Schwinn bicycles
 

I stopped into a performance bike the other day and they had Schwinn everywhere. They had other bikes as well, but Schwinn was definitely out in force. I have seens ome posts stating that schwinn is no good. Is this the prevailing attitude towards that maker now, or do they make anything that is ok?

There are still good Schwinn bikes. You just won't find one in Walmart.

So if I wanted to buy a good new Schwinn bike, where should I go?

The Fastback Pro is very nice. try rbikes.com, that's where I got mine.

Now hang on a minute. I just bought a Schwinn bike at Target for $200. I may not be a serious cyclist (yet) but I don't see anything wrong with the bike I got. It's a great comfort bike, with a tight, paddle-shifted gearset, F&R suspension, and light weight for its feature set. What's not to like?

The bike shop wanted $350 for their cheapest bike: a Taiwanese-made mountain bike with fewer features and a crappy grip-shift. Sometimes it's better to buy the most expensive bike at Target than the cheapest one at the bike shop.

Ask me again in a few years, but I bet I'll still recommend a Schwinn for your mom.

*wink* You're learnin'.....:)

True. But at your bike shop the bikes are assembled by a mechanic, I'm not sure who assembles bikes at target. And alot of bike shop offer at least a free first tune-up, mine gave me lifetime.

FYI I ride a Schwinn Fastback, best bang for buck entry bike, IMO.

shake's schwinn is one of the best looking bikes I have seen.

I know of a guy who finished the 1200km Boston-Montreal-Boston on a Schwinn road bike in a very respectable time, and the bike looked remarkably like the one I saw in Wal-Mart the other day.

Relax. Enjoy your new bicycle. You don't need to prove anything to the "serious cyclists," or the "shop guys." No bike will ever pass their test of cycling righteousness unless it has an LBS provenance.

Where to get a Schwinn? Hmm, well if this was the town I grew up in there were only two bike shops Holinger Bicycle and Lincoln Avenue Schwinn. Guess what brand was primarily on display at the Lincoln Avenue shop? Yeah, they also sold Trek mountain bikes, but all their road/commuter/hybrid styles were Schwinns.

Schwinn is owned by Pacific Bikes now, the same company that puts out Roadmaster, Mongoose, and Murray. But they also own the GT, Dyno, and PowerLite names.

The Schwinns you see at Performance are usually an "LE" model on the lower end, which is a special contract they've done with Performance. Might be the same basic bike as in Walmart but with slightly higher grade components, and they are built in the shop rather than in a mass assembly warehouse, and Performance stands behind everything they sell. Pus you will find correct size frames, which isn't as likely in Walmart. The higher end stuff is good stuff, the Fastback Pro for instance is indeed a very nice ride.

Performance picked up Schwinn and started stocking GT more heavily when they lost Giant.

Not to be a dick, where do you think your bike was made?

They make lots of bikes that are good. That red one that was posted earlier is as nice as the trek 1000 I just bought. I test rode a few Schwinns but the sale price of the trek 1000 was too good to pass up.

Another Schwinn that I liked was the Super Sport. I would have upgraded the shifters right away but that's it.

Find them at your nearest Schwinn dealer.

Mr. Smalls, if you like your bike, that is great. But a great bike it is NOT!;) Great $200 full suspension bikes don't exist. (maybe you meant that it has seatpost suspension?) Either way, you would probably do better at a LBS.

There are HUGE differences between a top of the line Walmart bike and a $400 lbs bike. If you don't want to acknowledge that, ok, but it makes it no less true.

I respect what you say, but unfortunately, I don't quite see it that way. Yes, there *is* a huge difference between $200 and $400, just in the cash alone. If you can't afford a $400 bike and want to get into cycling, and $200 is all you can afford... well there probably are bike shops that can offer something new at $200. But I have seen some pretty ordinary bicycles in bike shops that rival what Wal-Mart stocks, and badly assembled at that (most likely by the summer junior wrench who knew diddly about it).

After that cash difference, for most people who are new to cycling, and Mr Smalls may be one of them, there is absolutely no other discerning difference between a Wal-Mart bicycle that cost $200 and a Trek Madone that cost $4,000. They all look the same -- have two wheels, a frame, a seat, pedal, chain, handlebars, the same size... that price difference, though, sure makes the buying decision a lot easier.

I have seen many people riding Wal-Mart bikes just about everywhere I go except Europe. The people use them for transport. They don't take particular care of them, and probably neither need to nor want to, because the bikes continue to do what they want. I know someone who has a full-suspension Mongoose MTB from Wal-Mart that has provided years of reliable service (and it was bought when people were poo-pooing Mongoose and Wal-Mart). If the elite around here dropped their noses out of the air a bit and looked hard, they would see there is a whole army out there successfully riding Wal-Mart bikes.

And please don't come back at me with the bikeshop warranty stuff... Wal-Mart has its policies, too, and from what I have read on these forums, there is probably a better chance of getting warranty success with Wal-Mart than quite a few bike shops.

Disclaimer: I am part of the cycling elite (but with a level nose). I have never owned a Wal-Mart or other big-box store bike. I have owned numerous "bike shop" bicycles. I have worked a lot on *and with* bikes similar to those stocked by Wal-Mart including kids' bikes, along with bike-shop bikes. They all worked to some degree or other, and in some cases, the bike-shop bikes did not work as well even after so-called expert servicing by said bike shops.

We should all remember that "great" is a very subjective attribute. In the case of Mr. Smalls, it likely describes the extent to which the bike is suited for its intended purpose, in his opinion. If he determines that the bike is "great" for its purpose, who are any of us to question his judgement. He loves his bike and is happy with his purchase.

I personally have two bikes (a road and a mtb) each valued at well over $2,000 that sit in my garage more than my two other bikes (a road ss and a rigid mtb) for which I paid less than $100 each (not new). Each of those lesser quality bikes perfectly suit a need that the more expensive ones do not address so well, so they are "great" bikes to me. Moreover, I see that need much more than I have the need to ride the fastest, lightest, most efficient bikes, so the cheap ones get much more use.

You have no idea what Mr. Smalls is doing with his bike, so you are simply measuring his bike against your imagined intended purpose. I say let the man enjoy his bike. How in the world can one more happy cyclist be a bad thing?

I sometimes wonder how many of the people who regularly ride Walmart bikes have ever tried a well serviced used LBS bike. I know my girlfriend was riding a dept-store MTB with me and having some trouble keeping up with my cruiser when we rode. I took her to the bike store, and with the first turn of the pedals she was hooked!

This is not a person who subscribes to any biking philosophy, she would have ridden that Huffy and thought long distances were out of her reach forever if she hadnt tried that old scratched up bike store GT we got for her. 95 bucks, then we added a coupla accessories ( blinkie, kickastand ), and she is quite a happy camper.

I don't disagree with you again. But... the people who buy dept-store bikes generally aren't intent on riding "long" distances. In many cases, the bikes are transport for short distances. All said and done, people will bypass a good-quality anything, albeit scratched up and cheaper, for bright and shiny brand new if it falls within their budget.

The other factor at play is image -- that few bike shops carry used stock, and the prices promoted in windows would scare off many prospective low-priced customers anyway.

I can see your points, but I also think that many dept. store bikers are set at a price range that either yeilds a dept. store bike or a used bike from a private party sale. I think many know they could probably get a better bike by going private party but are unskilled as mechanics and unsophisticated as to the differenty types of bikes, how to tell if one is in good shape, how to fit, etc, so they just buy the dept. store bike for simplicity.

There is also a difference between LBS and chains like bikeline. The young kid I take riding has a bike his parents bought for him from bikeline. cost $330 for his raleigh mtb, I got my trek for 360 and I roll faster than he peddles at times. My bike makes less noise, climbs easier, shifts easier, glides better and is just plain smoother. Heck, the other kid that rides with us bought a 3700 for about 270 and it is better than the raleigh from bikeline. Not sure if its raleigh or if its the people who put the bike together.

I remember riding an old rusty "Trendz" BMX 25 miles to see a girl and 25 back when I was 12....the only problem I had was my butt was sweaty after I got home from the plastic seat. I've ridden many bikes of various qualities. I own probably 15 working bikes and almost that many in various forms of disrepair. Sure I love my old Schwinns, and I currently ride an 80 something Trek with BioPace, but I loved my Pacific dual suspension MTB from Toys R Us that I bought 8 years ago and just recently retired as my commuter. if you take care of a bike it will last and get you where you want to go. the only reason I switched to the trek is because I couldn't put fenders and a frame mounted rack on the Pacific. I still ride the old one though around the neighborhood. it's a matter of preference. and besides, maybe some of the people who ride the heavier bikes want resistance training as well? :) I appreciate quality, but even the most expensive, highest quality bike is junk if you don't take care of it

Thx. (if you're not being ironic :D )

The company that owns the rights to pretend to be "Schwinn" imports three levels of bikes. Cheapo's for Wal-Mart and K-Mart, assembled by the guys who stock the shelves. A slightly better grade of bikes for sporting goods chains. And, some actual "real" bikes that are sold in bike shops.

As with most things, the price is a clue. If a really first-rate bike shop choses to stock a Schwinn bike that sells for $700, that means that bike is comparable in quality to other bikes in that price range. And, if a Schwinn bike is selling for $79 at Wal-Mart, it will be worth...

... as much as the $700 bike for someone who cannot afford, and maybe will never afford, the $700 bike.

I suspect that the frames both work out to what... $15 each to manufacture? Maybe less. Sure, if you can afford the $700 Schwinn, or the $7,000 other-brand model up the line, great! But should we look down our noses at people who ride cheap dept. store bikes, or embrace them as members of the cycling world?

Judging by the number of commuters on bikes of each type I pass on my commute each day, I would have to say they (those riding dept. store bikes) ARE the cycling majority. I think that is great; but sadly, most of them are going the wrong way when I pass them and they force me out into traffic to support their fear. That, I don't like so much.

Exactly. BF members sometime get all wrapped up in "we" (AKA BF posters) as the only constituents of the cycling world. But to give credit to Rowan, his heart is in the right place on this issue.

I couldn't agree more. It is a safe bet that the majority of people who have ridden a bike in the last 24 hours are not sitting around thinking/discussing them like we do on a daily basis. We are really a pretty inacurate representation of the cycling majority. But, oh how we love these simple beautiful machines!!!!!