Schwinn Sting Ray bicycles! I had on, in purple. And if I didn’t have a bike already, I’d be jumping on this, literally: Schwinn has released the iconic Lemon Peeler in a very limited quantity – a run of 500 bikes. They are available only on Amazon — click here (affiliate link).
I asked Schwinn PR for a historical image and yippee, they sent me the ad above.
I spent years on my Schwinn Sting Ray. I am not kidding. Years.
More info from Schwinn:
The Lemon Peeler is part of the Sting-Ray family of bicycles. It’s one of the most popular and beloved bike designs for generations of Schwinn fans! It is very exciting as Schwinn fans will be able to own a piece of the brand’s history.
The Schwinn Sting-Ray rose to popularity in the 1960s, and became synonymous with the brand and childhood. The Lemon Peeler was the bright yellow favorite among kids. The new Lemon Peeler looks just like it’s 1960s cousin — equipped with a banana seat, fenders, and a coaster brake. This is the first time in almost 10 years that we’ve introduced a Sting-Ray.
The limited edition Lemon Peeler will feature a spring suspension fork, a Schwinn 16-inch front wheel and a 20-inch Sting-Ray Slik rear tire just like its original counterpart. Additionally, the bike is equipped with a striped banana seat, fenders and a coaster brake.
Each bike will come with a numbered certificate, and once they are gone, they are gone. The bikes will be available at amazon.com for a limited time for $349.99. (affiliate link)
The color is so vibrant, and it really evokes the history and nostalgia of Schwinn.
Oh happy, sunny day.
Lady Bird Johnson postage stamps from 1966 and 1969 
10 vintage Armstrong advertising room designs by Louisa Kostich Cowan 
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Mine was purple too! We bought our older daughter one at a used bike sale years ago and she rode it until her knees started hitting her chin. It was a sad day when she got too big for it.
They’re all gone already. 🙁 Awesome bike, though! I love the yellow color. As a kid, having a bike with a banana seat always seemed so much cooler.
Why you say that. I just bought one. Says there’s 11 left.
Oh – this morning they looked like they had sold out. Looks like they restocked!
Maybe. Looks like it. Did you look at Amazon too?
Amazon has them back in stock…
Sheesh, I guess they’re gone already. Amazon shows “currently unavailable”. 🙁
dangit
well those went quick 🙁
Since we were all kids back in 1968, can anyone do the calculations in today’s dollars what the price would be? Gosh, $80+ feels really high end and you’d better have been a really good kid to get one for Christmas or birthday.
With 6 kids, my parents cheaped out by getting the banana seat and ape-hangers and put them on the smallest bike we had (Lord only knows how old THAT was!) didn’t matter – it popped wheelies and skidded to a stop really cool! Add a “Sound of Power” and we were C-O-O-L!
My parents always bought our big stuff, like bikes, at auctions. I’m sure I would never have had a banana seat purple bike if they hadn’t stumbled across it there.
Mine was a mid 60s Fair Lady Stingray, in metal-flake turquoise blue with a silver sparkle banana seat. I forget exactly what year I bought it.
It cost $67 at the Firestone Store, and I paid for it with a savings account withdrawal representing many years of birthday gifts, First Communion and Confirmation cash and sundry chore wages.
I rode that bike all through high school and delivered papers on it every day before school. Made 2 cents on a daily paper and a nickel for the big Sunday papers, and my earnings supported my crowd of high school friends. Bowling, pool, movies, gas for the times someone was able to borrow Dad’s car…
Those were better times for kids, I think.
It’s amazing how you even remember how much you paid! $67 — well spent!
$67 was an enormous sum to a kid from a poor family with a widowed mom.
It my first high finance decision; I’d had enough to buy a cheaper bike from Sears the year before, but decide to keep saving and get the Schwinn.
What a wonderful lesson in saving!
The Schwinn was too rich for my meager savings, but I did buy myself (with birthday money and dollars earned from weeding yards!) a Miss Buzz Bike from the Western Flyer store. I seem to remember paying $44 for it, a princely sum in 1967/8. It came with a white wicker basket with plastic flowers on the front, and was a beautiful metallic blue. Wow, the memories!
Ahhh, banana seats, no gears and real handlebars (no leaning all the way over to ride). I wish I could be a kid for a day!
The lemon peelers are gone : > ( however, there is still a girls 20 inch Schwinn”banana bike” very retro looking available also on amazon. But keep in mind..the original Schwinn company went bankrupt years ago and the name was sold to another company. The “new” bikes are made in China. Many that have purchased via Amazon have made comments to the questionable quality…. so buyer beware!
Yes, they were at least twice as expensive as a regular bike, which is probably why I never had one . Sigh. Oh well, I did get the pogo stick.
Had the Lemon Peeler. Wow, it was a heavy bike. Had to pump the “slick” rear tire up all the way just to ride it, but it was awfully cool. What, they cost just $86.95? Perhaps I’ve lived too long.
I still have my Schwinn Hollywood bike. I got it in sixth grade, which was about a hundred years ago – at least it seems like it. It’s blue. It has lots of dents and dings but I still ride it. Could use some refurbishing though…
We still have the tamer version of the 20″ Schwinn in candy apple red with chrome fenders that we bought for our daughter in the ’70s. No ape-hanger handlebars or banana seat, just their standard model kids bike, with a removable top bar for girls. At the time still all USA- made quality, and when the tires are pumped up, it’s still rideable after 40 years!
I never had a Sting Ray. For that matter, I don’t recall ever having had a Schwinn. But I seem to recall my brother did.
Make that 3 for Team Purple… seat was dazzling metallic purple too, like the upholstery used on fair rides!
Holy Cow Batman! Outstanding…
I had a a Pea Picker in Lime Green…
My Pops bought it for me around 1966 at our local bike shop in Cleveland Ohio, I picked it out, and .
We were poor back then with my dad in college at Case Western Reserve University, and even at 6 yrs old I recognized it as a rare luxury @ $199.
I mastered the art of backwards wheelies with the front drum brake among other tricks that made my Mom wince with trepidation when performed with pride!
Good times!
What I didn’t understand however was the concept of stealing, and it was stolen from the fence at our local pool, I was devestated! Thats why we can’t have nice things…
I could ride standing up with no hands. For a short while, of course.
i like the looks of the originals. not the newsiee. we called schwinns iron pipe specials. they were well built and almost indestructible. almost. i bought my own bikes. i wanted fast. the bananas were not fast. i rode european the asian.
you can now laugh. i now ride a $40.00 used mongoose ledge. used walmart crap bike. with several hundred sheet metal screws in the tires. purchased the bike from one of my customers, then did the tires. i ride on frozen lakes. i still ride to fast. i still fall off or get pitched. mostly the second. a lot of people ride mongo. most people just pace me on my ice skates. i can see a pair of speed skates in my future.
i’m 72. i ride yard sale bikes. buy ones with good bones, then new bearings. new skins. good ones. way to much fun.
ice cream. raz
Rock on!
We had too many kids for that — mine was a $25 special sold in front of the Winn Dixie. The first of several ‘banana bikes,’ this one was pink. Good times!