Schwinn experts, help me out with a guessing game.
07-02-19, 09:37 AM
#1
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Schwinn experts, help me out with a guessing game.
I'm trying to remember a specific Schwinn road bike I owned, and I can't quite figure it out. I've looked through the old Schwinn catalogs and I still am not sure.
I bought it new at my LBS in about 1986. I remember it being a previous years model, and so I got it a little cheaper. I paid for it with my paper route money, and I really can't imagine I paid more than about $300. It was a charcoal gray metallic color, and I'm pretty sure it was a 12 speed. That's really about all I can remember. I do recall that it had a 1 word name, it wasn't "World Sport" or similar, just 1 word.
I think it may have been '87 when I bought it, and maybe it was an '86 Prelude in Gunmetal. Could I have bought that bike around $300?
Thanks!
I bought it new at my LBS in about 1986. I remember it being a previous years model, and so I got it a little cheaper. I paid for it with my paper route money, and I really can't imagine I paid more than about $300. It was a charcoal gray metallic color, and I'm pretty sure it was a 12 speed. That's really about all I can remember. I do recall that it had a 1 word name, it wasn't "World Sport" or similar, just 1 word.
I think it may have been '87 when I bought it, and maybe it was an '86 Prelude in Gunmetal. Could I have bought that bike around $300?
Thanks!
Last edited by riverdrifter; 07-02-19 at 09:46 AM.
07-02-19, 11:50 AM
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I'll play! 1985 Tempo in metallic black.
Or something else.
Or something else.
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A race bike in any era is a highly personal choice that at its "best" balances the requirements of fit, weight, handling, durability and cost tempered by the willingness to toss it and oneself down the pavement at considerable speed. ~Bandera
A race bike in any era is a highly personal choice that at its "best" balances the requirements of fit, weight, handling, durability and cost tempered by the willingness to toss it and oneself down the pavement at considerable speed. ~Bandera
07-02-19, 11:51 AM
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Does anyone have a price list from around that time?
07-02-19, 04:47 PM
#5
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I bought my 1988 Schwinn Premis in 1988 for $450 and still have the receipt. The Prelude was one model below the Premis that year. So, $300ish for a one year old Prelude in 1987 seems reasonable. The Tempo was one model up from the Premis in 1988.
07-02-19, 05:32 PM
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07-02-19, 07:51 PM
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Prelude was a good-quality bike, which jibes with the discounted $300 you spent.
Non-indexed drivetrains were at that time becoming a "huge discount" factor, I remember buying a Cannondale road bike for $220 and a Trek 510 for $300 and a Trek 720 for $425 in the winter around that time. All the bikes were new and I sold the 510 in just one day for a good profit.
The shop owner told me a story about his shop's heating boiler having just blown up, that he needed money fast, but the bikes being "obsolete" was I believe the bigger reason for the mark-downs. I still have that 720!
Non-indexed drivetrains were at that time becoming a "huge discount" factor, I remember buying a Cannondale road bike for $220 and a Trek 510 for $300 and a Trek 720 for $425 in the winter around that time. All the bikes were new and I sold the 510 in just one day for a good profit.
The shop owner told me a story about his shop's heating boiler having just blown up, that he needed money fast, but the bikes being "obsolete" was I believe the bigger reason for the mark-downs. I still have that 720!
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07-02-19, 08:42 PM
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Prelude was a good-quality bike, which jibes with the discounted $300 you spent.
Non-indexed drivetrains were at that time becoming a "huge discount" factor, I remember buying a Cannondale road bike for $220 and a Trek 510 for $300 and a Trek 720 for $425 in the winter around that time. All the bikes were new and I sold the 510 in just one day for a good profit.
The shop owner told me a story about his shop's heating boiler having just blown up, that he needed money fast, but the bikes being "obsolete" was I believe the bigger reason for the mark-downs. I still have that 720!
Non-indexed drivetrains were at that time becoming a "huge discount" factor, I remember buying a Cannondale road bike for $220 and a Trek 510 for $300 and a Trek 720 for $425 in the winter around that time. All the bikes were new and I sold the 510 in just one day for a good profit.
The shop owner told me a story about his shop's heating boiler having just blown up, that he needed money fast, but the bikes being "obsolete" was I believe the bigger reason for the mark-downs. I still have that 720!
07-03-19, 09:38 PM
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1984 Letour Luxe???
MAYBE
Do you remember if it had the safety levers?
BTW...I am NO expert on anything.
MAYBE
Do you remember if it had the safety levers?
BTW...I am NO expert on anything.
Last edited by Essthreetee; 07-03-19 at 09:51 PM.
07-03-19, 09:49 PM
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1986 Prelude in Gunmetal Grey???? (Pic borrowed from internet)
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07-03-19, 11:18 PM
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After Schwinn closed their Chicago factory. There they only build electro-frorged frames + plus operations in the Paramount Cage there. In in 1980's they built many bikes in MS. The orginal Letour was built by Panasonic. Then came Letour Lux Super Letour....etc. The Schwinn World,,stem shifters, (1980s) steel rims. That one was build by Giant.
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07-04-19, 05:59 AM
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LeTour Luxe came in that grey color around that year.
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