inkandpaint

Teon,

I had one of these in PR, bought it new in '87. It was stolen 2 years later. It rode very well in rough pavement.

It was this exact color. Close to Celeste, but I think Schwinn called it "mint green"

I had ditched the pie-pan, put 700c wolbers with avocet k20 23mm kevlar-belted slicks on it, and pedals with clips and straps. It actually was a nice little rocket. I still miss it. One day I'll get one off CL or something. It'd have to be this color, and original. And of course, I also plan to get her more upscale sisters, a circuit, a paramount.. one day. I loved the old Schwinns, even the ones I couldn't get.

Yours is beautiful. Thanks for posting the pix, it brought back fond memories of 30 mph downhill runs on the way back home at 3 am after a night of being up to no good

rockers

Just recently bought this bike. What are some common things i can replace and upgrade? I am thinking about switching the wheels,derailleurs(only the rear,if i can without replacing the front), and a paint job. My budget is about 200.

https://cla*****.com/va4ci7v/gz1kc0n6...75-215.JPG.php
https://cla*****.com/va4ci7v/gz1kdek2...?p=*full-image
https://cla*****.com/va4ci7v/gz1ke3pg...?p=*full-image

https://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/B...port&Type=bike

rccardr 

It's raining here and the wife's out of town, so I'm building.

Just finished this neat 21" '87 Tempo. Full Shimano 600 tricolor, Michelin Lithion tires, O8 saddle. Local graphics shop cut the decals for me, the font is called 'Magneto'. Powder coat by Len McCreary- that's 'Skier blue'.

Like all Tempos, rides real nice. Someone shorter than me is going to love this one.

Oregon Southpaw

A Tempo with tri-color? Yes please.

Sad to say, but I'm already looking forward to heading back to my parents place this summer so I can ride this guy

cooperryder

Your black Tempo pictured is the exact model of my first decent road bike I bought in 1986 I think it was. I paid around $380 or so for it new.
Yours looks like the same size as well.

I have been through a lot of bikes in the intervening 26 or so years since then but most have not been an improvement over that bike but it has been a great learning experience and I now know what I like in a bike. Of course at the time I did not know what a great bike the Tempo was...I just got into the lighter is always better frame of mind for a decade or so until I learned more.

I am thoroughly enjoying my 84 Schwinn Voyageur. Going to go hop on it for an hour or so later this afternoon.

Desertrats97

In in the process of building this 87/88 super port. customer paint it will have full ultegra when done. still deciding on what color bartape, black, orange, white

rccardr 

Put this one up a couple pages back, but the new decals turned out so well (butternut on brown) that I had to post it again:

surlyman

That is just stunning! I still have my original 25" 86 Tempo sitting in the basement waiting for a restore. It was the pearl/charcoal metallic originally, but I repainted it at some point a few years ago.
It's going to get stripped to bare metal and repainted or powdercoated. If you have any extra 25" frames you want to part with I wouldn't mind having another one to keep my other as is. It was my first road bike I ever bought and I rode on a 600+ mile tour in Canada with my grandfather on that bike back in 1987.

Desertrats97

Just got this done. 1988 schwinn super sport



Full Ultegra with 105 hubs

rccardr 

This year's personal Schwinn Tempo: an '87, powder coated in gloss black with custom cut decals, mostly NOS Shimano 5500 FD/RD/STI's, Truvativ compact crankset, Tektro R530's, 3TTT stem, SR bars, Shimano 600 aero seatpost, Cane Creek hubs with what I'm pretty sure are Kinlin rims, Vittoria Open Corsa CX tires.

I always try to keep one Tempo in the stable and do a new one every year.






Took it out for a 10 mile sprint as a shakedown run this evening. Awesome. Not a single missed shift (snick, snick, snick), fastest run of the year so far. Me likey!

DCycle

Oh man, this all-black Tempo and the light-beige/cream Tempo are freakin' gorgeous!

Elvis Bogart

Mid 80's 84 Schwinn Tempo.

rccardr 

Just finished this keen-O '87 Schwinn tempo restoration. Pretty close to the way it came from the factory, except for the Nitto stem (didn't have a nice polished 100cm SR Custom at the time), cartridge bottom bracket, Ritchey saddle (always disliked those brown suede SSM's), blue Pro 3's and Nashbar wrap (ditto on the original Ambrosio-ish bar ribbon). Nicest Tempo in original colorway I've ever had. 105 (1050 series) 6 double, shifts like the finest spread from contented cows.

jeebusaurousrex

Thanks to tamaso206 for linking these scans a while back in the SL v SLX thread, I found a nice little review from a 1987 issue of Bicycle Guide.

https://bhovey.com/Masi/Scans/Bicycle...03Schwinn1.htm

The counterpoint section references the Circuit, saying they reviewed it the year before (seemingly negatively). I tracked down the issue and have it on order. Once delivered, I'll make sure to scan it and share.

I think the review highlights what I think is the Tempo's highlight characteristic, which is that it tracks very straight and is very stable.

Some interesting tidbits:

- Tenax, at least on this 1987 model, is seamed (in contrast to older references that are long gone in the internet ether), but double butted (in contrast to what other people have said as well)
- Investment cast seat lug
- Much more fork rake than I realized - no wonder it tracks so well in a straight line...and works perfectly as a sporty commute bike

jeebusaurousrex

Finally got the issue of Bicycle Guide. Don't have the heart to flatten out this old magazine and crease the already tattered spine so took some photos. I'm stretching my fingers for some touch typing practice so the article is a little more clear. BTW, the issue has a lot of great articles on the larger US mfgs of the time - as you can see on the cover. Finally, the cover bicycle is a Schwinn, but not the Circuit reviewed in the issue.

jeebusaurousrex

SCHWINN
CIRCUIT
With a matte black paint job, chromed aero stays, and sealed bearings top to bottom, the Circuit is ready for whatever its triathlete riders can throw at it. By Christopher Koch

*The New American bicycle*
There may be no other sector of the retail trade in America that likes to talk about its customer as much as the bicycle dealer. Since many shop owners are riders themselves (with a 35 Percent markup on bikes still the rule in the industry these days, relatively few are in it for the money), most have an inherent curiosity about the rideing habits of the people who buy bikes from them.

These days, you simply can't shut the dealers up, because they are reaping the benefits of entirely new market sector-the triathelete. But the talk is well, kind of bizarre. For example, take the recent converstion I had with a dealer in Virginia:
"Oh God, they're terrible riders" he said happily. "They go out there and thrash around and their style is awful."

Or how about this, from a dealer in Florida:
"No, they have absolutely no idea what they're doing out there," he said. "This is the first bike they've had since they were a kid, and they have no background in serious riding." This dealer didn't laugh, but he sure sounded happy.

And why shouldn't he? These triathletes, while not the most talented riders in the world (apparently), are the kind of client that any retailer would be happy to attract: wealthy, mature professionals with some leisure time on their hands. They spend a minimum of $350 on a bicycle, and often a lot more. "My market is $500 and up," says the Florida dealer. "These people have got money."

But the reason that these dealers are so happy goes well beyond mere demographics. The guy in Virginia said it best:
"You know what's great about these people?" he asked. "They love to ride! They buy a bicycle and then they go out and <i>ride</i> it. No more gear charts taped to the top tube. These people are doing it."

That makes a dealer very happy, because a customer who rides is going to be back in his shop a lot more often than one who buys a fancy machine an then lets it collect dust at home. (Markup on parts and accessories is not restricted to 35 percent-it's where a dealer makes a lot of his money.)

Indeed, it could be said that triathletes ride their bikes too much-at least in relation to the amount of maintenance that they put into their machines. Dave Karneboge, a former racer and current pro**** manager for Schwinn's Lightweight division, remembers when he was called in as a "consultant" to teach a Chicago area triathlete better cycling technique. Her cycling style <i>was</i> poor, he admits, but what really struck himwas the condition of her bicycle: "It was in a constant state of disrepair," he says. After this encounter (a happy one, apparently, for the two later married), Karneboge vowed to make his next triathlon bike for Schwinn as maintenance-free as possible.

The Circuit is the result of this obsessive-compulsive quest. That famous sixties bylaw,"Even if it don't go, chrome it," seems to have been perverted into "If it moves, seal it." The hubs, the bottom bracket, the headset are all sealed. In fact, Karneboge even went so far as to substitute the standard derailleur pulley wheels on the Sprint rear derailleur with the (you guessed it) sealed versions that come on the more upscale Superbe Pro model. Other maintenance savings went into the frame. The entire rear triangle is chromed, along with the front and rear dropeouts, to avoid unsightly scratches. And the matte black finish, while striking, came about fro a much more practical and mundane reason-it touches up with black spray paint.

Yet the Circuit's reason for being is deeper than the "Idon't want to touch it" yuppie maintenance ethic of the eighties. Karneboge's boss, Senior Product Manager Carl Cohen, explains: "Most people come into a shop and say 'I want a bicycle for $199 or $250.' [Triathletes] come into the store and say 'I want this, this and this. What have you got?' In the upper end, it's less a matter of price point than features. That means that if you're selling a bike for $600, it damn well better be worht $600, because these people will see through a fancy paint job."

Thus, the Circuit, which is new for 1986, not only filled a price gap in Schwinn's upper-end line between the hugely successful SuperSport ($500) and the Peloton ($850), it filled a feature gap as well. It's difficult to find such names as Columbus and Cinelli on a sub-$700 bicycle, but Schwinn has done it here, on a bicycle that represents the intitial [sic] flex of Schwinn's newfound manufacturing muscle.

Schwinn's plant in Greenville, Mississippi, has been growing by leaps and bounds since opening in 1980, and it now covers most of the company's upper end. As Schwinn continues to expand in this lucrative market, its appetite for Columbus tubing is becoming ravenous, making it now the world's largest brand name consumer of Columbus, according to Schwinn President, Ed Schwinn. Schwinn's bulk rate on tubing, combined with its home-base manufacturing, has meant that Columbus tubing is beginning to turn up in some very unfamiliar price points.

The Circuit comes with Columbus SL in the three main tubes (the 23-inch and larger frame sizes come with a thicker gauge SP down tube for reduced frame flex) and Tange in the rest of the pipes. Aerophiles will notice Tange's sexy new aero front fork, as well as some squashed aero seatstays.

The assortment of components that Karneborge has hung on the frame are frighteningly valuable for this price range. For cachet, there's Cinelli's new "1-E" stem, polished to that same excruciatingly smooth, pearlescent finish as its more expensive brethren (although the stem on our bike was slightly short at 11cm-it should have been at least 12), as well as Cinelli bars (with only a so-so finish). The bars are equipped with Dia-Compe's famed aero levers that connect to Gran Compe brakes-one of the best combinations around, for any price, these days.

The drivetrain is all SunTour Sprint, and includes a seven-speed SunTour New Winner freewheel. i think that were it not for Shimano's click coup, these Sprint derailleurs would be the find of the season. The rear shifts so quickly and cleanly that very little lever adjustment is required when shifting between those narrow spaced cogs. By contrast, some derailleurs require so much overshifting that a narrow seven0speed becomes a nightmare. Up front, the Sprint is still the fastest shifting derailleur I've used, although the cage is too narrow-especially for a beginning rider who may not be used to adjusting it for gear shifts in the rear. The Sprin crankset has a nicely finished spider, although the chainrings are a bit rough looking (our 25-inch test bike also could have used 175-mm cranks instead of the 170s that are standard).

The Circuit wheels are everything that a triathlete could hope for. Sprint sealed bearing hubs, stainless steel 14-gauge spokes, and Araya aero clincher rims, topped by Panaracer half-slick, half-treaded clincher tires (they have the Schwinn name on them). The rims are a bit heavy at 500 grams apiece, but they are absolutely beautiful-let's face it, style counts out on the lava fields.

the ride of the bike also matches its intended purpose-straight line triathlons. That means conservative steering and handling. Our 25-inch test bike has a 73-degree head angle, 1 3/4 inches of fork rake, and a 24 5/8-inch front center-that's almost sport0touring territory. In the rear, Karneboge has kept the chain-stays fairly short, 16 1/2 inches, to rein in the wheelbase at 40 1/2.

All these conservative numbers make the Circuit very stable, very comfortable. It's not the greatest pothole dodger in the world, yet there's omething very complete about the Circuit's handling. It leans into sharp cornerrs effortlessly, like some of the best racing bikes I've ridden, and it rides no hands as easily as anything I've been on. The geometry is right on for the intended market-mostly beginning riders who want to go fast. But I think racers could be happy with the bike, too. Indeed, the Schwinn national team rides a paramount frame that has identical angles to a Circuit frame, just a slightly quicker front end and chainstays that are 3/8-inch shorter.

The frame has all the geegaws that one has now come to expect-double waterbottle braze-ons, pump peg, chain hanger and under the bottom bracket cable guides. The brazing and lugs on the Greenville frames are not yet up to the standards that the Japanese have set, but our bike certainly isn't sloppy looking. And it's all covered in that sexy black finish with some of the best looking most understated graphics in the business.

In fact, the only problem I had with the Circuit was something that the Schwinn engineers have built in intentionally. For years, Schwinn has been skewing its chain lines out (by changing the dish in the rear wheel and using longer crankarm spindles, according to Karneboge) so that beginning riders could use the so-called "crossover gear," (small chainwheel, small rear sprocket). Experienced riders knwo that the gear should not be used, as it creates a poor chainline and unnecessary wear on the chain and freewheel. Yet Schwinn's Manager of Product Engineering, Rudy Schwinn, claims that no matter how many times his dealers tell beginning riders not to use that gear, they do anyway. A bike set up with a conventional chainline can be noisy in this no-no gear, as the chain rubs against the outer chainwheel. So, years and years ago, Schwinn pushed the chainline out so that the cross-over gear would be quiet, and the phones at Schwinn would stop ringing. "I get enough calls already," says Schwinn.

We found, however that by pushing out the chainline, the lower gears can suffer. The chainline on our Circuit was pushed so far out that the chain made some noise on the chainring when in the lowest gear-it would seem to me that the inner chainring teeth will suffer uneccessary [sic] wear as a result. (The noise was noticeable only on the workstand however; on the road, we could not hear it.) Luckily, the Circuit's SunTour sealed bottom bracket is adjustable, so the chainline can be compensated for.

We called dealers to see if they had had complaints from consumers about the chainline. They hadn't. In fact, none of them knew that Schwinn was playing with the chainline in the first place. The riding public seems happy, so we'd have to classify this as a minor complaint. Still, we feel that on a $650 bicycle, it is better to educate the rider than to skew the chainline.

Chainline aside, the Circuit is an excellent bicycle. in terms of features alone-tubing and componentry-this bike is well worth the price. If you've just got to have Columbus SL tubing, you won't find it for less anywhere else. in this context, the Circuit may well be one of the best values of 1986.

RaleighSport

1987 Schwinn Tempo
Purchased as frame and fork mostly 1055 group 2x7 Paint was trashed so I did my own color combo.. semi peloton inspired.

3speedslow

Started a seperate thread but would like to add my bike to the group here as well. 87 Super Sport

rccardr 

Is it possible that this ^^ is an '88 model year? I thought all '87's were pink and white...

Sierra

A check of the headbadge date code number on this one would be interesting to see.

The red & white models like this one never appeared in a catalog but they seem to be a later color scheme for 1987.

I speculate that the Pink & White scheme was not selling well so was changed part way through the model year.

I do see more of the Pink & White than the Red & White though.

Edit: I see from another thread on the bike that it has been dated to 7/29/87, so I think that qualifies as an '87 model. Too early in the year to be considered an '88.

3speedslow

Yeah everybody,

Number on the headbadge is 2097. The Magenta colour was not going to fly with the buying crowd so they changed the paint scheme sometime in the year. Magenta or not, I would still of bought this bike.

I have my question though, where were these frames produced ? Some are saying by Panosonic but I have read that production of these were at the Greenville, Miss. plant with the components brought in from Asia. Curious.

Regards

Sierra

I don't have any proof, but I think you're right that it was produced at the Greenville plant.

I've seen this discussed several times but I've never seen a definitive answer as to which bikes were produced where.

There has been some discussion that the Panasonic built bikes will have a sticker or decal somewhere on them saying they were made in Japan, but I don't know if it is universally true.

jjames1452 

'87 Prelude
Full Shimano 600 components
Open Pro Wheels
Blackburn Rack

jjames1452 

'87 Prelude
Full 600 components - except for the Dura Ace Hubs and the most perfect Open Pro wheels I have ever seen
(not bragging because I did not build them)
threaded to threadless adaptor on stem w/Pro bars
Blackburn Rack

3speedslow

Yes, I've seen this sticker on their second tier schwinns that I have worked on. For those I believe they were sourced completely from overseas and came with the sticker and a headbadge that said Schwinn Quality. They were decently made with mid/low components, some like the brakes were called Star, I guess copies of Dia-Compes or others.

But in this timeline, 87' while Schwinn was trying to have a go with the Greenville plant, they were making and painting the frames and bringing in the comp. from overseas. Sadly, they closed the doors early ninties. These were some nice bikes that could stand up to most of their competitors. Numbers just didn' crunch right.