Classic and Vintage Bicycles: What's it Worth? Appraisals and Inquiries - 1973 Schwinn Sport Tourer

This is a 1973 Sunset Orange Schwinn Sport Tourer. All original, Had layers of sawdust on it which preserved it beautifully. The generator and lights work perfectly. The owner who had bought it new said that he had only put about 300 miles at the most on it. It has all of the original paperwork as well, including the sale price in 1973 of $199, catalog and owners manual . The only thing not Schwinn on the bike is the seat which seemed to be an upgrade to a "Brooks" seat. I have attached pics. I am trying to figure out whether to sell the beauty or keep it in my collection. How much is she worth. I live near Seattle. Thank you for any help with this!
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Wow that thing looks emaculate! I would keep that thing as what else is in your collection? Are those Bluemel fenders on it also? I think you could get like 3-400. Those were one step down from the Paramounts in Schwinn's lineup. Very nice bike as I've had two last year I picked up and sold as they were both a little tall for me but still fun to restore.

VERY NICE bike. I agree with $300-400 selling price, even though it may take awhile to find the right buyer.

Really nice bike.

Handmade fillet-brazed frame, detailed here: http://sheldonbrown.com/schwinn-braze.html

I've got one just like it, but not quite as pristine!

Use the search feature and take a look at what pastorbob did to his Super Sport (a closely related model).

This is what happened to my Sports Tourer and went under the knife and got a nice facelift.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/723446-Complete-overhaul-of-Sports-Tourer?highlight=

The Brooks B15 saddle came with the bike.

I'd keep it.

The Brooks B15 saddle came with the bike.

I'd keep it.

+1 I would also keep or possiably sell the vintage brooks seperately. You can get Schwinn approved saddle to match the bike fairly cheaply if you shop around and it won't realy hurt the value. Selling it with the brooks is basicaly giving $75 gift to the new owner.

The Sports Tourers and even the Super Sports came stock with Brooks saddles. The one thing I noticed is that your bike has TA cranks instead of the Nervars that normally came on 73's. I personally like the TA's over the Nervars. Maybe it was a early made 73 bike and they had leftover TA cranks?
http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1971_1980/1973_11.jpg

The Sports Tourers and even the Super Sports came stock with Brooks saddles. The one thing I noticed is that your bike has TA cranks instead of the Nervars that normally came on 73's. I personally like the TA's over the Nervars. Maybe it was a early made 73 bike and they had leftover TA cranks?
http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1971_1980/1973_11.jpg

Great info I thought most of these came with a Schwinn approved labeled leather like saddle and not a actual brooks. I agree with the TA being a better crank than the Nevars which was the alloy 3 piece Schwinn used on most of its stuff in the mid 70's.

I actually made some adapters that would allow use of modern size chainrings(130, 110...) on those French crankarms made by TA, Stronglight and Nervar. Their very nice AutoCAD designed and cut out on a water jet pieces in stainless and aluminum.

Bike is worth 450 with the seat,,,taking off the seat is not only sneaky, but takes a lot of the value away,,,I never bought a sports tourer but have bought a few Super Sports,,if the Brooks saddle is gone,,it is of no interest at all to me...taking of the seat is bad karma and also cuts the value about half maybe even more.

I buy and sell a few Schwinns and know a few others that do the same thing, if they become known as a guy that takes the good parts from a bike then tries to sell them,,other collectors avoid that guy like the plague.

The only thing not Schwinn on the bike is the seat which seemed to be an upgrade to a "Brooks" seat.
That bike looks to be 100% original including the original Brooks B15 saddle, which was standard on the Sports Tourer. The bike alone is worth $300 to $400 in that condition.

It even has several period correct accessories including a Pletscher rack, Bluemels plastic lightweight fenders, and a Schwinn Deluxe generator set and bell. The non-Schwinn accessories don't add any significant value to the bike, but they are worth something separately. Personally I'd remove all of the accessories and sell them separately. You could get up to $200 or more for the accessories alone, which may even cover what you paid for the bike.

As a tip, be very careful with the Sunset Orange handlebar tape, as it has become virtually impossible to find. The orange colored Schwinn or Hunt Wilde tape that does seem to be generally available is Kool Orange, which is a much lighter color (1971 only on the Sports Tourer) that won't match the darker Sunset Orange paint on this 1973 bike.


The one thing I noticed is that your bike has TA cranks instead of the Nervars that normally came on 73's.
Note that all 1971 through 1975 Sports Tourers used TA or Nervar cranks interchangeably. Of course only one or the other type was shown on a given model year catalog page, but both types were installed on Sports Tourers in any given year. The only model year specific crank change was that '71 models had either TA or Nervar cranks with 36-54T chainrings, while '72-'75 models had either TA or Nervar cranks with 40-54T chainrings.

id say anywhere between 150 and 450. obviously local market is everything, you might have to let it go for 200 if your local market aint good. people that are willing to pay 350 for a heavy old schwinn are usualy schwinn enthusiasts and its a coin toss weather they know/care about the original brooks. swapping the schwinn approved seat on is a little sneaky cause then you are basicly fishing for someone who doesnt know about the original seat. a seasoned buyer will simply deduct $75 from his otherwise all-stock offering price, or more because b15's are hard to find. i disagree with the dude above though, it wont cut half, maybe 100 bucks at most but it just depends on who checks out the bike and if they know and/or care about the original seat.

there is always ebay, but ebay aint looking good http://www.ebay.com/csc/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=schwinn+sport+tourer&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc

shows one that sold for 450, a yellow one thats a primo size in a world wide buy-it-now, so who knows could be legit or could be money laundering. if your bike was the day glow sparkley orange from the mid -late 70's then it would sell like hot cakes. also ebay shows a bunch that sold for 150 and some that sold for like 60 bucks. if you did a world wide international ebay auction and took good pics, made a good description, and have good feedback as a seller of complete bikes then id say maybe 3-400? otherwise the market is against you at the moment i feel like people arent as into the heavier non-paramount early 70's schwinns. the high end bikes are keeping thier value or going up in value better than the lower models, i feel like the heavier lower models have actualy gone down a little since the peek around 2009. consumer uncertanty is still pretty high, unemployment is high, if im going to pay a premium for a vintag bike these days i want it to be the top of the line bike not the seond to top of the line bike, im looking for a bike that will hold its value well.