Originally Posted by Velo Mule

Panasonic built excellent bikes. Some have said that Schwinn helped them in that regard. Their bikes were made well throughout their line, and had good geomentrey. One of the joy's that I get out of the bicycling hobby is taking low end but good frames and mating them with good wheels to make great bikes. A Panasonic Sport Deluxe or a Schwinn World are good starting points. Both are well built, both have good geometry and both also have some Schwinn influence. Without Schwinn influence, there are plenty of bike makers that got this right and the first road bike that deserves mention is the Peugeot UO-8 and it variants. There were others before it but Peugeot sold so many of these bikes, that they became common. Add some good wheels to this bike and you have a great bike.

There are plenty of others. I have a Lampert that surprised me. And my Schwinn Continental with aluminum wheels is a joy. This is fun stuff.