Classic & Vintage - I feel so violated, lol!

I stopped by Target earlier this afternoon to get some cheap grips and some swimming pool shocker. I walk into the bike dept, and start mentally going down the row (junk, junk, junk, junk, etc etc) I then spot one of the new cheapo "Schwinn road bikes" and decided to go check it out. Yada yada, blue and clear coated aluminum two tone, stem butterfly shifters, steel chainrings. On and on.... My eyes fall on the frame top tube, and something looks familiar. It says PRELUDE!?!?!?! Geez, is no good older Schwinn name safe from the Pacific Cycles bastardization mill??:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ,,,,BD:(

Funny, I was just in Target and I looked at the "Schwinn Prelude" there too.

For me it was the toeclip straps that hit a nerve. I don't know what brand they are, but they have the four-leaf clover logo - just like the ones they sold me at Yellow Jersey, that now adorn my 70s lightweight!

But I suppose having a $199 road bike for sale in the big box stores is a good thing. 1) if Pacific and the mass retailers are taking notice, it demonstrates the growing popularity of road cycling; 2) it will get more people out on two wheels.

Yeah, can't be all bad I suppose. But that's what they'll think about Preludes, and Varsity's, and even now the Suburban that is at another sporting goods store. That's right, even the Suburban is back, and the one I pulled out to sit on, had a severely bent rim. The Prelude's back brakes were so out of adjustment it was frightening. They aren't the first one's though, as I saw a "Ozone" 3-4 years ago at a Kmart in El Paso, and thought how out of place it was to see a road bike that wasn't in a bike shop.,,,,BD

I kind of like the Schwinn Madison and so does Cycling news:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=/photos/2007/tech/reviews/schwinn_madison07/gallery-schwinn_madison07

I understand that they're hard to get because they can't build them fast enough to meet the demand.

I kind of like the Schwinn Madison and so does Cycling news:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=/photos/2007/tech/reviews/schwinn_madison07/gallery-schwinn_madison07

I understand that they're hard to get because they can't build them fast enough to meet the demand.

Does that signal the end of the "fixie" craze? Maybe that will save a lot of vintage bikes from having brazeons ground off anyway.

Does that signal the end of the "fixie" craze? Maybe that will save a lot of vintage bikes from having brazeons ground off anyway.
I certainly hope so.

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* Disclosure: Regular readers know what I think of fixed gear and single-speed. :) I received an old Avanti track bike as a wedding present, gave it to a friend, and helped him convert into a 4-speed with a reversed SunTour derailleur "claw" and a Regina freewheel with 5th gear removed.

The Madison is in a different class and is not sold outside of authorised Schwinn dealerships. I owned a Madison and I have a prototype Varsity in my posession. Definitely different levels of quality, but without a doubt, Pacific knows what they're doing and that's getting people on bikes and establishing brand loyalty.

The Madison is in a different class and is not sold outside of authorised Schwinn dealerships. I owned a Madison and I have a prototype Varsity in my posession. Definitely different levels of quality, but without a doubt, Pacific knows what they're doing and that's getting people on bikes and establishing brand loyalty.

Would you post a picture of your proto Varsity?

Yeah, I was going to say the Madison, is one of their nice LBS bikes. Being that we have one dealer here left for Schwinn, and it's a loooong way from me, I'll probably not be going there anytime soon.,,,,BD

I saw the Schwinn road bikes at my local Target the other day. I had to make it real quick as I didn't want anyone who knew me to see me near those bikes.....

Seriously, it is nice to see someone selling a mass market road bike. Most all of us started on something like that at one time or another, so it could bring more people to road riding. Nothing but good could come out of that!

My only criticism of the Schwinn bikes sold at the Marts is that they don't come in the frame size that's ideal for me. Otherwise, I might have one. They look decent, and I know what to do to keep one maintained and on the road. Having the support of an LBS can be a good thing, but if you can't spend the money for it, there's no sense in going without a bike. I do worry about people who don't know anything about bikes who buy a Mart bike. They have a bad experience and it makes them suspicious of bicycles in general.

We have two authorized Schwinn dealers around here. One only had a couple of their comfort bikes on his sales floor, and the other one didn't have a single Schwinn out on display.

I certainly hope so.

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* Disclosure: Regular readers know what I think of fixed gear and single-speed. :) I received an old Avanti track bike as a wedding present, gave it to a friend, and helped him convert into a 4-speed with a reversed SunTour derailleur "claw" and a Regina freewheel with 5th gear removed.

So it's okay to convert a track bike to a geared bike, but it's not okay to convert a geared bike to a SS/fixed gear?

It's wild to read a 21 lb Schwinn described as " Heavy. Really heavy "....

I've never heard of anyone converting a track bike to a geared bike, but I guess just about everything has
been done at one time or another. IMHO enough bikes have been ripped apart and ground down already, but that's not what this thread is about at all. Please guys, this thread isn't about fixies vs gears. It's about mass produced junk being festooned with once proud names from high end Schwinns. It's been argued to death, already, and I would hate to be forced to unsubscribe to my own thread.:D :D,,,,BD

Imagine walking into a Wal Mart or Target, and seeing one of these bikes with the Paramount name? They're moving up the line? Hopefully they won't dare go that far, but it's certainly a possibility.

Would you post a picture of your proto Varsity?

In his sig.