Waterford's Roots

A century ago when the bicycle's popularity peaked for the first time, a young German engineer named Ignaz Schwinn started a bicycle company in Chicago, then, the world center of bicycle building. Fifty years later, his son, who had started mass producing bikes, created a special place within this factory to build elite racing machines. By pioneering the use of high-strength steel alloys and then later, low-temperature silver brazing, this factory dominated the US racing scene for decades. Many noted framebuilders such as Albert Eisentraut served their apprenticeship under the master framebuilders.

In the late 1970's, a young rider, designer and builder named Marc Muller brought the experience and innovation from his own framebuilding enterprise and took charge of building these elite bicycles. Marc moved the factory to Waterford, Wisconsin and continued building elite bicycles and also created a cycling design laboratory.

Marc and his staff introduced a number of key innovations including oversized tubing, 26" wheels, cast-in cable guides and our patented full suspension system. These advances allowed them to design and build bikes for National and World champions such as Ned Overand, Marc Allen, Mike Engleman, Tom Prehn and many others.

Marc Muller and Richard Schwinn, manufacturer and great-grandson of Ignaz formed an independent organization, completely dedicated to building fine bicycles. Less than two years into the new business, Waterford and Criterium rider Jeanette Norris earned its first national championship. In less than five years, Richard Widmark earned Waterford's first world Championship and we now have dozens of national championships under our belt including the 1999 USAT Professional Women's Triathlon Championship.

In a world where America again leads in elite bicycle design, our team of designers, riders and builders continues a one hundred year commitment toward excellence and innovation.

Design Philosophy:

The renaissance in American framebuilding and design has grown from the many experiments of builders and inventors who continue to explore new materials, structures, geometries and applications for the bicycle. While we also experiment and watch with excitement the developments in our field, we don't believe in using our riders as test pilots.

We believe that good fit and geometry have more impact on rider performance than any other factor. Our selection of materials, design of tubing and lugs as well as integration of other components assures high performance at every level.

We design and build our bikes so that twenty years from now you will feel as good about your investment as you did the day you made it. While many companies have moved toward disposability, we continue to offer bikes that are completely repairable. We believe this gives you more choices as a rider: the choice to adapt your bike to future innovations or to restore your bike to like-new condition. This also places less stress on our world's precious resources.

Every aspect of every Waterford has been carefully considered and reconsidered by designers and engineers who love to ride, and who seek for themselves, and for you, the ultimate bicycle frame.