Emptyjar

I know the World Sports are the lower-end of the spectrum for Schwinn, but I'm having a hard time telling what this bike is worth. In fac, I'm not even sure what year this could be, it says "early 80's", and I think I read the World Sports started in 1979, and the pre-1984 models are not good, but post-84 are okay. It looks pre-84 to me, but I honestly have no idea.

It's a craigslist find and the guy doesn't seem to know much about it. I don't know enough about older bikes yet to really tell if the components are worthy or not, but he did send me a (huge) picture of it, even though the picture is pretty bad and on the wrong side.

Regardless, I want to offer him like $25 dollars for it but I'm not really in the mood to insult this guy if it's actually worth more.

I'm also not in the mood to dump a lot of cash into a fixie project, so please give me some input/advice!


Also, Guesses on the frame size are more than welcome!

Thanks again!

FastJake

That one is definitely pre-84. Probably 79 or 80. $25 sounds about right, it looks pretty rough. How much is he asking?

Are you tall enough to ride that frame?

Emptyjar

He hasn't put a price on it yet, but yea I think I've figured it to be a 1979. And I'm not sure about the frame, I don't really know how big it is, it looks fairly large, but I'm 5"11 so I'm not sure exactly.

Scooper

It looks like a 1979 Pearl Blue World Sport. Since the men's World Sport that year only came in 21", 23", and 25" frame sizes and that frame is obviously bigger than 23", I'd have to guess it's a 25" frame. At 5' 11", it's too big for you.

Emptyjar

Bummer! Oh well, I guess in reality I was looking for something a bit more lightweight. Woulda liked to buy it though.

I don't have the talent to size frames from pictures yet, so thanks!

FastJake

I wouldn't worry about missing out on that one. If you're looking for a fixed gear project, you should be able to find something a lot better for not much more money. That WS would be a pig no matter what you would've done to it.

Emptyjar

What is with people on Craigslist and their old Schwinn 10 speeds!?

I've gotten 3 replies about an ad all stating that they have older Schwinns (one varsity, one continental and another girls bike i wasn't interested in), and they all want $80+ for them with bad tires and rust on the frames!

I'm not out of line to offer $35 on a old continental that needs new tires and most likely other components since it looks like rust has moved in on most of the metal parts, am I? Or do people just assume that an "old schwinn" is an instant collectors item that's worth a lot?

FastJake

This. The non-cycling world is understandably ignorant about what bicycles are worth, then there are the people that know a little and think they know everything. Those people are the worst.

Metacortex

Not necessarily. I'm 5'11" and when standing over a 25/26" frame in bare feet I can lift the front wheel 2" off the ground, or about 3" when wearing socks and gym shoes. It's more about the leg length than overall height. I wear a 35" inseam, and a 25/26" frame is the perfect size for me. I find having the largest frame size that will fit becoming more important lately since the older I get the more I like the handlebars to be as high as possible. While I can ride 23/24" frames I don't like being bent over that much any more.

wrk101

90% + of the old bikes out there are duds, and most owners think they have something special. You have to look at a lot of turds before you find something good.

I wouldn't offer more than $10 for a Continental in the condition you describe.

The good news is that sellers often UNDERESTIMATE the value of lesser known brands and models. While they assume any Schwinn, Peugeot, or Raleigh is something super valuable, other brands can go cheap.

I went to look at two bikes once, one was a Schwinn Varsity, the other was a "kids bike". The seller wanted $600 for the Varsity, as it was "a highly collectible, top of the line, rare bike". Meanwhile, the "kids bike" was cheap, really cheap. So I bought the kids bike, which of course was a really nice, high end, Terry adult bike.... "I sure wish I could afford your Varsity, its really nice!!"

I posted an ad in our neighborhood newsletter, and got inundated with old crap that the people thought was super valuable. It was hard to tell a neighbor that their bike was a dog. I had to come up with some creative responses. "I sure wish it was my size". If it was my size, "I was looking for a bigger bike for my tall nephew." If it was french, "I was looking for a USA bike." If it was USA crap (Huffy, similar) "I was really looking for a french bike. I had one as a kid, and I have wanted to get another one ever since I let it go." etc. No way was I going to tell a neighbor, "your bike is a POS".

Noize4

My dad had that exact bike in red growing up!

Scooper

If he's 5' 11" tall and has a couple of inches top tube clearance on a 25" frame, it generally means he has long legs and a shorter torso. The reason I said the frame is too big for him is that with a shorter torso, he's likely to feel very stretched out on a stock 25" frame with its longer top tube unless he has very long arms or compensates for the long top tube with a short reach stem. I'm 6' tall with 35.5" leg length and feel really stretched out on a 24" frame with a 59cm top tube. Frames with 56 or 57cm top tubes work great for me, but with stock frames that usually means the seat tube is too short.