mmcnally256

My 82 Superior is a 12spd Reynolds 531 doubled butted frame and stays with Tange fork, Campagnolo Gran Sport groupo, Cinelli bars. I'm not sure if I want to sell it or not, but I want to see what the experts here think about it. It's a kind of different bike. When I lived in Omaha I rode the Ragbrai ride 3 or 4 times and had the opportunity to look at several other Superior bikes, and none were like mine. My bike has a very light top tube, that when thumped by flicking the finger rings like a crystal wine glass. All of the other Superiors I have looked at provide a dull thud when struck similarly. Also my down tube from the seat to bottom bracket would be stiffer (judged by the thud)

So there are two takes on this; 1) top tube flexing would make this bike a very inefficient sprinting bike, and a quite poor design, or 2) (since I like the bike, I greatly prefer this perspective) the light top tube makes this bike a very special design which would excel at dealing with fast bumpy sections, where first the tire flexes, then the rim and spokes, and under significant hits the top tube itself will help to provide shock and vibration damping, and a more comfortable ride, while providing extra stiffness in the down tube from the seat so as to be very efficient as long as you aren't standing.

In order to get a good price selling it, I would have to find someone who specifically wants a vintage cobblestone riding campy reynolds bike, so I would have to sell on ebay. I see that a vintage paramount frame sold for about 950usd, but that's a bit high. Anyway, I would guess that it's worth a bit under 950 if I'm wrong about how special it is, and it's worth a bit more, if I'm right. Am I right? Or is it a bad design, and what do you think it's worth? I will post some images on my google drive along with an audio file of me thumping the tubes, so you can here what I'm talking about.

ok, so I'm not allowed to point you towards the all important audio file by including a link. So I will import a few pics here...

ok, so I'm not allowed to post images either. Great

Mike, in the Phoenix metro

ps I just got some handlebar tape, new tires and tubes to dress this bike up. The rims still spin true.

Moisture

I highly doubt the top tube is made out of thin enough material to result in any sort of significant flexing when riding. Reynolds is a good quality chromoly.

The top tube itself isn't all that involved in terms of power trasnfer and ride compliance.. well.. the entire frame is. Including the wheels, the hubs, etc. You get the idea.

Your schwinn is a great bike. I would not hesitate to ride and thoroughly enjoy it as long as its a good fit for you. If it isn't, that's the only reason why you should consider selling it.

Id say the riders skill, positioning on the bike, centre of gravity etc will easily make the biggest difference with regards to power transfer and ride comfort.

juvela

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wildly fascinated by this enumeration of your digits...

can hardly wait until we get to the podiatric ones!

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image posting tips -

your member's page has a place where you can create a photo album without the need for ten posts

members or moderators can put those images into the thread for you

alternately you can post images to a third party hosting service and enter the URL into the thread in a munged form to get it past the censor

remember to include de-munging directions

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trainman999

mmcnally256 Your Bike is made out of the leftover tubes and lugs from when they shut down Paramount Production in late 79. Braized up by the person who did the frames to be chromed in the early 70s It's a really good bike, almost a Paramount. It's value $400-900 depending on its size, condition, and who is looking for one. Any chance you could provide the size ,4digit assembly date on the headbadge ,and the serial on the left rear droup out for my database on them?

thinktubes 

I have an 1981 Superior and it's a fantastic bike. As trainman999 mentioned, the 81-83 Superiors are "almost" Paramounts

The ride is incredibly smooth, but not flexy (I'm 6' 2" - 200 lbs). The Superior corners better than any bike I've owned.

Assuming it's in good shape, no less than $600. A very nice one sold quickly for $1k last year. Would love to see pics.

Moisture

I wonder how this Reynolds compares to my 1980 norco and 1986 nishiki olympic tria. Its made out of tange infinity double butted tapered chromoly. The rear triangle and front fork is made from hi tensile tube but I swear it's as good if not better than some other types of chromo.

Manufacturers try to find the right balance between light weight, rigidity and ride compliance according to who they envision will ride their bikes.

my low end norco Monterey had a notably smoother ride than the higher up nishiki. The nishiki feels stiffer and better for power trasnfer, but not any heavier. I imagine your Schwinn is towards the top of the line and a small step up from Tange.

I've tried riding both of these bikes with both a freewheel and freehub design, and I can say this will definetely make a difference for the sake of blending ride comfort with overall response/stability.

mmcnally256

The pics of my bike are up, but it's too early for this album I created to have my name on it (more rules). It's the unlabeled album with the paint tarp over the table in the background. The frame is 23in. The headbadge no. is 2102. The ser no. on the left rear dropout is 20315. I believe the original owner was the guy who sold it to me ~1988. He was an administrator at the Univ of NE, Lincoln. He had been racing with this bike, and had replaced it with a new Klein.

But again, this is not just one of a set of great bikes made in this era, because I have inspected many of them, and they are not like mine. I should add, it is not just other Superiors I compared tubes with by thumping on them. Every time I would have occasion to speak with someone with a real nice bike, I would always thump their tubes. I never saw a chromoly or manganese-molybdenum bike that had a light top tube like mine, and I probably inspected dozens (long time ago).

Frame wts change fast over time. That 86 Nishiki is likely lighter than an 82 Superior. Nishiki's were excellent bikes. The yurl address of my google drive where the audio file of how light this top tube is, can be found beteen the words: toomany and rules.
toomanydrive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZJbARBBjXAV0oFxgPf56aXZ8ZesDPB4v?usp=sharingrules

thinktubes 

Link asst

Superior pics

thinktubes 

With new consumables and clean $700-ish.

TugaDude

Thumping tubes is subjective and not a test with which you can compare bikes. All you can do is say they sound different, but you really don't have any real idea of why they sound different. As stated by others, the biggest stress and flex occurs down around the bottom bracket. That is why we normally say top tube dents aren't a major problem. They can be if severe enough, but usually they are cosmetic issues and not structural.

In any case, the bike has value but needs quite a bit of work to get the most out of it.

mmcnally256

I added new tires, tubes and bar tape. Worked some wd40 through the chain and gears. I will try and maybe use some mechanics soap on an old tooth brush to clean up any remaining grimey corners. But, I am somewhat resistant to a full paint job. I don't want to cover the stickers that say made in Chicago and 531 dbl butted tubes and stays. Where I set the price will depend on how well the grimey corners clean up. I could buy a pint of touch up paint closely matched if necessary. I truly don't want to sell this bike because of how special I believe it is, but it has always been too tall for me, and if I get a sailboat, I would be better off with a good rigid mtb or hardtail to take along.

Thank you for talking with me about this bike.

Mike, in the Phoenix metro

JulesCW 

Do not paint it! It looks like the paint is decent -- and a home paint job will decrease the value. A good professional paint job with decals will cost you in the $400 - $600 range -- which you'll never get back. A cheap powder coat plus decals will still be $150, and will really not be worth it.

The brake levers are a replacement.

On eBay on a good day you might sell it for $700, but I'd guess less. Not sure of the market in Phoenix, but trying it on Craigslist and FB martketplace is free, with not selling fees -- you could list it with photos post clean up for $850 and see what happens

bikemig 

Please don't paint it. The bike looks good. Is this a 23 inch frame? If you still lived in Omaha, I'd talk to you about buying the bike. In a large city like Phoenix, you'll likely get a good price on craigslist without the hassle of boxing it up and other possible problems. You could sell it here as well on the C&V vintage for sale forum but you'd have to be a paid member. It will sell here.

mmcnally256

I will give it a shot on craigslist and offerup, but my assumption is that to find someone willing to pay top dollar (or there abouts) for a vintage bike, it will have to be advertised nationwide. As a side note: if you want to cover some bare spots on an old bike, there will be no one at homedepot or lowes who can do that, but go to a real paint store and you might get lucky and they'll spend some time at it.

trainman999

mmcnally256 Your bike is an 83 by its Platinum Grey paint.. You are unlikley to find more than a close match, it's a tuff color, let thhe new owner deal with it. The frame a 23" was the 15 made the 3rd week of 82 and was assembled into a bike on the 29 of July 82 as an 83 model

mmcnally256

Thank you. If I keep this groupo and buy a 700c mtb or hybrid, what are the chances of the wheels being interchangable? There is a ~2000 marin sausalito for sale locally, 700c mtb.