Classic & Vintage - schwinn traveler $75 ...good deal?

Hi! I just decided to try out road cycling and couldn't fork out hundreds for a new bike (poor college kid)... and I found this on craigslist

http://houston.craigslist.org/bik/131274866.html

is it a good deal?

I also have no knowledge whatsoever of what to look for in a road bike, only that I need a 20" (51cm), so any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

How tall are you that you're looking at 51cm frames? $75 is probably on the high end of prices for that bike, but if you don't need to put any more money into it, the Schwinn wouldn't be a bad choice for a first roadie.

Well judging from the ad, it seems that everything that needed to be replaced has been, but I guess I won't know until I look at it. Also, from what I've read, stem shifters and the brake levers parallel to the handlebars seem to be very discouraged, and from the pictures this bike looks like it's got them. Will that be a big deal?

Oh and I'm 5' 6", female. Inseam 30.5"...and I calculated the frame size from a website. Should I be concerned?

Thanks for the reply btw.

Brake "Safety Levers" (also known as "turkey wings", or "Suicide Brakes") have a bad reputation for developing bad habits (like depending on them for stopping the bike, which they often don't do very well if at all). However, on most brake lever designs, they're fairly easy to remove, plus, you can always just leave them in place and train yourself NOT to depend on them for stopping. They usually work ok for slowing down...

Stem mounted shift levers are often disparaged as a sign of a "low end" bike. Although it is true that many manufacturers put stem shifters on their entry level offerings, they were also used on a few better bikes. If I remember correctly, it was even possible to get a Schwinn Paramount equipped with these during the bike boom years. In any event, the only real concern you should have about stem shifters is this: if the levers extend above the top of the stem, they can be a hazard in the event of a crash. Hence the not-too-delicate term sometimes used to describe these levers: "gut-rippers". In fact, I've never heard of anyone who was injured by stem shifters, but it's worth considering if your bike has a really long set of levers.

Sounds like your frame size calculation is about right, and based on the pictures of the bike, you shouldn't have any problems with toe overlap. This is sometimes a problem with newer bikes in small frame sizes. Good luck!!

Oh and I'm 5' 6", female. Inseam 30.5"...and I calculated the frame size from a website. Should I be concerned?

Depends on when the bike was made. If it's from the early 80s forward, you've got it right, 20.5" center to top, or 20" center to center.

However, if the bike was made in the 70s, the measurements would be different. In that case, you'd want the standover height of the frame to be anywhere from just touching to about 1 inch clearance.

The difference is that after the 70s, manufacturers started using proportional sizing on frames, meaning the top tubes were sized proportionally to the frames. Before the 80s, manufacturers used the same length top tube on all their frames. Thus, frame fit is different depending on when the bike was made.

thanks for the help everyone, I now know that much more :D ...sadly someone already bought the bike. but i'll keep looking!