Hey Roger, where, or when maybe, did you get that photo of an Orange Krate for sale for $75?! That's even way cheap for an offshore repop. Hah, I saw that and immediately started looking for one for The Boy... that must've been a scam. Gah.

Hi Keith,

a) 1969 model year thing.
Actually ‘69 Krates used three shifter handles. All three had the 90 degree bend before the knob.
1) A straight arm with horizontal round knob.
2) A two bend arm with horizontal round knob.
3) A two bend arm with a barrel knob.
That barrel knob is what they used from that point forward.

b) 1968 and ‘69 used a “colorline silk” on the back which matched the bike.
Yours would have been an Orange line slik. It shows in your highlighted photo.
The RWL Sliks came out in 1970.

BTW, the colorline Slik tires were the coolest.
You could go into your Schwinn dealer and purchase a colorline superior front tire to match the rear. That front tire was extremely rare tire back then and impossible to find today.

c) Collectors preference. Besides, how many of these people actually ride these Krates. I don’t, as they are show and tell only.

Thanks for sharing your Krate, Chris.

That price is way too cheap!!

That $74.99 photo is probably a scam since the reproductions don't have the shifters on the center bar.

IIRC that was one of the reasons that these bikes were killed off back in the 1970's - some type of safety issue back in the day with 1) taking your hands off the handlebars to shift, and 2) losing your nuts if you crashed and slid forward into the shifter. (OUCH)

There was another BMX cvompany in the late 70's early 80's named I believe VITUS they manufactured Aluminum BMX bikes which were glued together using forged or cast connectors with T6 tubes if not mistaken. EXTREMELY LIGHT and strong.

https://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/vitus/

My Brother and I both got the Raleigh Choppers about 1970sh? His was same color as yours. Mine was Orange.. The shifter was not like that./ they were round.. I will try to find pics if they exist.. Thanks Steve for posting!!

Mine is a three-speed. Did you have the 5-speed or more? They had different knobs depending on the number of gears. My brother had a black 5-speed with two shifters side by side and the really tall sissy bar with the pad on top. Also, those knobs had a habit of geeting unscrewed and lost. It was hard to get a corrrect replacement T-bar knob set back then.

This was a girls version I restored for my daughter. Since there was no cross bar, they had the shifter on the center of the handlebars.

I must have been about 12 when I decided a wanted a "Banana Seat" single speed Schwinn bike so I could do jumps and such. So I traded in my Raleigh 3 speed full size and some very hard earned lawn mowing and baby sitting money.

It was great until everyone got on their bikes to take a ride into town which was about 3 miles away and I am peddling my a$$ off trying to stay up with the pack. It lasted about 3 months when to my good fortune it was stolen out of our garage. I took the insurance money and borrowed what I needed from my mom and bought a beautiful lime green metallic Schwinn 10 speed full size bike complete with the racing handlebar.

Attachment 190583 identical to this,, 3spd