WilmingtonSkip

Some of you may have seem some of my other posts. Been looking for an inexpensive road bike. Didn't know a lot about C&V especially prices and foreign brands before finding this site when researching a bike for sale up the street (1984 Le Tour Luxe.) Should have bought another nice bike (1986? miyata 310) Let both of them get away from me. Had hoped to find another deal but after several weeks found this bike this morning at a church yard sale. I know it's not the quality of the other two but it was a lot cheeper so I thought I'd take a chance on it. Here are the pictures as I bought it. I intend to clean it up, take off the reflectors & kickstand to save weight (I'll never be out at night) and redo the handlebar tape at least. Probably will look into replacing the handlebars completely as I think they are chromed steel not alloy. It's in great shape mechanically. Shifts and brakes well, tires and tubes seem fine. The only problem I can find at all is the left brake lever is a little loose on the bar.

My point in buying this was to have a rider for recreational sprint triathlons that I wouldn't be laughed at quite as much as my cruiser I did the first one on. I'd like to be able to get my money out of it after a year or two if I decide to upgrade.

All that being said I'd love to know what y'all think the most I should have paid for it. I promise I'll come back after while and admit to how much even if it's more than I should have.

MRT2

Based on that last pick (Schwinn Approved Taiwan), it was probably a Giant built Schwinn. Too bad about the Le Tour Luxe getting away from you. I have an '85 Le Tour Luxe which is, IMO, a better bike than this one.

Though this looks like a nice bike for recreational riding, maybe even light commuting, I don't see this as all that great a choice for triathlons, or any type of competition. As I said, I own the LeTour Luxe, and I wouldn't use that bike for competitions either. If that is your purpose, I would keep looking.

One more thing. I would not take off reflectors to save weight. On a heavy bike like this one, the weight saving is almost nil, and you might find yourself riding at dusk, in which case it is a safety issue to have reflectors.

Bottom line. When it comes to bikes (even c & v), you get what you pay for. You can't just order up a classic higher end, clean Trek, Miyata, or Fuji, let alone something even fancier for $10 at a thrift store, church sale, or rummage sale. In this day and age of the internet, people look up what they have and owners of higher end bikes know what they have. You may eventually find the deal you are looking for, but not this week. If you want something good and you want it now, you may just have to pay market prices, which is at least in the hundreds for a good quality, ready to ride, mid level used lightweight road bike from the 80s or more recent vintage.

wrk101

1984 was a key year for the World Sport. The years prior to that, the World Sport is bottom end, very heavy, high ten steel frame, low end components. In 1984, Schwinn started upgrading the World Sport.

The Miyata and the Luxe were much nicer models.

WilmingtonSkip

Yeah, I said I knew that it wasn't as nice but I couldn't pass it up for $20. Just got back from a shakedown slow roll with the family. Everything seems to work great and the one time I really let her loose it felt a lot faster than I expected. Getting ready to go out again and run the route I had been training on. It's about 9 mi. an I've been making it in about 40-55 min on the cruiser, depending on how much I've been working on it. I haven't been working on it much lately. If I can make it at least in the low end of that and the bike lasts through the triathlon in Sept it will be worth it to me. If I can then resell it for more than I paid all the better.

wrk101

No brainer for $20. Just don't put a lot of money into it, and you will be fine. Then keep an eye out for a better bike, and be ready to pounce.

WilmingtonSkip

Well now I'm going to have to put a little money in it. Knew I needed to adjust the stop on the rear derailer. Thought I was being careful on my shakedowns bt it caught the spokes. Spokes are fine but now I have to pick up a cheap derailer. Hopefully someone around here is making a fixie and has one they don't want.