medic75

I'm looking for a reasonable priced beater bike for winter commutes. I am not sure if this is something I will make a habit out of or not. Because of my uncertainty & the conditions that I will be riding in, I am looking to keep the price as low as possible. I have been looking for a used bike, knowing that I will have to add fenders and a rack. The Schwinn Central seems like it may be a decent option for my needs. It looks like I may be able to add some studded tires and start riding. Does anyone have any opinions or knowledge on this bike?

Schwinn Central | Schwinn Bicycles

BobbyG

I have no knowledge of this particular bike, but based on the photo I would say it should work well. It looks like it has "rapid fire" or "trigger" style shifters, which my winter bike has, and work with heavy gloves, but not so well with mittens. The disc brakes should work well when wet. My winter bike has rim brakes, and the original cantilever brakes were just okay in the wet. I went to V-brakes a couple of years ago and they are even better than my disc-brake bike.

While the fenders look to provide good, full-ish coverage I do notice they are not adjustable. The struts/supports curve around the rear of the fender, and hook over the mounting screw with no provision for adjustment. So if a pair of studded tires end up being bigger than the original tires, there my not be clearance. On the other hand, my studded snow tires are 26x1.65 and fit the fenders fine when I had them adjusted for 26x1.5 road tires. But when I went to 26x1.85 summer tires I had to "let out" the fenders a small bit. Of course now the 1.65 snow tires have plenty of fender clearance.

Worst case scenario, you end up taking off the fenders until you can buy new ones, or fashion some sort of strut extender.

rumrunn6

how many miles are we talking about? do you have any bike now?

noglider 

I like the look. I like the bolted on headlight. But you still get a better value when you buy used, especially if you are mechanically inclined and can spend some time setting up the bike the way you want it.

medic75

Thanks. To answer some questions - my commute is very short, less than 2 miles, and varies depending on the route I decide to take that day. I have been commuting most of the summer and really enjoy it - and get depressed when I am forced to drive. Winter commuting will be uncharted territory. I know that I do not want to take my bike out into the salt and grime of winter roads. I have been looking for used, but I haven't had much luck. Doing the math, a decent used bike (if I can find one) + rack + fenders will be at least $200, if not more. I can buy this Schwinn for $210. Yes, it is not sized for me, but I'm hoping that won't matter much on my short commute. It is attractive to me because of the fenders, rack, & disc brakes for just over $210. I know this bike will be abused by the elements, but considering what it is, no big loss.

A big thanks to BobbyG for pointing out the potential fender clearance issue. I will have to do some measuring before heading to the LBS for tires.

acidfast7

It's good. Looks like a cheap European commuter from LIDL, ALDI, NETTO or REMA 500 (which is a win.)

medic75

I went ahead and broke the unwritten rules, buying the bike from walmart. I spent about 20 minutes assembling it last night and an additional 30 minutes trying to adjust the brakes. They still aren't to my liking, but they work. I may be expecting too much considering that I have been riding a bike with Shimano Ultegra brifters & hydraulic brakes. I did a quick run through the gears last night and the Shimano Tourney derailleur seemed good with no need for adjustment, but the maiden voyage this morning resulted in some ghost shifting & signs of obvious need of adjustment. When assembling this bike it was obvious that I was dealing with a cheap big box store bike. At the same time, the quality of the low end and generic components seems decent. I just need to keep reminding myself that this was 1/6 the cost of my daily rider. The Innova 700x40 tires are clearly more in the 35mm range. These will soon be replaced with studded tires anyway - once I figure out what size I can fit under the fenders. The wheels appear to be double wall aluminum. Finally, being a 1 size fits all bike and me being 6'0", the seat post is fully extended and I could probably use another centimeter or 2 to get it properly set up for me. I had plans to remove the Schwinn stickers, but to my surprise, the decals are painted on the frame. The wheel decals will be removed.

Overall, I think at $218, this bike is a decent investment and should serve its intended purpose well.

acidfast7

I must admit that this is an excellent looking bicycle.

I purchased a so-called BSO with relatively low level components and find that's all that is really needed for commuting on my short and flat runs. Also, mine often gets left outside as space is really at a premium here.

A few questions about that new and trustworthy steed:

1. Is that CENTRAL or CENTAAL? I'd like the sound of CENTAAL better as it sounds more Dutch.
2. Is that a dynamo powered light?

I'd just give it a one over from as it's been assembled at Wally World and otherwise it should be good to go.

Nice purchase overall.

rumrunn6

that's a lot of work!

medic75

1. It is CENTRAL, sorry to bust your bubble
2. It is not dynamo. It is just a cheap plastic LED light that take three AAA batteries. It has only two modes - off/on. No rear light was included.
3. This bike was sealed in the box when I got it. I assembled it myself. I have seen the (in)abilities of Walmart employees when it comes to assembling bikes, so I completely understand and thank you for your concern.

acidfast7

Yes. I was recently able to get an enlarged photo of the frame and the R and A are quite close in typeface. My bubble is hardly burst and I see this as a fine purchase that is befitting of my personal commute stable.

I would gladly leave that bicycle outside at Norreport after popping in some Ree lights.

It's the closest thing to a European commuter that I've seen in a while around these parts, so job well done!

Have a nice day and commute.

phughes

You can ride that a lot for $218. On a ride from Pittsburgh to Washington DC, I met up with a man who was finishing a cross country. He flew to San Fransisco with his seat, pedals, shoes, and gear, and bought a Schwinn from Walmart, and also added a Burley trailer, and went on his way. He thought he might have to replace the bike partway through the ride, but it lasted the trip, though he replaced the cranks in Ohio, adding a triple. When he was finished, he gave the bike to someone who needed one. I think that bike will work perfectly for your commute.

medic75

I have ridden it two days now. I really miss my drop bars and don't like the short cockpit, but accept that this setup is ideal for winter commuting. After some minor adjusting, I believe I have everything dialed in to my liking. The brakes still need some work (or upgraded calipers), but the shifting is now perfect, though not as smooth as I am used to. My next stop to the LBS will consist of adding a mirror and ordering some studded tires. I think I am leaning toward Schwalbe Marathons. Just today I educated myself on the difference between 29 inch, 28 inch, & 700c tires.

acidfast7

Good evening!

I like the synopsis of the bike.

Is the 29/28/700c commentary a joke? Maybe I missed something but aren't they all 622 tyres in most non-English languages?

Have a nice evening.

Ged117 

I use the Schwalbe Marathon "with greenguard" (note: not the Marathon Plus) tires on my Norco and will be moving them over to my Trek 750 once it is ready for duty. They're very good tires and ride well. I've never had punctures. They don't give the supple connected ride of the Paselas on my Schwinn Voyageur touring bike, but I'd rather get to work or home without issue while still enjoying the quality construction and tough go anywhere performance. They're worth the price for sure.

medic75

acidfast7

Good morning!

I ran into this when I moved to Germany and they started using 700c wheels on MTBs and called them a "29er", whereas regular trekking bikes are referred to as a "28er."

I was instructed to just look for the "-622", which honestly makes much more sense than the obsolete 700c and 650b and matches up with how car tyres are sized.

Good luck with selection of tyres, there's a lot of **** out there, I even had Schwalbe tyres fail on me quite quickly (Duranos are garbage).

noglider 

Tire sizing is very confusing. The best explanation is here on Sheldon Brown's site, though it doesn't make a complex system simple, because it can't.

Briefly, even Europe used inches to describe tire sizes. The stupidity started when the size referred to the outside diameter of the inflated tire rather than the rim size. On a given rim, you can switch tires and get a much different diameter, so that's really dumb. Then eventually, the sizes we had referred to what USED TO BE the size of the tire.

700c and 29er both refer to rims with a bead seat diameter (BSD) of 622mm. That's weird because 700c is slightly smaller than 27" wheels with have a BSD of 630mm. And Europeans refer to 700c as 28", which, again, is smaller in actual size than 27".

In England, there was a so-called 28" size whose BSD is 735mm, only slightly larger than 27" (630mm), and 5mm is nowhere near an inch.

700mm is kinda-sorta close to 27", so we have 700c, but 700a, 700b, and 700d are never used as designations.

650mm is kinda-sorta close to 26", and there are lots of 26" tires, some of which use a 650 designation, and this does not help! 650a has a BSD of 590mm, and this is what English 3-speed and many other bikes use. It's often called 26x1-3/8". Some other sizes are also called 26x1-3/8" which is enough to drive people mad. 650b is 584mm. 650c (with 571mm BSD) came into style a few years ago as narrow-tired racing bikes for shorter people. It was a good idea, but bike makers found it too expensive to have different sizes, so now shorter people have to go back to racing bikes with 700c wheels, even though the fit is not optimal. Then there is the MTB style 26" which is much smaller than all of the 650 designations, as the BSD is 559mm.

Also, some inch sizes are expressed with decimal fractions and some with simple fractions. Do not interchange these with numeric equivalents, because types of fractions IMPLIES the BSD. So you can have 26x1.375" but that is not 26x1-3/8.

Are you crazy yet?

suncruiser

thank you! I've tried explaining this a little to one of my friends that is really wanting to get into cycling. I may show him this post to make his head hurt a bit, this is fabulous!

noglider 

Thank you! I realized it was worth saving, so I made a blog post out of it. It's not as complete as Sheldon's page, but it might be more accessible since it's shorter.

Some people see sidewall markers such as 700x32c and think that 'c' is the unit of measurement for tire width. Well, that's understandable. It sounds so funny to hear people say, "I prefer a 32c tire, because 28c is too narrow for me," when the 'c' really refers to the a-b-c-d series among all the various 700 series (serieses?), of which there is only one. Oy!

Then people absentmindedly remember that cc is a unit of measurement, so I sometimes hear "700cc tire." Oh but cc is cubic centimeters, and we don't measure tires that way at all, nor should we.

CliffordK

Good luck with the bike.

Too bad it didn't come with a generator. I bet Schwinn could add a decent hub generator and front+rear lights for < $300, if they wanted.

I do like used bikes, but I wonder if some of the bike flippers really know how cheap the bikes they're flipping actually are.

Still, there should be good hybrids out there around $100 (needing a tuneup).

Phamilton

medic75

Wow! I thought I had it all figured out assuming three basic sizes with different names.

I knew the following:
1. 700 = c = 29"
2. 650 = b = 27.5"
3. 600 = a = 26"

Then I found out about 28" being the same as 29" as well as adding 622 into the mix. I didn't understand, but accepted it. Now I read your post and am scratching my head again. To answer your question, I think the people who are responsible for this mess are the people who are crazy

medic75

Now that winter is almost over and the Schwinn Commuter will soon be going into storage, I figured I would update everyone. Overall, this bike performed its intended purpose without any mishaps. I did my best to keep it maintained, but the chain & cogs are a bit rusty. Everything has been coated in salt laden slush multiple times throughout the season. My biggest concern is the crank having some play in it. The LBS was closed for the season and I don't have the tools to address it, so I won't know the cause for a few more weeks.

With this being said, I got my gravel bike out yesterday for the commute to work. It was likely the most blissful ride I can remember. While commuting through the winter was more of a rewarding challenge, being on a decent quality bike in nice weather is a euphoric feeling that I had forgotten existed. IMO the Schwinn is worth exactly what I paid for it. I consider it to be a cheap tool for a specialized job. When it becomes more expensive to fix than it is worth, I will have no issue retiring it.

noglider 

How did the brakes work out, @medic75? And play in the crank is bad. It causes worn out bearings. The sooner you fix it, the lower the chance that you've damaged the cups or axle or both.