Schwinn means home town, American kindness, durability and dependability. Albeit, none of these qualities are what I look for in a new or classic bike, it was always nice to know that Schwinn was there turning families on to healthy excersize, and the outdoor adventure. I was always impressed with the care that a true local Schwinn shop showed to its customers, and how wholesome the environment seemed. Personally, I prefered to do business with the ecentric shop, that catered to racers and rebels. None of this changes the loss we are all going to feel, especially knowing coorporate considerations drove them under. Huffy spells poverty, and piss poor service, with its legions of self employed mechanics assembling these toys behind stores and in backroom warehouses. Like the back alley abortionists of the sixties, a Huffy makes you feel cheap and dirty. The topper is that when you purchased a banana-seated, stick-shifted, style machine from Schwinn, there always would be one Paramont hanging somewhere above your head. The Paramount would no doubt, dance in your dreams, even as you tooled around town in your Cruiser or Varsity. Garth, sad with a flu and the loss of Schwinn, Libre.