RIP Al Fritz designer of the sting ray
bike
My first was a Japanese knock-off, later I got an actual Schwinn, a Kool Yellow five-speed.
Mine was a jc Higgins (sears) mantaray clone in purple metal flake, 5 speed.
The mantaray was bigger and had that wide bananna seat?
Slightly taller frame. There is a link to them on the sting ray page as well as the fair lady and crate series. Mine was but-ugly. I worshiped the real deal stingray though. Slick rear wheel!!! Sissy bars were an after market option as well
as MC titty grips.
without consultation my parents bought me this when i was eight. didnt really fetishize the stingray but didnt want a ross either. schwinn was really the only brand at the time you wanted. sometime in middle school the bmx's became the cool bike but i always wanted a 10 speed which is what i got (panasonic villager 3) though i cant recall when exactly.
The raleigh english racer (aka roadster) 3 speed (black) was the next bike to be coveted for a growing boy. Then in 1970 the ten speed itala (in white) was what the rich kids had and you wanted.
My Stingray was green with the extra-tall backrest, and I attached all kinds of doo-dads to that thing. Neighborhood kids were constantly trying to steal it from me. Good thing I loved a brawl, even at 7 years old :)
http://schwinncruisers.com/bikes/stingray/#1970-stingray
Okay, this is weird. (*cue Twilight Zone theme*). I gave the Stingray to a good friend, and my next bike was the Raleigh 3-speed, in black...........
I used to see a guy on Bedford St that owned one of these
Ideal for sportsmen, amateur air pilots, yachtsmen and hunters.
1968 uniform: Blue topsiders, Madras shorts.
My first bike was a stingray imitation. Came from Sears, but I don't recall the brand. My second was a Schwinn Collegiate. In retrospect, once de-fendered, it was my first mountain bike.
I had the Stingray Jr, purple flake. I think it was called the Manta Ray. My twin brothers had the basic full sized stingray also purple flake. White banana seat, slick tires on theirs. Several years later when I was about 6th grade and the brothers were too cool for bikes I took one of theirs, removed the curved hollow aluminum tubes off our charcoal grill, slip fit them over the front forks and had a bitchin chopper that could only be kept from a wheelie pop by leaning slightly forward. This unbalance also kept the forks from bending to breaking point because the aluminum really was pretty lightweight. This would have been about 1971 and no one locked their bikes at school so when I'd get out for the day my bike would be nowhere near where I had left it. Kids would be using it during lunch break at Tom C. Gooch Elementary. I got the Schwinn Varsity 10 speed, yellow, later on.
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- bill 5-15-2013 3:15 pm
My first was a Japanese knock-off, later I got an actual Schwinn, a Kool Yellow five-speed.
- steve 5-15-2013 5:17 pm [add a comment]
Mine was a jc Higgins (sears) mantaray clone in purple metal flake, 5 speed.
- bill 5-15-2013 6:37 pm [add a comment]
The mantaray was bigger and had that wide bananna seat?
- steve 5-15-2013 6:39 pm [add a comment]
Slightly taller frame. There is a link to them on the sting ray page as well as the fair lady and crate series. Mine was but-ugly. I worshiped the real deal stingray though. Slick rear wheel!!! Sissy bars were an after market option as well as MC titty grips.
- bill 5-15-2013 6:47 pm [add a comment]
without consultation my parents bought me this when i was eight. didnt really fetishize the stingray but didnt want a ross either. schwinn was really the only brand at the time you wanted. sometime in middle school the bmx's became the cool bike but i always wanted a 10 speed which is what i got (panasonic villager 3) though i cant recall when exactly.
- dave 5-15-2013 7:13 pm [add a comment]
The raleigh english racer (aka roadster) 3 speed (black) was the next bike to be coveted for a growing boy. Then in 1970 the ten speed itala (in white) was what the rich kids had and you wanted.
- bill 5-15-2013 11:19 pm [add a comment]
My Stingray was green with the extra-tall backrest, and I attached all kinds of doo-dads to that thing. Neighborhood kids were constantly trying to steal it from me. Good thing I loved a brawl, even at 7 years old :)
http://schwinncruisers.com/bikes/stingray/#1970-stingray
- Justin (guest) 5-15-2013 11:33 pm [add a comment]
Okay, this is weird. (*cue Twilight Zone theme*). I gave the Stingray to a good friend, and my next bike was the Raleigh 3-speed, in black...........
- Justin (guest) 5-15-2013 11:35 pm [add a comment] [edit]
And THAT one got stolen.
- Justin (guest) 5-15-2013 11:39 pm [add a comment] [edit]
I used to see a guy on Bedford St that owned one of these
- steve 5-16-2013 4:20 am [add a comment]
Ideal for sportsmen, amateur air pilots, yachtsmen and hunters.
- steve 5-16-2013 4:24 am [add a comment]
1968 uniform: Blue topsiders, Madras shorts.
- bill 5-16-2013 1:11 pm [add a comment]
My first bike was a stingray imitation. Came from Sears, but I don't recall the brand. My second was a Schwinn Collegiate. In retrospect, once de-fendered, it was my first mountain bike.
- mark 5-16-2013 8:26 am [add a comment]
I had the Stingray Jr, purple flake. I think it was called the Manta Ray. My twin brothers had the basic full sized stingray also purple flake. White banana seat, slick tires on theirs. Several years later when I was about 6th grade and the brothers were too cool for bikes I took one of theirs, removed the curved hollow aluminum tubes off our charcoal grill, slip fit them over the front forks and had a bitchin chopper that could only be kept from a wheelie pop by leaning slightly forward. This unbalance also kept the forks from bending to breaking point because the aluminum really was pretty lightweight. This would have been about 1971 and no one locked their bikes at school so when I'd get out for the day my bike would be nowhere near where I had left it. Kids would be using it during lunch break at Tom C. Gooch Elementary. I got the Schwinn Varsity 10 speed, yellow, later on.
- jimlouis 5-19-2013 7:20 pm [add a comment]