It’s time to think about winter restoration projects for a few million of us who live where it gets cold, snowy, icy, horrible, ridiculous, why-do-I-live-here, wait, where was I going with this? Oh yeah, with three or four months of miserable weather barking at our door right now, it’s time to think about another restoration project. This late-1970s Schwinn Hurricane 5 early BMX-type bike is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Redgranite, Wisconsin, and they’re asking $400. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Lothar… of the Hill People for the tip!
For a fleeting moment (hour), I thought about buying this bike, but the more I thought about it and what I already own that needs to be restored, I gave up that plan. As with a lot of us, my restoration eyes are much bigger than my restoration stomach is. I have three little motorcycles on the list, two vintage outboard motors, a lawn tractor, a three-wheeler, and that doesn’t even take into account the level of mustache grooming I have scheduled.
These bikes are a bit of a mystery, but there is some information about them online, and they were apparently made from 1978 through 1980, or they were shown in Schwinn catalogs for those years. These folks have put together an outstanding website of Schwinn information, very well done! The “MX-style saddle” looks supremely comfortable. I’m not a huge fan of the overall look of these bikes; there’s just too much going on for me with the two different colors (either red and silver or blue and silver), and then black handlebars, front forks, and rear “shocks.” That combo just looks weird to me, like it’s a bunch of different bike parts combined for no reason. I’m not sure what Schwinn was thinking on this one. Better yet, what do you think about it? This bike was $145 new, over $600 in today’s dollars.
Schwinn now makes a small electric bike (boooooo!) named the Hurricane, so you’ll come up with info on that if you do any online research on these things. This almost five-decade-old bike isn’t operated by batteries; it’s operated by your friggin’ legs. Shifting duties fall right to the crux of the handlebars, and you can see the “Positron” shifter above. It’s a very unusual place to put a shifter, but we’ve heard many stories about top-bar-mounted shifters being somewhat, uhh.. uncomfortable to hit with certain body parts as you go over a jump or come to an abrupt stop. This shifter is all black, but the Schwinn catalog shows a chrome shifter for 1978, 1979, and 1980, so I’m not sure what’s going on there. There are a couple of Hurricane 5s on eBay with black shifters, so it must be original.
Some refer to this 40-pound Hurricane 5 as an early BMX bike, or at least a BMX-type or style, due to its rugged features, rear shocks, etc. It’s a bit heavy, but that just means it’s rugged, no? The seller says, “Schwinn hurricane all original.” That’s it. I wish they had included a photo of the serial number so we could nail down the year of this unusual bike. Have any of you heard of the Schwinn Hurricane 5? Do you have any winter restoration projects planned? If so, let’s hear about ’em!
I do not remember these at all. A d I used to go to the Schwinn dealer ( remember those?) All the time as a kid and drool. I agree with you Scotty, its kind of a Hodge Podge going on here. It looks like a Sting Ray frame with black BMX parts put in it. I’m not 100 percent sure those shock thingies ( very technical term here folks) are functional. But hey, it’s a rare Schwinn, and I’m willing to bet dollars for donuts there’s someone out there who had one as a kid and will want this. Cool write up Scotty, thanks for jogging some dusty old memories of my favorite Schwinn dealer from when I was a kid.
Here I am, rock you like a hurricane,,I always wondered if Schwinn bikes would have been so successful if they were called Schwiloss. I never heard of this model either, and looks to be towards the end of the Sting Ray fad. Motorized dirt bikes had captured most of their market, but there were a few parents that wouldn’t allow a motor, and this is what the kid got. Compared to my Sting Ray( a converted 20incher with a banana seat and tall bars) Schwinn threw everything they had at this bike. Typically, I read, Krate bikes were around $94 new, I’d imagine this was a bit more, that was a lot of grass cutting. They did sell a basic Sting Ray for $56, and that’s what most of us got.
I begged and begged my mom for a Schwinn 5 speed. I knew it wasn’t cheap but I used quality as the selling point. It was a stretch for her, but she bought one. Five days later some punk a*s shoved me off it and rode away. I was more sorry for my mom than me. Needless to say, the replacement was something much cheaper.
Later I sold and fixed Schwinns for several years in the 80s. Oddly, we didn’t get a lot of these in for repair, I think because they weren’t that popular. Schwinns were tough, but they were heavy as tanks and not terribly sophisticated. Weight is everything when all the power is coming from you.
The price seems optimistic but what do I know.
I want this. I know I should just leave it be…but…
Scotty I hope you like climbing hills on your pedal power bike. I got an e bike and I use the motor for boost but I’m still pedaling. I could never climb out of the valleys here otherwise. When you’re seventy two it’s the difference between riding and staying home .
You are so right, Fox Owner! I should have mentioned that I’m only down on e-bikes because of the riders who are careless with them while riding around others due to their “silent speed.” From my experience on paved bike trails or even city bike lanes, most people riding e-bikes WHIZ past others silently at 25-30 mph without calling out or ringing a bell or anything. If a “pedal biker” even slightly turns their head to see if anyone is behind them, they may weave over a bit, and there would be a devastating crash with likely major injuries to both riders. All it would take would be for e-bikers, or anyone on a bicycle passing another bicyclist, to say, “On your left,” but that’s as rare as a politician actually reaching across the aisle after being elected.
This silent contingent of “e-bike trail passers” really is ruining it for everyone on trails, from what I’ve experienced. I know they can be life-changing to use for older folks (like me), and most likely, the majority of e-bike owners do ride them responsibly and with regard for others who are pedaling much slower. But as with everything, it’s still disappointing to see a few bad eggs/apples ruin it for everyone.
In happy Colorado, generally, e-bikes are not allowed on non-motorized bike/pedestrian trails and restricted to roads on a trail by trail basis. I gave up riding my bicycle on bike/pedestrian trails, because I’d come up on a couple walkers, who were in “nature trail rapture”, I’d say “excuse me”, they’d jump a mile! Some were downright pixxed at me. Sheesh, excuuuuuuuuse me. Hey, doofus, other people in the world, you know.
RE: E-bikes and peddling and crappy Asian gauges. I have a friend who got an e bike, whizzing along without a care, looking at the charge indicator, shows plenty of juice, he taps the gauge, not unlike “China Syndrome”, and the gauge drops top 0, and shortly after he coasts to a stop. It was a long pedal back, he said.
Cool, the seller also has a blue Stingray listed with a cool wheelie bar at $1,300.
Scott, what outboard motors are you restoring? This is sort of an under the radar part of the “we restore any and all old mechanical things” hobby.
I rebuilt an old Scott Atwater 7.5 a number of years ago, and it actually ran….
Mike, mine aren’t anything of that level, just a 1960s Montgomery Ward 5hp, and a 1983 Suzuki DT-2D 2hp. Not too useful in the grand scheme of life, but they’d be fun display motors if nothing else. I had a nice 1977 (but looked much older) British Seagull that was fully restored, but I sold it a couple of years ago, for a loss, of course.
1980s I went out to the beach for my early morning stroll. Ton of handmade rafts from Cuba lined the beach.Grabbed some wrenches and unbolted all the outboards,all pre 1960.What a treasure trove,but foolishly sold them all off over the years.The rafts made that days newspapers, but the motors were all gone.Florida was beautiful back then,Speaking of stingrays,I got a gold 5- speed for Christmas ’64,kept it perfect.Gave it to my little neighbor 10 years later,he destroyed it in a month.Didn,t even use the kickstand. I could cried,thinking of all the wax I used on that bike
That Seagull was a great old motor! Thanks Scotty!
I really want this also Scotty but have too many bikes already, so a pic or two for the memory and on I go. Somewhat glad it’s in far enough away state that I can’t drive a few hours to get there! Shipping? Shhhhh – stop it! ;-)
I don’t remember those bikes. I kind of remember Sears having one kind of like that. I thought maybe this one might have been a Frankenstein that someone had cobbled together, but I found a few I found some old ads that show that exact bike. That would be a good one for somebody’s collection.