Riding in style in the Nation's Summer Capital

“It's all about the spectacle,” says Timothy Credle as he prepares to take a ride on his vintage Schwinn Deluxe Hornet.

Credle, who has lived in Rehoboth Beach since 2000, says he is a magnet for 1950s and 1960s bicycles, and Schwinn bikes have a special place in his heart. The company – formed in 1895 – was the preeminent U.S. bike builder for most of the 20th century.

Going retro riding vintage bicycles with friends on the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk is one of his go-to summer-time activities, and it usually involves a stop at Louie's Pizza.

His first bike was a huge, orange Schwinn with big tires. “We all had to ride, and we learned quickly without training wheels,” he said.

Riding around on an old clunker bike when he first moved to the resort city, he realized he needed to upgrade. And he didn't want his friends to be left out, so he started a quest to find vintage bicycles. That quest has now become a passion.

Credle has collected antiques since he was a child and worked at an antique shop in Washington, D.C., before moving to Rehoboth Beach. “I always come back to the old stuff,” he says. He vacationed in Rehoboth Beach and decided to stay.

Credle's home is an eclectic collection of old and new. In his recently remodeled kitchen, old piano stools serve as barstools around a modern, marble-topped center console.

And not everyone has a wall of panniers decorating their man cave; Credle does. “My grandmother said to always accessorize,” he says with his distinctive laugh.

Although he considers himself a collector, from time to time he sells a bike, and he rents them as well. “It's really hard to part with one,” he said. “I say nothing with cables when I'm looking for a bike,” he said.

Credle is always on a quest for vintage bicycles, and he has found some locally. His most recent find was a 1959 Schwinn Deluxe Hornet at Gidget's Gadgets in Rehoboth Beach. “I was stunned to silence when I saw it,” he said.

When not working or riding one of his bicycles, Credle keeps busy running his embroidery business and playing his piano at private parties.

Schwinn brand is still produced

Credle said Schwinn prided itself on producing the best bicycle by getting parts from all over the world. That changed in the 1950s into the 1960s when all Schwinn bikes were made in the United States. Each of the Schwinns he now owns was manufactured in Chicago. He said Schwinn made 31 million bikes from 1935 to 1965 and kept records on every one of them.

Getting parts is not always easy, but he can usually find what he is looking for on-line, thanks to websites such as eBay. The most valuable bikes are those sold before World War II, yet some newer bikes fetch big numbers. One of Schwinn's all-time best sellers, the 1960s banana-seat Sting Ray, sells for more than $700 and up; it retailed for about $60.

In the 1980s and into the early 1990s, Schwinn had labor and financial problems resulting in bankruptcy in 1992. However, the Schwinn name still lives as a brand of Pacific Cycle, which is owned by Dorel Industries. Pacific Cycle, purchased by Dorel in 2004, sells bikes in 65 countries with more bike sales than any other company in North America.