wrk101

SOLD SOLD SOLD


If you follow my FB page, you will know I drove 97 miles one way for this frame set. I needed the parts to finish another 1973 World Voyageur, so the parts are going to a good home. That leaves the frame. Its been repainted sometime in its life, paint looks pretty darn good. Chrome is also in excellent condition. It has a ding in the top tube, noticeable (but apparently not noticed by the seller, go figure....). The parts and components on this bike were super clean and rust free. So I think this bike had a very good life.

Discounted heavily for that ding. You could have it fixed, or just live with it. Myself, I would probably live with it, your choice for sure.



If you are not familiar with the 1973 Schwinn World Voyageur, it was a pretty special model. One year only, chrome under paint, made by Panasonic for Schwinn.

I'll include the unique seat tube clamp bolt and cable stock too.

There is some tape residue on the DT (last picture). Bike had electrical tape on it, I think it was for a clamp on bottle cage. I removed the tape to make sure nothing was lurking there. It will need some goo gone or whatever to remove the remaining tape residue.

wrk101

Pick up locally and I will throw in a couple of parts.

Cougrrcj

Maybe I'm not seeing it, but there is no mention of the 'World Voyager' model in the 1973 Schwinn catalog 1973 Schwinn Catalog - and I looked at the '74 catalog as well. With the chrome headtube lugs and chrome 'socks' front and rear make me think it is a Deluxe Touring Paramount model perhaps?

I'm < sorta > interested in learning more about it since it seems to have some high-end features that the other Schwinn non-Paramount 'lightweight' bikes don't have. The under-toptube cable guides, etc What is the frame material?

< EDIT >

I found it listed in a 'dealer supplement' for '73...

The Golden Boy 

Again, this was a VERY special bike for Schwinn- for many reasons. The naming is interesting because "World" is a name that'd been associated with Schwinn for decades. The World Voyageur was a bike that was appropriate for the time- a very modern bike compared to the bikes not built in "the Cage" by Schwinn. But- as Schwinn couldn't build such a bike, they had it built in Japan. So instead of having the Schwinn name emblazoned on a 'foreign' product, and dipping their toes in- they used the "World" name, different enough if there was a colossal failure or backlash, close enough to claim ownership of if it were a success.

wrk101

Yes, it was just the start of the era where Made In Japan was no longer frowned upon by the average consumer Until then, many buyers associated "made in Japan" with inferior in some way, kind of like made in China is now. The gas crunch saw the first major influx of Japanese cars into the USA market. Once exposed to the quality of Toyota, Honda, etc., made in Japan took on an entire new meaning.

Sure, a bike aficionado would recognize the quality of this bike, but the average buyer didn't appreciate it.

Compare the built specs of the 1973 WV to anything else in the Schwinn product line, and the only bike that compared was the Paramount.

I think Schwinn was kind of hiding the model by not putting it in their regular catalog. Someone with more insight might know for sure.

I grew up in that era, where there were "waiting lists" for Schwinn road bikes. Even the Varsity had a waiting list! So in the back corner, my dealer had a couple of made in Japan models, the World Traveler and the World Voyageur. The Traveler was the entry level model (but much better than the Varsity) and the World Voyageur was the top of the line model. I remember waiting in line for a Continental rather than immediately getting a made in Japan World Traveler... Talk about St Upid.........


One recent WV sale on eBay have come close to the price of Paramounts. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1972...p2047675.l2557

Darth Lefty 

Love that head badge.

Cougrrcj

I didn't realize that the WV was the first 'Schwinn Approved' foreign-sourced bike. I know that there were some later Japanese-built Schwinns later on - the '76/77 Super LeTour 12.2 was pretty comparable to my Fuji S-10S. One the guys in my college dorm bought one in that spring of '77...

wrk101

World Traveler was actually first. But the Traveler was very basic. The WV showed Panasonic at its best. Schwinn continued to source upper end Panasonics for about 20 years, while Giant made the more basic models. I have several Panasonic Schwinns in my keeper fleet

seedsbelize 

PM incoming

yuoil 

Very nice frame. Interesting history I had no idea. Seems very well made. The lack of demand for Made in Japan explains the very limited size options I suppose. Good luck with sale!

wrk101

Size was more about that era and Schwinn. A lot of Schwinn models just came in three sizes. Very few bikes during that era came in a lot of sizes. For Schwinn, you could get a lot of different sizes of Paramounts, everything else just came in three sizes.The gap between most sizes was 2 inches (5cm). Huge compared to modern bikes. In addition, often the SMALLEST size was 22 inch (56cm). For example, my 1972 Continental came in three sizes, 22, 24, and 26 inch. I had a medium (24 inch).

wrk101

Mark this one PENDING.


Thanks!

bill

Steve Whitlatch 

I have the same dent in mine. Does your dent line up with the handlebars like mine does?

wrk101

Very likely the cause... Components were very clean, so it certainly wasn't ridden hard. Kind of surprisingly, the bike had a January 1973 Brooks saddle on it, rather than the original.