No Hands: The Rise and Fall of the Schwinn Bicycle Company, an American Institution Hardcover – January 1, 1996

Never take a job at a privately owned company with the grandkids running the place.If you are a grandkid who owns a company, got to Hawaii and live on the beach and hire a real professional manager for your company.The book has a lot of Schwinn history. It tells us what went right and what didn't. The Schwinn at Walmart may say Schwinn, but it isn't a real Schwinn, it's a low bid bike sold by a company that owns several bike names. Like the title, "No Hands" all of the chapters have similar titles, makes it fun. Also serious facts and why the great company wasn't great. Having ridden Schwinns of that era and bought one and still have a Japanese bike of that era, I can't figure out why it took so long for them to fail. They just got out of touch with their customers, yet were set up to be in tune with the every changing market.

My husband got this book for his birthday. He reads very slowly. What amazed me is that he could not put this book down. Good story, kept his attention and finished it in 3 days!

This is a fascinating cautionary tale about what happens to a business -- no matter how famous -- when it loses focus on its customers and competitors. For anyone who grew up riding a Schwinn, it's hard to avoid rooting for the company to succeed, even though one knows (in advance) that in the end the company failed. It's a little like watching a horror movie where you want to yell out to the screen, "watch out," in the vain hope the actors in the movie can here you -- I kept wanting the management of Schwinn to wake up and save the company, even though you know they won't.Highly recommended -- too bad this is out of print. Worth buying a used copy to read.

If is not a Schwinn then it is not collectable? My friends and I rebuild antique Whizzers and putt around Illinois while Mary and the other ladies shop. When roads were all country Whizzers were ridden across the country. Try doing that on a fat tired bike without a motor. Schwinn was a magic time when the arched frame, pin stripeing, two tone paint jobs and bullet proof steel construction ruled styling. Because of cost and weakening Americans, it had to go and so did Schwinn but it was a great ride that still continues.

Read this book years ago and missed it so much i had to have my own copy. Great book that makes you almost smell the hard wood floors of the old Chicago Schwinn factory. Its that good.

This book must be read by every student of business. There’s a sad story of how nepotism and family in fighting destroyed a family company. I was born in 1965 and in 1973 my father gave me a red 1973 Schwinn, five speed stingray Schwinn was the Cadillac of Mercedes Benz of kids bicycles. The company was destroyed by a combination of the failure to adapt to a changing market and nepotism and arrogance. This book is evidence that often family ownership is not necessarily the best way to run a company, and as the old adage goes, I was so close to the forest. I did not see the trees was the result in this case, the last generation of Schwinn family members to run the company, ran it into the ground.

A must read for any serious Schwinn collector. It will give you greater appreciation for your Chicago-made REAL Schwinn.

DO Not buy a schwinn bike..from anywhere . I bought Mt first schwinn bike Christmas 2021 for my husband. I thought it must be a good brand it is so well known and been around for a long time. Wrong! I bought it brand new from walmart. Nothing but problems ..after 1 month the gears started slipping and and the tires came loose from the frame. .I an so disappointed. I will never buy another schwinn.