The “Sportsman Flyer Company” started not as a business, but as a hobby. I have built and collected cars and bicycles for years and have always wanted to add a Schwinn Whizzer motorized bicycle to my collection. While keeping my eyes open for just the right bike I started seeing motorized bicycles around with newer two stroke engines. I decided to build one and found a vintage Schwinn Panther frame to start with. This particular frame, commonly called a straight bar frame because of it's unique middle frame tube in the front triangle, is very similar in shape to early motorcycles.
Gas tanks were added into the pocket between the top and middle frame tubes on these early motorcycles, so it only made sense to build a gas tank to fit the Panther frame in the same fashion. Using my fabrication and CAD design skills I designed and built my first in-frame gas tank that fit the Panther frame perfectly. Soon I had people asking if I could build more of these gas tanks. As I continued with my own build I quickly discovered that most of the unique vintage style parts I needed were simply not available. This led to the development of a series of vintage style parts not available anywhere else. Soon people were requesting custom frame and tank kits, as well as seats, handlebars, wheels, and mounts for more powerful engines. The Sportsman Flyer Company was born.