RIP Al Fritz, inventor of the Schwinn Sting-Ray.
For much of the 1960s and the early 1970s, no suburban streetscape would have been complete without them: A squadron of kids clutching sky-high handlebars on low-slung bikes in eye-popping, hot-rod colors. Equipped with a curved banana seat, the Schwinn Sting-Ray was America’s most popular bicycle. Its godfather, Schwinn executive Al Fritz, became known as an industry visionary for transforming a Southern California street fad into a national phenomenon.
“It looked incredibly sporty,” said his son Mike Fritz, a bicycle industry consultant who lives in Newbury Park. “It gave kids too young to have a driver’s license the opportunity to have the Corvette of bicycles.”
Fritz, the Chicago-based Schwinn manager who heeded a salesman’s tip that “something goofy is happening in California,” died Tuesday in Barrington, Ill., of complications caused by a stroke, family members said. He was 88.
Al Fritz dies at 88; Schwinn exec developed the Sting-Ray bike (Thanks, Bob!)