deeth82

Not sure if anybody here is a Schwinn fan like I am (the actual Schwinn shop-tier bikes; not necessarily the big-box stuff), but if you are, you can look at some of their 2014 lineup here:

https://www.americasbikecompany.com/S...h=2014+schwinn

I haven't seen the official Schwinn site updated to show these yet, so I thought I would share.

dynaryder

https://www.americasbikecompany.com/2...ersport-cx.htm

Reminds me of my DBX,except for the crappy alloy fork. It amazes me that so many bike companies equate 'urban' with 'alloy fork'. Would love to know where these designers live that they have such smooth roads.

fietsbob

Now just another Brand.

Waterford and Gunnar were what were started after selling off the family name brand.
there is an investor named Schwinn , founding that company..

hybridbkrdr

I wonder why they don't mention the Schwinn CrossFit that's sold in certain stores.

rekmeyata

Their not a brand at all, just a decal put on by Dorel Industries who makes GT, Mongoose, Iron Horse, Sugoi, Pacific, some Walmart brands, and now sadly too Cannondale. Dorel simply bought the trademark and can now make bikes and slap those trademarks on whatever China puts out for them.

Looigi

Nowadays, that's pretty much all a brand is; a name or label for a product line. Who owns the name, who and where it's manufactured, and who sells it are all variables.

wahoonc

Looks like the same as just about every other bike company offerings. Nothing for me, most aren't even made in a size that I can ride without modification.

Aaron

deeth82

Exactly. I've got a love for Schwinn's because of their designs and because my family has a history riding them; they just always seem to resonate with what I would want in my bikes...except for the alloy forks. @dynaryder, the designers of those things must live on an island made entirely of marshmallows...or perhaps they all lost their teeth in years past. I also forgot to mention that the DBX is an awesome bike, and I think I've seen photos of yours. Props!


I've got two Racers (2011 and 2013) and just love the fit/feel of them (after heavy modding, of course). Also just picked up a 2011 Sid frame on Nashbar for $49 (my first ground-up build)...I certainly don't like how they sold the brand out for years, mostly doing big-box stuff, but I feel like in the last 5 years or so they finally started pushing their "Select" (LBS) lines towards urban/commuting/comfort, and it has really resonated with me. The one I wanted most was a Madison (2011) or Slicker (2012), but at the time the budget wouldn't allow, and I'm currently trying to clear out lots of old big-box-tier bikes to make room for nicer ones.

rekmeyata

No, that's not true, although it more true then not! My Lynskey for example is a brand not a label, there are other bike brandss out there like mine. I have a love for my current 85 Schwinn too, I grew up on Schwinns, but it's a love for what it use to be, I do not have a love for what it is today. Generic bikes are just that generic no name nothings that are made cheap and won't last, generics have no personality, real brands do.

Better say this disclaimer before the hate fest begins...Just my opinion.

buffalowings

Did I hear someone say, "kinesis"??

OldTryGuy

My GFIL, wife's grandfather, knew Ignaz. Best working years of my life in our store, even if they are blurred due to age.

hybridbkrdr

Sounds like you look at their bikes as uninteresting. After reading messages that touring bikes have a boring ride, I started looking at either road bikes with 47/57mm reach brakes (can accommodate 32mm tires without fenders) or cyclocross bikes. For whatever reason, a lot of cyclocross bikes I looked at or even the frames were more expensive than the average road bike. I mean some cyclocross framesets start at $500. I saw a Schwinn CrossFit at Canadian Tire for $650. (It was also in a flyer at one point for $500.) With the Shimano 2300 brifters, you could switch to Shimano Ultegra 8 speed bar-end shifters and use another pair of brake levers. So after selling the brifters on eBay, it wouldn't cost you that much to do the mod. I find that pretty impressive for a bike with cross levers (for the total cost).

I kind of wish they'd say if the fork was chromoly or hi-tensile steel though.

rekmeyata

I don't think of any bike as uninteresting or as a boring ride, people that say that sort of stuff probably really don't like to ride no matter what bike their on, or their simply snobs. Are there better bikes? of course, I rented bikes before when I went to a cities for a meetings and rode low end bikes and I didn't care, would I buy a bike like that for myself? not in my current financial status but if I needed a bike and money was an issue why I certainly would without giving it a second thought. I would have loved to have bought a stainless steel Anderson but the cost was above my paygrade, and I'm quite happy with the bikes I have. Riding a bike for me has to fun, if it isn't fun then it's work and if it's work...forget it.

Even though Schwinn may not be a brand anymore Dorel makes a few really decent Schwinns for a low cost; their Fastback models are really nice for the price and have gotten high reviews for low end bikes and a person can select which model/features they want for what they can afford.

hybridbkrdr

For what it's worth, I read a message from someone who said they went around the planet on a touring bike and found it a relief to jump on a regular road bike.

I've gone around with ski pants and snow-mobile helmet in the winter on a bicycle and when I had a superintendent who wouldn't let me keep my bikes indoors, a lot of them would rust after one or two years. (Canadian Tire bicycles like their Supercycles or CCM would usually last 2 years.) I went through a number of bicycles and can say over time, low-cost bicycles have kept on improving. (Like how easy it is to adjust the brakes, brands now using threadless headsets etc.)

I'm not sure I would say Schwinn is not a brand. To me they seem to fill a hole in the middle of department store bicycles and bike shop bicycles. Sure, the Schwinn CrossFit is $650 Canadian at Canadian Tire but the Norco Valence A4 probably only sold in bike shops starts at $750.

rekmeyata

Funny about rust, I know people around here in Fort Wayne that left their steel kids bikes outside for years and years and other then the chain were still rideable. I had a new Schwinn Traveler once that I bought to be my trash bike because I lived along the ocean and wanted a bike I could ride on the wet sand, and the bike would get at least a weekly bath in salt water and wet salty sand plus since my good bike was stored inside I didn't have room for the Traveler so it sat outside where rain would get to it, and that darn thing never rusted out...though I dumped it when just before I moved 10 years ago because after removing the Crank and BB found scaled rust inside, and of course the aluminum components were all corroded, but that was after about 25 years of which about 10 of those years was the ocean years.

As far as a touring vs a road bike comfort goes that could have been a situation of improper vs proper fit. Both of my steel touring bikes (when loaded) are a bit more comfortable than my newest titanium bike which is a bit more comfortable than my older steel road bikes or than the touring bikes when unloaded, but both touring bikes when unloaded are more comfortable than any of my steel road bikes. I too know people who tour and most of them say their touring bikes are more comfortable than any of their other bikes, and typically that will be true, so either the people you know have fit issues or saddle issues. Don't forget too that hauling around 65 pounds or so of dead weight for long periods of time will make a rode bike appear to be more comfortable, which is why I'm always researching ways to reduce weight and hopefully when I do a long tour I'll only have 35 pounds or so which is where it's at now but that's for short weekend trips so I'm always looking for something lighter without sacrificing durability or comfort, so I'm hoping when I go across country I'll have 45 pounds max.

But regardless, Schwinn is no longer a brand, just a label and neither is Cannondale now.

hybridbkrdr

Opinions all around. All I'm saying is plenty of people have said in the touring forum or the road forum that touring bikes are more boring to ride, not uncomfortable. Like plenty of people saying the Surly Long Haul Trucker doesn't ride at all the same when it's unloaded.

And as far as Schwinn and Cannondale not being brands any more, do you mean not a separate company? Because Schwinn and Cannondale bicycles are still not the same, that's what I meant.

rekmeyata

So what is the definition of boring to these touring people? If they think a touring bike is boring because it doesn't handle as well when being rode as a unloaded road bike, then that's probably true, they're not as agile due to the longer wheelbase. If their crying about the fact they weigh more than a racing road bike, that's true too, but I have ridden both of my touring bikes unloaded and I don't even consider that as an issue because I'm not racing them, though I will admit they do feel a bit more sluggish due to being heavier and having fatter tires but not as much as my mountain bikes. And I will also admit there is a noticeable difference coming off my heaviest touring bike, the Schwinn, unloaded and jumping on the Lynskey, but since I enjoy riding a bike I don't consider the touring bike to be boring just different, not as lively would be the more accurate word to use.

All that I said about this in my posts are just my opinion of course.

And yes, Schwinn and Cannondale are indeed differently built bikes just as the other branded label bikes that Dorel makes, so you are correct about that, but my point was that neither are brands anymore just labels. I will also make this statement which will rile the feathers of many here, Cannondale within a short period of time, maybe 5 years will slowly degrade from a decent bike to a bike similar to a Schwinn in quality and you may even start finding them in Walmart. When Dorel (actually Pacific Cycles but they are the same company now) purchased the rights to build Schwinns under that label they sent out letters to LBS across the nation saying that Schwinn was going to be their flagship line of bikes and that they would continue to be built to the high standards Schwinn was known for...that lasted about 5 years! Dorel sent the same letter to Cannondale LBS's across the nation!! But let's wait and see, I could be wrong, but I sort of doubt it because Dorel has cheapened all the brand labels they make from what they were originally when they were true brands.

hybridbkrdr

If you saw those changes, what kind of bikes did Schwinn sell right after the acquisition of the name? Are you talking Shimano XT or Shimano 105 etc.?

rekmeyata

Let me say this first before Schwinn went bankrupt and since the beginning of the company they made a lot of crappy bikes, but they also made some really nice ones. But after they were dissolved and Pacific then Dorel took over Schwinn's entire line is crappy including even the Paramount the once proud top of the line Schwinn, which I see is no longer being made. Now their top of the line is the Fastback 1 with Tiagra components, not 105.

In 90 and 91, a year before bankruptcy, Schwinn knew they were in trouble and put out bikes with one MTB and one road bike with mid level and the rest were low end components, 89 was the last year of a few of their bikes still having good stuff like Ultegra SIS, Exage, 105, Sante, and Suntour GPX (which some people didn't like). In 1990 the highest Schwinn went was one road with 105 and mtb was Deore XT; then in 91 all of those even disappeared with Deore LX and Shimano Tourney being the highest level stuff. Then the year after in 93 the highest was Exage, there were no road bikes that year.

You can go to Schwinn Catalog scans at Waterford to look up the various years of bikes and look at the spec sheets for each year like I did to get the above information to find out what they had going on in whatever year you chose.

Dahon.Steve

Agreed.

There were some bikes in that catalog that were fine in my opinion. The one that caught my eye was the "Slicker" urban bike. Nice bike!

hybridbkrdr

If you're referring to Shimano quality levels, what about the rest of the bike? I read once that a lot of manufacturers use the same subcontractors so the quality levels these days are about the same.

rekmeyata

I'm not so sure if the quality level is the same, I've seen some really crappy welded Mongoose frames which are Dorel, I've heard, though have not seen, that the real low end (sub $500 bikes) Bikes Direct stuff are poorly welded. Like a lot of Chinese stuff it seems to be a hit and miss sort of thing, I've seen Mongoose frames that were welded ok too, this sort of hit and miss I've seen with Schwinn although I have not seen that with the Fastbacks that I've seen, not sure if that's due to the Fastbacks perhaps coming out of a different plant, or just because the quality control is higher on that bike, or I haven't seen the misses yet.

By the way, not all Chinese made stuff is crap, they take a great deal more pride in making products when that product is owned and made by the Chinese, for example there are high end electronic owners/makers in China making high quality audiophile tube electronics for the home that are just superb and sell for prices less then American or European counterparts. However if the product being made is not owned by the Chinese then they sort of just bang out the product as fast as they can and not worry about issues since the outside company will warranty any problems.

hybridbkrdr

Well, for someone who considered a $1700 Trek 520, I can tell you I was impressed when I saw the Schwinn CrossFit at Canadian Tire:
https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/sc...l#.UptwYNJ4yVo

If you click on + a couple of times, you see the welds on that model. Can anyone tell if there's a hole close to the rear derailleur for a backrack? I forgot to look in the store. By the way, I actually took a measuring tape in the store to measure the seat tube and top tube. They were 50cm and 52.5cm. The cross-top (or interrupter levers) on it were spectacular (I rolled a few feet in the store). I don't know if it was a 50/34 or 46/36 crankset though. The paint job looked anodized and looked really nice in person although I'd prefer another color. And even though the wheels only had 28 spokes, the rims look like the V-type of rim that Velocity makes that are supposedly very strong. (I'm not implying they'd place Velocity rims on a $650 Schwinn though. I'm talking the style of rim.)

EDIT: I see you might like audio equipment. If I wasn't so lazy I think i'd get an emotiva amp with some speakers designed by Jeff Bagby.

EDIT ON THE SCHWINN CROSSFIT: I found out it has a 50/39 crankset and 11-28 cassette.

catmandew52

More fuel for the fire!
There are actually TWO Schwinn lineups.
There is the OP's link to the big box store, generic, cheap line, and then, there is the dealers only less cheap line-up. https://www.schwinnbikes.com/usa/signature
Quality of components is different(notice I said DIFFERENT), and you get pro assembly and warranty at a dealership.

deeth82

Did you actually look at the link I posted earlier?

Look closely at the link I posted, and compare the models with the Schwinn Signature Series bikes on Schwinn's site...the ones I posted ARE the LBS-tier (Signature) bikes; America's Bike Company is the only site I've found where you can buy them online without going through the LBS...the only reason I posted this is because Schwinn had yet to update their site with the 2014 line-up.