Richard Schwinn is exactly who you might think he is. The great grandson of Schwinn Bicycle Company founder Ignaz Schwinn, Richard carried on the family tradition through boom and bust, eventually transforming its flagship Paramount sub-brand of high-end steel bikes into Waterford Precision Cycles (and later adding Gunnar Cycles) after Schwinn closed its doors for good in 1993.
Waterford and Gunnar enjoyed an impressive 30-year run before a combination of events prompted Schwinn to finally wind things down in 2023. However, the brands are about to go through a rebirth after being purchased by Abra-Cadabra Fabrication, the parent company of Colorado-based frame builder Sanitas Cycles.
Haven’t heard of either one? That’s understandable. After all, Sanitas Cycles is a new boutique titanium brand that’s only three years old, and Abra-Cadabra is mostly a corporate entity. But you may very well have heard of Dean Titanium Bicycles, whose original founder, John Siegrist, is one of the co-founders of Abra-Cadabra, together with his son, David, and their business partner, Brad Swaim.
In short, Waterford and Gunnar seem like they’re in good hands.
But how will Waterford and Gunnar fit into the new brand portfolio, and what will those bikes look like moving forward? Will they still be steel? Why did Waterford and Gunnar shut down in the first place, and how did this recent deal come to be? What’s Richard Schwinn been up to lately? And where the heck did those brand names come from, anyway?
To answer all of that – and then some – I called up Richard Schwinn himself, and it’s a conversation you won’t want to miss.
Share this post