Greetings,

I was wondering which of the following two has a lighter frame: the early-mid '70s super sport or the early-mid '80s world sport. Is there a significant difference in weight? How about build quality? What about a late '70s early 80s superior?

Thanks for your help,
SCA

Welcome to C&V. Glad you stopped by.

You are trying to compare apples to kiwis to walnuts. Let me explain:

The early-mid '70s Super Sport frame, as was the '76-78 Superior frames were hand built, fillet brazed, frames. The first had a one piece heavy crank, the second a three piece crankset. Along with the early '60s Superior, the Sports Tourer and a very rare Sport Limited, these were frames which looked lugless. They were cromolly frames and were the bikes just below the Paramount, which were made from much lighter Reynolds 531 tubing.

The first picture shows the fillet brazing. The second shows the lugs on a Paramount.





The early '80s Superior was built out of leftover frame materials from Chicago built Paramounts. Thus it had a lugged frame made from Reynolds 531 tubing. It was almost a Paramount, which had been moved to Waterford, WI in 1980.

The early to mid '80s World Sport was made in Taiwan by Giant for Schwinn, out of 1020 steel and lugged tubing, which is heavy but very sturdy. They had entry level components. They were the entry level 10 Speed offered by Schwinn.

I hope this is helpful. I'm not certain about the weights of the various frames. Ranking from most to least desirable I would pick;

1. '60-70s Paramount
2. '79 Sport Limited
3. '77-78 Superior or early '80s Superior or '60s Superior
4. '70s Sports Tourer
5. early '60s Super Sport
6. late '60s-70s Super Sport
....
20. '80s World, World Sport, etc.
(there are many better Schwinns in between the Super Sport and World Sport)

Best of luck on your search for a Schwinn.