Introduction
 

I posted this on road bikes and was kindly directed here.

Hey guys,

I have been riding BMX for about 8 years and just switched over to riding road bikes. I THINK I have an amazing find...I don't have a picture yet but the bike I bought a Schwinn Prelude; from what I got by googleing it I believe it is a mid 80's model. It is gray in color and a 10 speed. Every component on the bike is made in France. I put some new tires on it and cleaned the chain, and WOWWWWW. This is the fastest bike I've ever been on. I paid 10 bucks for the bike and about 30 for tires, tubes, the adapter thing for the European stems, and some degreaser for the chain. From my not so detailed explanation do you think this is a good bike (especially for a newbie). What other things could or should I do to this bike? I need to tune up the brakes...other than that I am new to the scene, and not used to gears or front brakes:D so some help would be great!
John

Hello John, I can't help you with your question (but don't worry, we've got some people on this forum who will get you squared away with that), but I did want to say hello!

Do you still ride BMX, and if so, have you visited with the BMX crew yet?

Welcome to BF, and welcome to Classic & Vintage!

East Hill

Hey there, Welcome to the CnV! Lots of good people here so your at the right place :) (Im not really a senior member, I just post a lot! LOL!)

Based on your current "investment" I would say you have done great! Welcome to C&V, someone will be along shortly that can I a sure will be able to answer your question.

Aaron:)

Welcome to C&V. You can get a floor pump with a dual head which will fit both your bikes. Now that you have a road bike( probably only the first of many), ride it & enjoy yourself but watch out for those cars & expect the unexpected. They really don't see you most of the time. Don

Thanks for the love guys, it is a strange adjustment to be able to ride in the street like this. Of course traffic still sucks BMX or not.

If you're interested in finding when the bike was made, look on the headbadge and try and find four small numbers stamped on it. Many Schwinns have this assembly date code on them. The first three digits will represent the numerical day of the year,the last digit will represent the last number in the year. Example: 1567 would mean the bike was assembled at the factory on the 156th day of 1987, assuming it's an '80's bike, which your Prelude likely is.............If no date code is there, go to www.vintage-trek.com and look in the "component dates" section. You should be able to find the date codes stamped on your bike's components and match them with the codes listed on the site..............If you can determine what year the bike is, there's a good chance Scooper will have a catalog scan of that year's Prelude-

The mid-80's Prelude's were a nice bike--you done good with your $10.

Are there any stickers still on the bike? If it one of them says Columbus "Tenex" tubing your bike was probably put together in Greenville, Mississippi. But your "French" parts don't seem to match-up with what I know about those bikes.

People love pictures here. And even better if you can find your serial number on the underside of the bottom bracket shell and the 4-letter date code on the Schwinn headbadge, wiser folks than me can tell you more about your bike.

You might be able to discover a bit more on your own in this old thread:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ighlight=Tenex

Enjoy your bike.

Actually, those darned '80's Schwinn serial numbers are usually a bit difficult to decipher it seems. But for '80's Schwinns, if the serial number starts with "S", has another letter for the second character, and then has a number after that, it's likely (but not positively) a Greenville-built Schwinn, with the "S" indicating Greenville, the second letter indicating month of frame manufacture, and the next character (a number) indicating the last number in the year of manufacture. Example: I've got two le tours (an '83 and '84), serials starting with SF3 for the '83 (frame manufacture likely in Greenville in June of '83), and SG4 for the '84 (Greenville, July, '84)-

Ok this is an awful picture since I can't find my charger for my camera but what do ya think?

I know, I have to raise the seat....haha it's not like my BMX atttt allll.

Nice ride for 10 bucks but be warned, you are going to become addicted and that bike won't be able to do it for you for too long. You'll be checking back alleys for discarded bike frames and/or parts. You'll eye every vagrant's hobo-bike, looking for a Campy derailleur or a Cinelli handlebar, denoting hidden gold. You'll scoff at a seller's price of 400$ for a Casati or a Ciocc, knowing you can find a better one for a better price. It is sometimes a dark path you have chosen, you've been warned ;)

:D

Here's the 1986 Prelude. The catalog photo shows "Bright Blue", but it was also available in "Gunmetal"...

The frame is Columbus Tenax double-butted main tubes with chrome-moly stays and forged dropouts with eyelets. Derailleurs are Sun Tour Cyclone (front and rear), and the crankset is SR SXC-200, 170 mm forged alloy with 40/52T alloy chainrings.

Very nice score.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...986Prelude.jpg

Thats her! So what do you think a restored one would go for?

That's really difficult to say. Checking completed eBay auctions is a pretty good ballpark guide, but I just checked and there haven't been any Prelude auctions recently.

My guess is that if it's in nice, original condition it might go for as high as $200 or $300.

I think I am going to hold on to it, clean it up and call her mine! It's an amazing ride...I can just imagine with a little love what I can do.

Attaboy! :D

+1....that's a nice bike-

haha I think my redline is gonna get jealous

In two years of nearly daily looking I haven't found a deal half as good as yours! Congrats!