As I understand it, the Tempo was the entry level road racer. Not sure of the 4th bike you mentioned. A friend in Ankeny, IA, has a Prelude turned into a fixie. I ride a 1986ish Tempo. I've heard the Tempo was actually made by Panasonic. I really like the Columbus tubing and Cinelli man/bike interfaces made by the exotic Panasonic company. The best of all worlds.

That said, after being nearly the longest lived bike (16 or 17 yrs) I've had, its the only bike that's actually tried to kill me. It tends to drop its chain into the cluster without a dork disk. I suspect the Bio Pace crankset is at fault.