I recently bought an 86 Schwinn world sport on craigslist for cheap and plan to fix it up. The steel rims are a little bent and its set up as a single speed (has original cassette and cranks, but no shifters or derailleurs) so I was planning on new rims and shifters anyway.
I found this set on craigslist and was wondering if it would be a good investment for this bike or if its more money than its worth.
https://denver.craigslist.org/bik/2478705655.html
Thanks.

The World Sport is a very low end bike. For the money you are going to invest $275 + your bike you should just buy a better bike. When you get done with the Sport you will have invested $300+ in a bike that will end up worth $100. If you want to look at the original 1980s catalogs go to this site https://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1981_1990/index.html and educate yourself on which frames/bikes from Schwinn were better. I am sure you can find a better bike for your $300 investment. Cheap/free bikes seldom end up being either free or cheap. Roger

I thought the rims were alloy by '86. My '87 has them. For me it's not worth it, but thats just me.

Also agreed. World sports aren't worth putting money into. For $275 + the cost of the world sport, I'm sure you could find a Prelude, Circuit, Tempo, or something similar.

The brake calipers that are included with that won't work. You'll also need to invest in long reach brake calipers.
The bottom bracket is Italian and you'll need english.
I don't think that seatpost will work either, but I could be wrong.

World Sport went to alloy rims in 1984. That was a key year for the WS. It got a cromoly main frame and alloy rims. Before then, it was really the bottom end, after then, it was basic, but better for sure.

So either your bike is older, or someone swapped wheels on you. +1 Frame not worthy of a $300 upgrade, even if it is the cromoly version.

Thanks for the info. I'll probably just tune it up and keep and eye out for shifters.
Edit: rechecked the serial and its from 1980. Should've looked at that when buying the bike.
Live and learn...

I had an '86 world sport and thought it to be a fantastic bike. Mine had previously been upgraded with aero levers and downtube shifters, though.

As it is, I have a 1980 Traveler and it rides pretty nice. It was in rough condition and I was looking for a beater with standard threading. Four years later and I still ride it frequently. Only the frame, fork, headset and stem are original, though.

I've got an 88 World Sport bought for $25 on CL about 5 years and thousands of miles ago. New saddle, new tires and tubes, and that's it. Love it but am starting to think about what a nicer bike would be like.

just buy a nice bike for 275..

Just clean up the World Sport that you just purchased. Tune it up, replace the bearings and re-grease, which will cost you hardly anything except time, and then just have fun riding it!

And +1 to others here saying 'save the $275 for a nicer used bike'.