of the muscle bike Schwinn created for the younger crowd of that era.

The real, “real” ones were built from around May 1963 through 1973.

Two speed kick back hubs, Three speed trigger, or shifter and the “Krate” series with their famous 5 speed shifters.

Just like the Survivor Muscle cars, I also follow and collect Survivor Stingrays.

The Krate series bikes were offered in various colors with unique names on their chain guards.

The “kool” Orange Krate was built from 1968 through 1972 and in the last year of 1973 Schwinn changed the color to a darker Orange called “Sunset”
Consequently the seat is a darker orange to match the paint (one year only).

Below is a one year only 1973 “Sunset” Orange Krate Survivor that is 100% Original.
The head tube code is CJ = March ‘73.

The rear disc brake came out in very late 1971 and continued through ‘73.

This bike is like factory new!
Paint, screen on guard, seat, all the chrome and it’s factory dated tires.

Chris.

Neat! There was an all original blue Stingray for sale just this past weekend at a Swap. It was a survivor-complete with its owners manuals too.

As an aside I grew up riding an Apollo 5 identical to this one.

That looks more like an Apple Crate, it looks Red? a guy at auto Rama a few years back had 1 of each of the crate bikes.

It is an Orange Krate, which uses a Sting-Ray frame and springer fork.

Originals were so popular they are now reproduced.

https://www.schwinnbikes.com/products/orange-krate

Paint looks off, that’s all.

I still have my Original Orange Crate that my dad bought me in August 1968 from the local Firestone Store. But my politically incorrect "Cotton Picker" is the one that gets all the dirty looks when i ride it around

Love the old Stingrays, and love the Schwinn brazing on the frames. The early Schwinn Sting had brazing on their frames as well and are some of the nicest BMX frames ever made. They're really like artwork.

You are right. Like the difference between Hugger O vs Sunset O

I got mine about a year later, in August of 1969.

You and me both had cool dads.

K

One of the projects dad worked on when he was in CPC Advanced Manufacturing Engineering was the second generation Fiero frame (aka "P2" chassis).

It was to be a space frame construction, and one of the options was a welded tube build - or - tubes with cast connectors at the nodes. As a result he traveled to Schwinn, Hitchner Casting (they make Crane rocker arms, among other recognizable castings) and Mr Gasket to review their various manufacturing processes.

K

(The ended up going with a combination of stamped aluminum and hydroformed aluminum tube, and built and tested a couple parts, before the program was canceled).

I always wanted a Krate, parents only popped for a basic 'Ray (which was still a nice bike) and they made for great "choppers" down the road. Was always impressed how the kickstands were welded on, never moved and almost never broke

Your insight and knowledge of the GM world is always interesting and fun to read. The stuff you and your dad saw could fill a few books. Thanks for sharing.

simply breathtaking..

The paint is not off.

It’s the Factory “Sunset” Orange which is darker and Not red.

The Orange Krate you show in post #5 is called “Kool” Orange, which is a lighter color used on 1968 - 1972 Orange Krates.

Below shows the difference between my ‘73 color and two others.

The ‘71 Apple Krate and ‘72 Orange Krate are not mine.

Someone made a 3 speed version of the banana seat bike with a leopard print seat.

I had one, but don't remember the brand. Maybe Murray or Huffy. I do know that when I was at MCACN in 2016 or so, there was one on display with many other 60s bikes.

Anyone remember the brand name?

God that sunset orange is drop dead beautiful. Guess we just never grew up

Krate Brakes
 

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.

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

“pea picker”
 

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.

I had the speedo on mine at one point, as well (although it doesn't show in the picture I posted).

A couple sincere questions:

a) On mine the shift knob had a 90 degree bend and the knob was horizontal. Is that a model year thing?

b) Also, mine had a striped slick (although I don't recall if it was a red stripe or, I assume, an orange stripe) rather than the white letter tires shown on yours. Is that a model year thing?

c) How come the collectors always park the bikes with the shifter all the way forward? That would be high gear, and the most difficult gear to take off in when riding.

K

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.

Hi Keith,

a) 1969 model year thing.
Actually ‘69 Krates used three shifter handles. All three had the 90 degree bend before the knob.
1) A straight arm with horizontal round knob.
2) A two bend arm with horizontal round knob.
3) A two bend arm with a barrel knob.
That barrel knob is what they used from that point forward.

b) 1968 and ‘69 used a “colorline silk” on the back which matched the bike.
Yours would have been an Orange line slik. It shows in your highlighted photo.
The RWL Sliks came out in 1970.

BTW, the colorline Slik tires were the coolest.
You could go into your Schwinn dealer and purchase a colorline superior front tire to match the rear. That front tire was extremely rare tire back then and impossible to find today.

c) Collectors preference. Besides, how many of these people actually ride these Krates. I don’t, as they are show and tell only.

Thanks for sharing your Krate, Chris.

That price is way too cheap!!

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)

There was another BMX cvompany in the late 70's early 80's named I believe VITUS they manufactured Aluminum BMX bikes which were glued together using forged or cast connectors with T6 tubes if not mistaken. EXTREMELY LIGHT and strong.

https://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/vitus/

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!!

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.

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.

Attachment 190583 identical to this,, 3spd

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

I had a Schwinn " Lemon Peeler " that came with a five speed stick. When I use to hit the front brake the back wheel use to come off the ground.

Cool bike
 

Not a Schwinn but here is a pic of a 1955 Firestone. Sorry for quality of pic

Great looking Krates guys. Old bikes are so cool.

This is my old Copper Fastback from when I was a kid. Bonus shots of Mom's SS/RS air convertible in both backgrounds.

Yes, that is the other style shifter with the round head. The shifter choice also depended on what rear hub was used. There were two manufacturers that supplied the three speed hubs.

here is my one owner 1967 Stingray

Love it :)

Dan

Here's the pages from a 1970 Raleigh catalog courtesy of my friend CTBob. This shows the difference in the shifters. You got the "Sportshift with Short-Thrust Ball Shifter" (the one you remember) with the Sturmey Archer TCW 3-speed hub or the Sturmey Archer AW wide-ratio 3-speed hub version. Mine has the wide-ratio Sturmey Archer AW hub with the T-handle shifter.

Kind of like M21 and M20 close and wide ratio transmissions!

Really cool

Thanks Steve, mine was identical to the Green one, painted Orange, next visit to my Mom,s house I will dig thru the Photos