Good work Raoul,
At Schwinn, we came up with the Super Record tires to compete with
Specialized. It wasn't easy as Specialized's tire line was their primary line of
merchandise, and they devoted a lot of their resources to tire promotion. We had
many other things to do and while the rubber business was a major contributor to
PA&R sales at Schwinn, we never really promoted the Super Record tires with
any extra effort. It was just a part of the total rubber program. Our best
selling after market "high end" tire was the Le Tour. We did well with Super
Record tires, but that was because we used them as original equipment on the
bikes which bolstered the volume of sales. One year we did come out with a
separate consumer tire brochure to push sales more. The tires were made for
Schwinn by National Tire in Japan, and were top quality.
I continue to marvel at the high level of knowledge of Schwinn product and
history amongst the CR members. Things I forgot while working at Schwinn come
back to me as I read these postings.
Dave Staub,
Orange, Ca