Schwinn 564 vs World Sport
 

Last week I posted about a Le Tour I was going to buy, but passed on it. It was already restored and I'm looking for something I can restore myself. And by restore I mean disassemble, clean, grease and put back together and ride. Not looking to make it in original showroom condition.

I'm looking at these two now:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...8706102296510/

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...5566390135258/

I wanted steel so the World Sport is first on my list, but I'd take the 564 too. The 564 does have the original quill seat post so I will be sure to check out if it's cracked or not. Of those two, is one going to be better to fix up than the other? I'm not worried about value or anything like that, I just want to start getting into older bikes now.

I'm hooked on Schwinn because that's what I grew up with, but what else can I be looking for as far as a steel bike from the 80's?

Thanks again everyone...

The 564 aluminum frame was designed in conjunction with Klein and is a very nice ride. It would be my pick of the two.

But there's that pesky quill seatpost on the 564. They tend to crack and leave you high and dry.

This double clamp is one potential workaround to allow a "normal" (i.e., non-quill) 27.2 mm seatpost to be run on these frames, with the clamp fitting over the lip of the seat tube cluster:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gorilla-P...-/121661289942

Thanks for that link. There's a YouTuber, RJ the Bike Guy, and he modified a normal seat post by using a long stem bolt and wedge from a stem, and fitted it to the normal seat post. I haven't looked at the bike yet, but that's one of the first things I will check out.

I personally think the world sport is an underrated bike, but I am not familiar with the 564. Looks like either one fits the bill.

Be aware that the 564 has very tight tire clearences 25 's will fit but have almost no clearence. 20's work better. I would take the World Sport

I'd take the WS, but I'm sentimental: I had that exact bike. It was a HS graduation present and I rode it all through college and law school. I raced triathlons and commuted to my first job on it. I wish I still had it. I'd probably convert it to a city bike for commuting.

Yep. I think the WS was the entry level road bike. It had stem shifters, suicide brake levers, and foam pipe insulation style bar covers. I tried to make mine as racy as possible by wrapping the bars with cello tape and putting clips and straps on the rat-trap pedals.

The world sport from mid to late 80s was superior to earlier models

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I had a Traveler in high school so I'm leaning towards the WS. And it is going to turn into my running errands bike, so the WS may be more suited for that. As Mr. 66 said though, red is always faster!

As typical with this stuff though, I can't get any response from the WS seller. I had the person selling the 564 measure it and they say it's 26". I'm assuming they measured incorrectly and it's 25" frame. It may be too big as I normally ride a 58cm, so 23" is what I need.

Never heard back from the World Sport seller (and the bike is still out there for sale but whatever), so I got the 564. It's lighter than I thought, especially once I took those pedals off! And it also has index shifting so that was a surprise. I was expecting the old friction shift. It is a 25" frame, and I ride a 58cm so it's a little big, but after a quick ride it doesn't feel too big for me. It's going to one fun replacing cables, chain and stuff like that. I enjoyed my short ride on it, but the suede saddle wasn't as comfortable as I thought it would be. Here's a pic...

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...04915eb99d.jpg

Congrats! First order of business is to remove the quill seatpost and examine for cracks, because if there are any, you won't want to be using it until you get that sorted out.