Schwinn Man Bicycle Dealer Has Watched Styles Come And Go, But His Love Of Business Has Lasted Three Decades

You can pedal from coast to coast, but there’s one thing you’ll find only in the Spokane Valley - the oldest working Schwinn dealer in the country.

At 74, Clark Franklin still spends about 50 hours every week working in his shop, Midway Cyclery.

Since 1958, he’s been the first person through the door every morning and last to leave each night. Since 1975, he has worked there alongside his son, Brian.

Despite pleas for him to retire, Franklin says he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“According to my wife, the whole thing won’t last much longer, so I might be digging in flower beds before too long,” Franklin says. “But I’m fighting tooth and nail.”

Franklin wasn’t always a pedal pusher - he used to be a broadcast engineer. A neighbor’s father owned Midway, and when the shop father owned Midway, and when the shop went up for sale, Franklin opted for a career change.

“I was cold as a cucumber,” he says of his prior sales experience. “I guess I was just tired of radio work.”

The original owner stayed on for three weeks after selling Midway - then it was all up to Franklin.

“I didn’t blame him a bit,” Franklin says. “He wanted to go fishing.”

Franklin doesn’t regret buying the shop - which was originally located 1-1/2 blocks west of its current location, 12210 E. Sprague - but if he could do it again, it wouldn’t be on a whim.

“I had no experience, but it looked pretty good at the time,” he says. “It was tough. Now I wouldn’t sell pencils on the street without any sales training.”

Folks who grew up riding Franklin’s Schwinns are definitely glad he took up the spoke wrench.

Mike Silvey is a Valley native, and remembers his days spent at Midway well.

“I remember riding to Midway in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, where we would just hang around,” Silvey says. “(Franklin) built the bikes and we watched him and generally made pests of ourselves.”

Franklin wouldn’t toss the young spectators out. “He was always really nice,” Silvey says. That kind of patience pays off, though. Silvey, now in his 40s, is still a loyal customer.

“I don’t remember how many bikes I bought,” he says. “Probably two or three when I was a kid, and half a dozen for family and kids as I’ve been an adult.”

Just three weeks ago, he bought a tandem for himself and his wife, and a mountain bike for his 11-year-old daughter.

Silvey’s not alone in his devotion to Franklin.

Brenda Gildehaus, 29, bought her first bike from Midway when she was in the third grade. “My parents didn’t know that I always rode down here and looked at bikes,” she says. “I came down here all the time and terrorized these guys.”

Now, Gildehaus is a nationally-ranked adult BMX racer, and works at Midway. Her 4-year-old daughter’s first bike was purchased there, too. She says she has a new appreciation for Franklin as a result of working for him.

“He’s incredible - he can fix anything,” she says. And, she loves the family-business atmosphere. Franklin is flexible with scheduling, encouraging her to race.

When Franklin first took over the shop, BMX racing wasn’t even around. He has seen a lot of fads and designs come and go.

When Franklin bought the shop, the rage was fat-tire cruisers with bells and handle streamers.

Then, lightweights came into vogue. Now again, bigger is better.

“After 1966, you couldn’t buy a balloon-tire, and now they’re popular,” Franklin says. “It’s very interesting cycle-wise, the way things come and go.”

Franklin says he’s glad to see the nostalgic fat-tire models back on the roads again. Those bikes are popular with the 45-and-over crowd who rode them as children.

“The cruiser is a kind of memory bike,” he says. “The more people ride it, the younger they get.”

Schwinn Cycling & Fitness, Inc. has had ups and downs as a result of its dedication to heavier bikes.

When light-weight models were in demand in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, the company rested on its laurels, says Brian Franklin.

While Schwinn wasn’t making true balloon-tire bikes, it didn’t aggressively push the quick, multi-speed racers that were the staple of many other manufacturers. The company assumed customer loyalty would be enough to keep profits up.

The complacency backfired - Schwinn filed for bankruptcy in 1992. Since then, the Zell/Chillmark Fund investment group and Scott USA, a bicycle accessory company, bought Schwinn and re-vamped its product line.

The new Schwinn makes high-tech mountain, racing and BMX bikes. The irony, though, is that fat-tires are back, and Schwinn is pushing them.

The company has even introduced a near-exact reproduction of the “Black Phantom,” a bike popular in the ‘40s.

Franklin has seen Schwinn come full-circle. His son, now 36, will take over Midway when he retires, which Franklin says may happen in 1996.

Brian Franklin says when that day comes, he won’t change a thing.

“I’ll keep things the same,” he says. Why fix what isn’t broken? And, like Dad, there isn’t anything he would rather do. Between sales and bike repairs, “you run the gamut,” he says. “I never mind coming to work.”

But will he be running the store solo anytime soon?

“Nah, I don’t think it will happen,” Gildehaus says. “He always says he’s going to retire.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 color)