The Beginning

Schwinn acquired the Excelsior and Henderson motorcycle companies in 1911 and 1914, respectively.  Frank Schwinn, the son of the Schwinn company founder, Ignaz Schwinn, soon became the head of the Excelsior – Henderson Motorcycle Division of Schwinn.  He was an excellent motorcycle engineer. However, at the close of the 1920s, the stock market crash decimated the American motorcycle industry, taking Excelsior-Henderson with it. Arnold, Schwinn, & Co. (as it remained until 1967) was on the verge of bankruptcy. With no buyers, Excelsior-Henderson motorcycles were discontinued in 1930.¹ Frank W. “F. W.” Schwinn, at the age of 36, then took over day-to-day operations at Schwinn.  Frank decided to put all his efforts toward bicycle design, production and sales. Frank succeeded in developing low-cost models that brought Schwinn recognition as an innovative company, as well as a product that would continue to sell during the inevitable downturns in business cycles. In 1931, Ignaz and Frank Schwinn decided to travel to Europe to get ideas that would increase bike sales.   While in Germany, he saw balloon tires on bicycles. In the U.S., all bikes had sew-up tires, “basically a glorified piece of continuous garden hose with a valve”. These tires were almost impossible to repair. Frank disliked these tires and wanted to convert to something more similar to motorcycle tires.  These tires softened the ride on rough roads and cobbled streets. It was also much easier to fix flats on these tires, just simply repair the rubber inner tube. Frank concluded that these tires would be a strong selling point for the American market.  In fact the early ads for balloon tire models emphasized the soft ride with low pressure tires of 18 -22 lbs. The balloon tire measures 26” x 2 1/8^th compared to previous tires measuring 28” x 1 ½”².

Upon return from his European trip, Frank met with a bike industry group in Chicago to explain his plan.  The plan was to add balloon tires to bikes and make them look more like motorcycles with the addition of a faux gas tank (i.e., a tool box tank), a motorcycle rear carrier, a Klaxon push lever horn and a chromed motorcycle head light. Schwinn even proposed the use the name Motobike and a near copy of the Harley-Davidson eagle wings logo on the tool box tank to make the bikes more motorcycle like. The other bike manufacturers were not at all receptive to the idea and felt that there was no reason to change the way bikes had been manufactured for decades.  This turned out to be a serious error in judgment on their part.²

Frank also met obstacles in getting the new rims and tires manufactured.  Because of their long relationship with Firestone, they finally agreed to produce the new rims.  He initially approached U.S. Rubber to produce the tires but they dismissed it as a “silly idea”. He then went to Fisk Tire Company and they agreed to produce tires for 5,000 bikes.  Unfortunately, Fisk failed to make the tires properly, so Frank went back to U.S. Rubber and said “make the tires or I will import them”, so U.S. Rubber agreed.³

Department stores also scoffed at the idea and would not carry Schwinn’s new balloon tire bikes. So Frank said that they would only sell these bikes to small independent bike shops. As it turned out, these small bike shops would now finally have something that the department stores could not get. The sales of small shops soared following the introduction of these balloon tire bikes².

Despite the chilly reception to his ideas, in 1933, Frank introduced the Schwinn Motobike B10E, actually a youth’s bicycle designed to imitate a motorcycle. Frank surmised correctly that if a young boy could not afford a motorcycle then the next best thing would be a bike that looked like a motorcycle, Frank was right – Schwinn’s market share dramatically increased from 8% to 16% from 1933 to 1935. The B10E was produced from 1933 to 1935. By 1935, 97% of all bikes sold in the U.S. had balloon tires.² This was a dramatic trend change in the bicycle industry.  For about the next 25 years the balloon tire bike would rule the roads.

Some people in the bicycle hobby argue that Sears was the first to introduce balloon tires.  The 1931-32 Sears Fall-Winter catalogue introduced the Allstate balloon tire bicycle. This was a 28 X 2 inch tubeless tire – similar to the construction of many auto and motorcycle tires. Sears advertised that it was a balloon tire that represented the first bike innovation in 50 years.  The Schwinn Super Balloon tire was 26 x 2 1/8 and had an inner tube.  While some argument exists to which company actually introduced the first balloon tire bicycles in the United States it is generally accepted that Schwinn produced the first balloon tire bicycles in the spring of 1933.

Schwinn Balloon Tire Models

The 1933 Schwinn balloon tire model line-up consisted of seven different models (six boys and one girl). The model designation for these bikes started with “B” (balloon) e.g. B10E while the same bike with 28 x 1 ½” tires was designated simply as #10E. The following is a list of the balloon tire bike models:⁴

B 1 ½ (juvenile)

B 1 ½ E (juvenile)

B1 Camelback (juvenile)

B3 Ladies

B4 Camelback

B9 Motorbike-unequipped

B10E Motorbike-equipped (rack, battery can and light, tank, friction horn)

The 28” bikes included the same model line-up but with the addition of a #5 Roadster. Additionally a Model “R” (racer) equipped with 28 x 1 1/8” tires was in the line-up.

The B10E Motobike

The focus of this article will be on the top-of-the-line B10E. The following are the specifications for each of the three years the B10E and B10EC-(1935 only).