Originally Posted by
livedarklions
You would probably do yourself a lot more good going to the vintage bike forums and seeing about how you might acquire decent old Schwinns for short money rather than posting "my Amazon bike sucks" one more time.
Old Schwinns are really common, you could probably get set up without spending as much as you did on your Amazon Schwinn.
But to get a mint-fresh paint job with all correct frame labels and markings from a custom bike painter is a lot more money than I care to spend right now. The best I can do with my current "Schwinn" Discover is swap out bad components for better aftermarket ones that's not too expensive such as the 7-speed freewheel, solid rear axle and chain. The bike I have has a nice frame but driveline parts that lack quality materials and precision out of the box. The stock lateral-pull rim brakes are great through.