Catnap 

a local store has this Stingray for sale for $450. Casual research on my part suggests it’s worth easily double that, but I also know that Schwinns are a subculture unto themselves. Also that there were reproductions made in the 1990s, and I don’t know how to tell one apart from an authentic vintage one.

Anyone with experience in these: is this a legit original Stingray, and second, what’s it worth?

daverup 

That one appears to be the 1998 repop. Some claim the quality was better than the current repops..
I think that's a bit high on the price.

plonz 

No expert here but I agree it’s a reproduction and it does look like the late 90s version. Did the originals come without the derailleur, stickshift and front drum? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them without these features.

The other sign for me are the rims. I remember the Schwinn Stingray family of bikes all having “tubular” steel rims. The tubular moniker had something to do with the design and were clearly identified by a ridged, center seam. At the onset of the BMX craze in the late 70s, all us kids were putting crossbars, saddles and longer cranks on our All Pros. If you could score a set of “tubular” wheels and an Ashtabula fork from a Stingray, you were a contender! That was a one-summer transition period before the proliferation of legit BMX put all those crimped-dropout wannabes straight to the scrap heap.

zukahn1 

You can tell it's the repop by the crank set on quick look the originals had a nicer round ashabuala crank set. As for the shifter Stngrays came in both geared and single speed originally.. Price wise it is on the high side for a repop pretty high retail I wouldn't go over $300 and would be closer to $200.

Catnap 

thanks for all the feedback! not surprised the price is inflated; I live in NYC and there's junk shops on every block and their prices are all over the place. the same store sold me two art prints worth around $1000 total for $50; they didn't know what they had. safe to assume they don't know what they have here, either, but not in the "get a good deal" way. It'll be interesting to see how long it lasts in the window there. I still kinda want one just to tool around the streets in, but I've got too many bikes crammed in my apt. already.

ryte1 

Having owned both a legit '70 era Stingray and the 2000s era repop, I can attest that the earlier repops were def better quality. Is that a Chicago Made decal on the seat tube? Also, it's possible that the previous owner may have kept the original wheels and replaced with these lower end wheels? A serial number may help, but isn't always 100% conclusive. The seat and the stem don't look like the latest repop version.

zukahn1 

One way to tell is seat post diameter older Schwinn's had 22/21.15 seat tube the re-pops have 26.00.