Originally Posted by Teon

Agreed on the Lotus and Shogun. Around here, though,(Oregon) Centurions are not under the radar. Everyone and his uncle thinks that just the name Centurion commands at least $250, and if it's a late 80s Ironman(even though there were thousands made and they're easy to find) people here seem to think they're 'rare' and ask ridiculous $350+ for well used Ironmans.

However, around the rest of the country, when I look at craigslist search engines, Centurions seem to be much more reasonably priced.....so maybe it's just here on the west coast.

Originally Posted by RaleighSport

Actually in some recent information etc it looks like Tenax might just be Chromor labled differently instead of SL/SP, there's a thread somewhere on this.. but it wasn't definitive to me and I prefer to think it's SL.

Edit: And I'd have to say Tempos and Super Sports are still semi under the radar.. if all us Tenax owners could just keep our mouths shut!

Originally Posted by rekmeyata

STEVE WHITLATCH; I just noticed the thread about Cyclone being mid level shifting...there wasn't any difference between the Cyclone and the Superbe, they used exactly the same mechanicals with the Superbe using stiffer knuckles, wider parallelogram plates and stainless steel pivot pins...changes 99% of the users couldn't even feel, those Cyclones shifted far better than any other top of the line component manufacture made including Campy Record. The Cyclone wasn't even close to mid level, more like top of the line in the world with Superbe being a tad better than that! Heck the true "mid level" derailleur was the V series and those performed better than any other top of the line component manufacture product.
So whoever told you that Cyclone was mid level stuff needed their head examined.

Add to that needing heads examined comment the Prelude using the Tenax tubing was Columbus SL tubing which was good stuff, not the best in the racing world of steel but really nice stuff in the consumer market. The tubeset and fork weighed around 5.4 pounds. I have Tenax tubing on my Le Tour Luxe which was the best touring tubeset Schwinn offered on their best Voyager line of touring bikes, my touring bike weighs 25 pounds, but the Prelude with a lighter frame and components than mine weighed 24 pounds which isn't bad at all for the time period. I would say that frame is high mid level frame not mid level. The higher level Tempo used the same exact frame as your Prelude but weighed 2 pounds less...the weight savings came from the fork being cromoly instead of high tensile steel, wheels and components the frame/fork had the same weight.

The Super Sport for years was just a mid level bike for year, but Schwinn liked to do weird things so in 85 they jazzed the crap out of your bike and dropped the weight from 26.5 to 24 the previous year of yours then to 22 pounds for yours, and it's a beautiful bike...but it has the Tenax frame just as your Prelude has! The fork is same as the Tempo but with a different crown. 85 was a weird year for Schwinn, I have a 85 Le Tour Luxe and they did the same thing, jazzed it up, it has the same frame as the next step up Voyager had but had the same components as the higher level Voyager SP, again the weight difference of one pound between the Le Tour Luxe and the Voyagers is the fork except mine came out of the factory with 40 spoke wheels all around instead of the spec'd 40 rear and 36 front like the Voyagers and mine was suppose to have, plus they used double butted spokes all around which they didn't do with the Voyagers. So the Voyagers ended up being only a pound lighter than mine. The touring frames used Tenax Columbus SP which was thicker tubing then the SL for more weight carrying capacity.

Sorry a little rambling about the history, I'm not sure if it's 100% correct but at least is close enough.

Originally Posted by rekmeyata

Where does the word Schwinn mean bad? Only the low end bikes like Varsity, Continental, Suburban, Traveler, and a couple of others were horrid bikes, but they all some really nice bikes that ARE NOT sleeper bikes, the Paramount is a huge non sleeper, others like the Superior, Peloton, Prologue, Tempo, Super Sport, Madison, and the Prelude are not under the radar at least for most people who know bikes.

Originally Posted by rekmeyata

All the history I have ever read about Tenax was that they were blemished SL or SP Columbus tubing, the only thing I could find that wasn't forum based was this: https://search.bikelist.org/beta/View....aspx?id=58308

If you scan down a bit you'll read this bit of history:

"According to an old Bicycling! article from the mid-80s, Tenax was
essentially the same as SP (had the same wall thicknesses, etc.) but had
looser quality controls. So it was double butted seamless Cyclex (sp?)
steel. I think Schwinn bought all of it/was the exclusive user of it. Any
frame from made of Tenax should be pretty stout, especially in smaller
sizes."

I've read a lot of stuff on forums in regards to this, and there was some years ago a guy who use to be one of the heads of Schwinn commented on a forum said the same basic thing as I quoted above.

And VeloBase has this: https://www.velobase.com/ViewFramePar...c-896abd64ba6f

And then there's this: https://mauisvintage.blogspot.com/201...-revealed.html

My understanding from an old Schwinn store owner was that Tenax used Columbus SL and SP depending on the bike, the touring bikes got the SP, and the racing road bikes got the SL with the exception being larger sized racing bikes got the SP too.

Schwinn did the same thing Trek did in the 80's, Schwinn sourced out to Columbus to have a tubeset built for them exclusively for a slight discount than the branded Columbus SL or SL; Trek did the same thing with the Reynolds 531cs, cs was only sold by Trek for slight discount, although after Trek stopped using it there was some inventory left and some custom builders used it...the same thing happened to Tenax.

So I tend to think and believe that it was indeed Columbus SL or SP.

Originally Posted by Steve Whitlatch

Do they have a name for bike love? Is it Pedal-phelia?

Originally Posted by RaleighSport

Here's the thread I was thinking of, like I said I still prefer to believe mine's SL. After all this is only one actual source with no verification.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...s-Tenax-Tubing

Originally Posted by Steve Whitlatch

Great info. Thanks. I have developed feeling for my bike I can`t seem to explain. She is beautiful, fun and now I know she is of good stock. Do they have a name for bike love? Is it Pedal-phelia?

Originally Posted by spacemanz

Anything West of the Rockies has a premium, which grows as you proceed further West and/or North. !?!

Originally Posted by rekmeyata

Where does the word Schwinn mean bad? Only the low end bikes like Varsity, Continental, Suburban, Traveler, and a couple of others were horrid bikes, but they all some really nice bikes that ARE NOT sleeper bikes, the Paramount is a huge non sleeper, others like the Superior, Peloton, Prologue, Tempo, Super Sport, Madison, and the Prelude are not under the radar at least for most people who know bikes.

Originally Posted by rekmeyata

Not sure what to make of that, I've seen that before but it's the only place on the internet that mentions that, all the other sites including the ones I provided earlier, and from people I either knew or from a former Schwinn family member that use to post on some forum all the time about Schwinns when the question came up, all say it's either SL or SP and Thron never came up in the equation. I kind of tend to agree it's SL and SP, if a proven Schwinn bike designer that worked on those designs of those bikes came along and refuted it saying it was Thron then I might be on the fence, but for right now I'm not.

Originally Posted by Teon

Agreed. Eugene, Portland, Seattle are all very lousy areas to try and find a reasonably priced vintage bike. San Fran, from looking at the search engines, also looks just as high as Portland. I see some of the prices from the midwest and the south, and I just feel like crying......lucky velo-heads, to have such cheap prices on average!

Originally Posted by noglider

Buy a cheap used car in Portland, drive it to Phoenix and sell it at a profit. Buy an old bike cheap in Phoenix, and ride it back to Portland. Sell it at a profit. Rinse and repeat.

Originally Posted by Teon

LMAO!!! That's probably very true. We were down in Phoenix a few years back vacationing with relatives who live there, and I found a really nice mid 80s raleigh super course frameset with extras for dirt cheap.

Although, I don't know about the "ride it back to Portland".....that might take awhile.....lol

Originally Posted by noglider

Buy a cheap used car in Portland, drive it to Phoenix and sell it at a profit. Buy an old bike cheap in Phoenix, and ride it back to Portland. Sell it at a profit. Rinse and repeat.

Originally Posted by noglider

Buy a cheap used car in Portland, drive it to Phoenix and sell it at a profit. Buy an old bike cheap in Phoenix, and ride it back to Portland. Sell it at a profit. Rinse and repeat.

Originally Posted by noglider

She wrote that it was hard to find a bike in her $500 budget and went to many shops.

Originally Posted by jimmuller

I knew some guys who would buy a trucklod of oranges in Florida (excuse me, Flarda) for a dollar an orange, then sell them in New Jersey for a dollar an orange. When they realized they weren't making any money they decided they needed a bigger truck.