The Schwinn cruisers are made in china. There is a chinese copy of the cruiser frame on sale in our supermarkets for under $200. The most expensive model of the classic American cruiser on sale in Oz is the Electra which is actually a better made bike than the Schwinn but doesn't have v brakes. I spent 4 years working in china and one of the most popular frames used in China for the 4-stroke Grubee was the classic American cruiser. the quality of the goods produced in Chinese factories depends very much on whose money was used to establish the production line, what level of supervision there is from the foreign parent company to establish quality control. There are a lot of complex factors involved but if you turn your back on the production process the quality will drop. If there isn't a law against they'll do it and there are very few laws because capitalism is a new phenomenon. I do not see the logic in Bryan's argument - poor quality is poor quality period whether it's Chines, American or Irish.
Dude. I've pretty much have been a spectator to all this and this struck a nerve. Yes about the engine. Whatever. Your 159 dollars buys essentially the identical engine BUT and this is a big BUT,it won't work on any bike. The sprocket is the wrong sprocket. DAX had to fabricate sprockets by hand via welder to make it work. DAX also made the carrier assembly which is pretty solid,dawg.So solid in fact that he put a patent on it. And who cares if the gearbox is JUST a stock table saw bug sprayer whatever. It TRUMPS that Non CNC machined gear box these engines are finding themselves in frame mounts. When you look at his site,you find he sells his engine for 20 bucks more. I think that's a good compromise seeing he had to fabricate his own sprocket.
This is why everybody here mentions companies like DAX, Staton, GEBE... and *not* RevolutionCycles.
