Sport Limited Value
 

I have some pics here of my Sport Limited. Bought new in late 70's (before 78). Was used for a short time before I joined the service, and has been in storage ever since, everything is original right down to the tires.

It has Chrome Moly frame and Alum. bars,rims,seat post etc.

Was wondering what the value of this bike is?.......

Weren't these the last edition of the super sports?

Although it's nice for a Schwinn, they're still rather prosaic bikes. Based on specifications alone I'd venture $100-$120. But it is a Schwinn - and it is also an uncommon model - so it may be worth more to the right person.

The last original Schwinn edition of the Super Sport was in 1987. A Schwinn Super Sport is still made these days by Pacific.

The Sport Limited was a one year only (1979) model and has a fillet brazed chromoly frame. It was introduced to use up the inventory of Super Sport frames Schwinn had in stock. It didn't appear in any catalog and wasn't listed on the price list, so it's no wonder it's relatively unknown (and rare; about 1,000 were made).

Bob Hufford had a short write-up about it on the SLDB website before geocities took it down, and HERE is a thread about the Sport Limited.

What you have here is actually a very interesting piece. And it should bring more than $100-120 from a buyers who knows what it is. What you have is a bike that was produced only for one year and was produced in just 1000 copies, never made it to the official Schwinn catalog and never got a suggested retail price. It is a 1979 Schwinn Sport Limited (one of the last bikes built in Chicago), that was built using left-over 1973 Super Sport frames, 1978 Superior Shifters, derailleurs and wheels and 1979 Schwinn-approved cranks. The last fillet-braced Schwinn and one of the last Schwinns made in Chicago. Placing a value on this is really tricky because it would really really appeal to the right collector with deep pockets. Baby it.

In Sheldon's article on Schwinn fillet-brazed bikes, there's a paragraph about the Sport Limited:

"In 1979 Schwinn offered one last fillet-brazed CrMo bicycle: The "Sport Limited." The Sport Limited was sold to use up a supply of Super Sport frames that Schwinn still had in inventory. It was available only in a Scarlet Red color, in both women's and men's frame designs. About 1000 Sport Limited's were made and sold to Schwinn dealers for resale as they saw fit. A factory-suggested retail price was not given, and the Sport Limited did not appear in any catalog. The Sport Limited used wheels and other parts from the fillet-brazed Superior. An interesting feature of the Sport Limited was that although the frame had an Ashtabula bottom-bracket shell for one-piece cranks (like the Super Sport), a conversion bottom-bracket spindle was used to fit a "Schwinn Approved LeTour" aluminum-alloy cotterless crankset."

Interesting... Did not realize that these had a conversion bottom-bracket spindle. Now I wonder how many of these bikes were parted out, just for that part to retrofit older bikes with 3 piece cranks... This might be rarer than 1000 minus the ones that got trashed/recycled

The rarity is the one distinction that sets it apart from the other fillet brazed models, but I don't believe many collectors would pay a premium for that distinction. The '78 Superior is essentially the same bike, but with the smaller BB shell for a conventional bottom bracket and three piece alloy crank set. The retail price for the '78 Superior was $229.95, and it is doubtful the Sport Limited would have sold for much more as it was competing with the lighter, lugged Le Tour 12.2.

My wild guess is that a '79 Sport Limited in original condition would probably sell for $150-$200 to the right buyer in today's market.

I'd ask $150 or $200 for that bike.

Technoz
 

Wow, Didn't know this had that much history. An intresting side note here is that I bought this Bike from a bike shop (Baker's?) in Ashtabula Ohio only a few miles from the Ashtabula Bow Socket Co. that I now understand made cranks for Schwinn, fresh out of High School I had no Idea then.

I am glad I kept it.

IMHO, you should clean it up, clean and lube the bearings, check the cables and cable housings, replace the brake pads and tires/tubes if necessary, and ride the heck out of it.

I just spent an obscene amount of money fixing up an old fillet brazed Super Sport, and it's a keeper.