fish0n

Well have deiced instead of fixing my Fisher Tarpon Mt. bike, to convert to a road bike. A Mt. bike with slicks is ok, but I'm wanting a bike with more speed. I'm planing on going with an older used model for now. I though I would do some research on the older road bikes, so I googled Schwinn varsity, and up popped this link : https://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...30660804602498 (Please read specifications)

I'm wondering what you all think of it? I know that store bought bikes are junk, but maybe this one is the exception? If going with this bike would be a bad idea, what would be some older road bikes I should be looking out for?

blackjack51

Hmmm let me see.....

It's equipped with 7 speed no-name Shimano
It weighs 32lb.

Somehow i don't think this is an exception

NomadVW 

Ya know, I just recommended this bike to a guy I work with. He's "thinking" he might get into road biking and his choice were this, or a $600 bike with marginally better componentry.

I told him to buy this, because chances are if he gets hooked to roadie's he'll want to replace with a much better bike anyway (we're overseas, so craigslist and ebay weren't options for his choices of used bikes). I told him up front that the bike would not be great, but would at least give him a chance to determine if he liked it for $400 less than the other not-so-great POS.

If you WILL be into road biking, don't buy this. If you have a habit of trying new hobbies to abandon them because none of them were as fun as the next one, buy this and save yourself the dough.

blackjack51

Valid point, however i suggest that you find a cheap, decent quality second hand bike. This way if you decide you like cycling and want to upgrade you can sell it off at similar price to what you paid for it. And similarly, if you decide you don't like cycling you can sell it off for a similar price to what you paid for it.

If you buy the Schwinn and try and sell it off, you're going to lose most of that $200 you paid for it.

NomadVW 

^^^^^
No argument there, but the "decent" second hand isn't available where we're at. If you have the availability to get a decent second hand, that's the best option if you're just testing the waters.

alanbikehouston

Of the ten or so bike shops within five miles of my home, two or three always have in stock "trade-in" bikes. The "best buys" are pro quality bikes from the 1985 to 1992 era. Many of these have frames that would cost over $1,000 to have built today, such as Reynolds 531 frames and forks, hand-brazed lugs, etc. These bikes ride as nicely as the typical 2007 bike selling for $800 to $1,500.

Their price? After the brakes and shifting is tuned up, and the wheels trued, these bikes sell for between $200 and $300. Usually, the wheels alone are worth that much.

Wal-Mart and K-Mart bikes, and the entry level bikes sold as sporting goods stores and the "Chino-crap" direct operations on the internet and on E-Bay are junk. Substandard no-name hubs. Substandard no-name brake calipers. Odd size and odd models of seatposts, headsets, bottom brackets, cranks, and cassettes that are NOT stocked by your neighborhood bike shop. When these parts break (which will happen soon) replacing them will be time-consuming and expensive.

Every Saturday at the bike shop up the street from me, someone comes in with a Wal-Mart bike with defective brake calipers. When they are told the cost of a set of buying and installing a decent pair of calipers, such as Shimano 105 calipers, the owners always howl: "But that is more than I paid for my whole bike".

Save yourself some pain. Buy a used bike that has Shimano 105 or Shimano Ultegra components and drivetrain and first-rate wheels. It can give you decades of good service. Don't waste a penny on a new bike from the Chino-crapmeisters.

I've never been to a town so small that you can not find a good used bike. Make a list of every bike shop within ten miles of home. Visit every Goodwill and Salvation Army resale store. Cruise by the Saturday yardsales (a friend of mine recently bought a former official "team" bike from a pro team at yard sale.

If you absolutely MUST have a 2007 road bike, and you can't spend more than $300, don't buy the crapo pretend road bikes that are sold in that price range. If you go to a good bike shop, and ask when their next sale week-end will be (many shops will have sales around July 4th) you will find you can buy a really nice Trek, Specialized, or Giant mountain bike for $300. Put on light weight slick tires, and put on some bar ends for a choice of riding positions, and such bikes make good road bikes for a ten to twenty mile ride.

Converted mountain bikes are the preferred "road bikes" of some of the most experienced bike messengers here in Houston.

dtrain

fishOn,

Looks like you're in Portland, right? Dozens of decent bikes are posted on craigslist each day here and there are several good co-op's that sell used bikes: City Bikes, the Recyclery, Community Cycling Center, Sellwood Cycle, etc. Those are much better options that the Walmart bike.

jimx200

What Alan said makes darn good sense. Check Craigslist and eBay for some really nice, older bikes that will give you much better components. My gf made the big mistake of buying a Timberline GT (over my objections) from a big box store and it has been a wasted money pit: absolutely no service or help from big box store when rear wheel decided to break...no, she is not a clyde. After the wheel collapsed, the rear der got sucked into the wheel, breaking chain, rear der, cable housing, and of course the wheel. This bike has very flexable rims on it (no name) and GT would not replace a thing...pathetic as it was only a few months old. In short, life is too short for a junk bike. A local bike shop can be your best friend. And no, not a supporter of BD, especially for someone new to the sport.

BikeWise1

Hmmm....

Notice how Wal*Mart has that in the "toy" section, not "sporting goods"...very telling as to their attitude about what they're selling here.

Fit is everything in a road bike. If it doesn't fit you won't be comfortable, won't enjoy riding it, and will never know what you're missing.

Go get a fit, then start looking at craigslist and ebay. You'll get a real bike for the same (or less) money, and will have taken a step in the right direction....

kenseth03

I thought about this bike since I am just dabbling into road biking. I am an avid mountain biker with a Trek 6700 so I know the difference in a cheap bike and a nice bike shop bike. Knowing this I bought an older Fuji road bike that was scratched up and needed a little TLC. I painted the frame black which surprisingly turned out nice. I replaced the usual stuff for an old bike, tires, cables and regreesed the bearings. The only thing is that the older Suntour deralluiers just won't dial in meaning I need to replace them. So something to remember is that an older used bike usually needs work and possibly some more money spent in parts which can be frustrating to a new roadie. So I would have to say that i'm not sure buying the older bike was the better idea. Just my opinion though.

rknj

You could get a better bike shipped internationally on eBay for the same price as that hunk of scrap metal.

e0richt

it could be ok... however, I really would recommend going to ebay and look for a seller named "chicabike" she sells Dawes bikes. I have the Lightning sport and find that to be a great value for the money... its a touch more than the varsity (due to shipping) but you really will get a better deal.

e0richt

well, I got a dawes off of ebay, which means it a "taiwan" special... guess what? its a good bike and I have had no problems with it...

fish0n

I did notice that! Sorry if this was a dumb question. I was thinking maybe the bike would actually be worth more than $200 and its just priced really low because it's from wal-mart . I'm wanting a new bike to use as a my main source of transportation (riding at least 15 miles a day), not only as a "hobby".

jonnelmedina

The Walmart Schwinn Varsity's quality is really bad off the box, but after some upgrades of the components the bike is a decent bike. I got my bike for $120 from a clearance sale. I wanted to get into road biking and noticed how expensive all the bikes are at the LBS. For $120 I can start with the sport and upgrade components and will still cost less than the cheapest bike at LBS. Here is the upgrade I did.

Used Shimano 105 groupset (XX-1055) Minus STI ****ers and headset $80 @ ebay
New Wheel Tape $6 @ REI
New seat and seatpost $30 @ Mike's Bikes (seat) @ craigslist (seatpost)
New Shimano chain $16 @ REI
New Continental Ultra Race 700c X 23 tires $37 @ Mike's Bikes
Used Shimano SPD-SL Pedal $30 @ a friend
New Schwinn 12 function Bike Computer $10 @ Walmart

Original weight was 32lbs after all the changes 23 lbs.

Total of $329 for the bike, I'll take this over the LBS bikes they sell at the store.

Ozerimar

I don't want to be rude but the schwinn varsity weighs 21LBS out of the box with kickstand. This bike comes in 4 different versions and the varsity is the bike walmart sells. However, the other three bikes from schwinn are exact equivalents of the varsity minus graphics and model name change. So, is this a good bike ?or a bad bike? Well first off tires are weak, rear hub with no quick release, shimano tourney equipped with stem shifters . Everything else is solid. Once you upgrade these parts you got a great bike. But for what it is and for what you paid for it , it is a great bike and a great buy. Yes it is made in china but so are many other high end bikes.

Ozerimar

That bike looks sick!!! Nice job!

BikeWise1

You're going to have to show me the bike hanging on a scale before I believe that!

And it doesn't matter what parts you hang on it. It's still a super-low-end, one-size-only, frame. "Upgrading" it is like putting lipstick on a pig.

If you want value, buying something nicer used is the way to go. Shopping for value in the toy bike department at Walmart is a non-sequitur.

bluevelo

Right now Performance is doing their summer clearance and have some *great* buys in the $400-$600 range... yeah, its either their store frame or Fuji, but the components and quality are just as good as lower end Specialized or Trek. If we are talking aluminum and a carbon fork (although carbon seatstays are also becoming more and more common) you can find pleasant surprises with 105 on them if you look hard enough.

Vintage bikes converted to single gear are very popular around here, but if I were going to do a single gear, I'd spend decent $$$ for a high quality frame rather than a 30-40 pound behemoth.

Or pick up a middling mountain bike that's used - there's a crapload of them around here - and have fun putting a funky paint scheme on it. Knobbies on pavement are a great way to build endurance and workout, and trigger shifters last forever!

Servo888

The Schwinn route isn't that bad. If you surf over to Amazon.com, you can read some pretty positive reviews from guys who rack up a lot of miles on these things without too many headaches. Going the 2nd hand route is pretty good too.

Here's a mid 1990's Scott AFD I picked up for $150 with STI 8-speed shifters


About $100 more and I could have had it on the road, riding silky smooth. But, I already had a bike, and didn't want to invest the time; so it got parted out on eBay, after I scavenged the parts off that I needed.

FR4NCH1SE

Mtn. Bike eh? well the frame on the varsity is the same as the GMC denali which is the aluminum 6061, that is just code form for saying "32 lbs", the frame is as heavy as a mtn. bike so you wont be going more fast, you might gain some but in the long run your hauling almost the same weight.

If I were you I would save up and buy a 500 buck from craigslist or ebay.

btw I have a gmc denali aluminum 6061 frame it sucks.

Ozerimar

You are incorrect! The Kent denali and schwinn varsity are completely different frames. The schwinn bike frames some but not all are made at the Giant bicycle corporation and the schwin varsity happens to be one of them. This bike weighs 21LBS out of the Box! (I own one and a dozen other road bikes)The kent denali weighs 10lbs more and is less of a bike but, a great buy for a new bike. These are both entry level road bikes and very afforable to anyone on a budget so there is no excuse not to get out there and start riding. Personally I favor my old raleigh super grand grix with lugged steel frames for riding. They dont make them like they used to. It does not even compare to the new raleigh clubman now thats a piece for a grand.

crhilton

Where was all the weight? In the cranks?

crhilton

Plus you're putting the parts on a $50 frame instead of a $150 frame. Wow, you saved like $100! Whoopy.

It's amazing that they can ship a semi-functional bike for less money than most of us think you can build a usable wheelset for...

crhilton

That's what everyone thinks when they go in wal-mart. It's never true. You're not cheating wal-mart. They know what they have and know what it's worth. Trust me, they're more informed than you, me, and everyone else on this forum. They probably know more about bikes too. Enough to know that people don't actually ride them, or plan to, so why would they spend money for one that fits and works?


If you're serious, ask in the commuting section. Regardless of that bikes merits, or lack thereof, as a road bike it's not a terribly good utility bike. Doesn't look like you could mount decent fenders or a decent rack... If it's your primary transportation you'll probably want fenders (anathema in this forum, gospel in commuting).

If you're really gonna use the bike for the long haul the initial price isn't such a big deal. You're gonna spend another couple grand on fixing the thing over the years, replacing consumable parts, fixing parts that shouldn't have broken, upgrading things you don't like. That's gonna happen with any bike. This bike might have more wear out issues: For example, they may have cheaped out on some bearings: That can get expensive fast.

I've got several times the price of this bike in my commuter. It's still very cheap to operate. It works fantastically, and I didn't cut any corners. It's no weight weenie bike, but everything on it is quality. It runs year round with only minor work every month or two (chains and tire changes mostly, occasionally you tighten a barrel adjuster for a derailleur).


Damn you jonnelmedina! This was a dead thread. I really need to read dates.