Lovenutz

I have a guy coming tomorrow to look at a frame set I have listed on C-list. I thought $75 would be a realistic price. A quick look of eBay sold listings showed the exact same frame (same color same size) sold for 140 plus 60 dollar shipping. And It's in worse shape than mine!

I think they just found the guy at the end of the rainbow. It's a nice frame, but it's nothing special. I've never sold just a frame before. Whaddya think it's worth?

Here's mine
https://rochester.craigslist.org/bik...221434543.html

bargainguy

$100 or thereabouts. I don't believe Tenax is double-butted, tho. In a question posed by Stan Cooper about exactly what kind of tubing Tenax was, Richard Schwinn responded:

We don't have the detailed answer. It was a lower grade of Columbus tubing - likely a non-seamless (welded/re-drawn) non-double-butted chromoly. That would make it affordable on the $5-800 Schwinns built at the Mississippi factory.

Lovenutz

Okay that's what I figured; around 100 dollars.

Really? I knew Tenax was lower end Columbus, but I though it was DB. The catalog says the main tubes are double butted.

bargainguy

I dunno about the catalog, but there has been a fair amount of debate over what Tenax is.

A 1987 Bicycle Guide article on the Prelude stated, Tenax, used exclusively by Schwinn, is Columbus's production-grade version of its SL and SP professional series.

In Stan Cooper's question to Richard Schwinn, he said,

Questions about exactly what Tenax is keep popping up, and some say it's straight gauge while others say it's double-butted, and some say it's seamed while others say it's seamless.

Do you have any insight about it? I've assumed it's Cyclex like SL and SP, and that it is double-butted with butting profiles similar to SL and SP, but that's just a guess.

So if Richard Schwinn is correct - and if anyone would know what was going on at the Greenville factory, it would be him - not DB. But who knows.

Lovenutz

It's tough to argue with the guy the companies named after. I don't know that's for sure. The frame is pretty light though. I doubt my buyer really cares if its DB or straight gauge, he's probably just looking for a nice luged steel frame.

Thanks for the appraisal

miamijim

Not knocking Richard Schwinn but would he know? Was he just running the office or designing and spec'ing bikes as well? Regardless, the decal says its 'reinforced' with means Cyclex....cant imagine Columbus making Cyclex without butting it.

Advertise for $125 take $75. Its August in Rochester. The seasons almost over.

bargainguy

Richard Schwinn runs Waterford Precision Cycles, effectively what's left of the Paramount factory:

Custom Bicycles from Waterford Precision Cycles

He maintains a database of Paramounts, and he is an expert on all things Schwinn. Not just a bean counter, he is perhaps one of the most knowledgeable people in the bike industry today, and I wouldn't for a moment think he didn't know what was going on at Greenville. Talk to him in person some time if you get the chance. I have, and watch out....he'll talk your ear off.

Scooper

That response I posted by Richard Schwinn is dated and inaccurate.

I subsequently enquired directly to Columbustubi:



25 CrMo 4 alloy is a European standard virtually identical to AISI 4130 chromoly. It's similar to Cyclex, but not identical.



Basically, Tenax as used by Schwinn is only the three main frame tubes (ST, DT, and TT), so the stays, HT and fork blades could be anything. It is double-butted except for the seat tube, and is seamed. However, the seam weld is very homogeneous so that after drawing and butting the tubes are virtually the same as seamless.

Hope this helps.

bargainguy

I stand corrected. Thanks for the update, Stan!

Lovenutz

Wow! @Scooper that's extremely helpful. Thank you. I love learning stuff like this.

wrk101

Ebay pricing has little/nothing in common with local C/L pricing. In my market, frames go cheap, really cheap. Buyers want bikes ready to ride. When I sell frames locally, I do it for convenience.

$50 to $75 as a local sale in a smaller market sounds about right.

As I recall, the Prelude through 1988 came with high ten steel fork and years through 1986 had 27 inch wheels. That would put it at the lower end for me.

And realize that ebay is full of fees, and you have the time and hassle of packing. I seem to be stuck at three hours all in for packing a frame, maybe 2 1/2 hours. This assumes I have the box in hand, and I will have to cut the heck out of the box to minimize shipping cost.

Lovenutz

That all makes perfect sense. I was really just shocked that someone out there would pay 200 for just the frame set. Considering it's nothing spectacular.

The guy that bought mine has an old Bianchi, but the seat post had fused to the frame after years of neglect. He had all the components and just needed a frame. We agreed on 75 and I'm pretty happy with that.