Originally Posted by
schwim
Here's an example of what I often find. I know I'm not in the C&V category so I'm not turning this into a value thread, this is just an example. Aside from posting in that category and having someone else tell you it's value, if you found this bike for sale(and pretend you don't already know by looking at it), how would you go about learning more about the bike, it's quality and whether the asking price(in this case, $200) is fair? Sorry for no driveline pic, I have asked for one but she's not responded yet.
...so using the method of image searching and back linking from that, here is an example:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Schwinn+Su...ages&ia=images
leads to this image (on a page of images) :
If you follow the link given to the page where it appears on Bike forums, you get to this thread in the C+V appraisals forum:
You can do that with any image on the page, I just picked that one because it led to an appraisal and a quoted sale price of $300. But that one was fully rehabilitated, so anything you need to do to the bicycle in question that will cost money should be deducted in your mental equation for value.
IIRC all the "12.2" designated bicycles sold by Schwinn at the time were Japanese products, probably made by Giant or if one of the better ones, Panasonic. I could be mistaken. I'm just going off the top of my head. The "12.2" was a reference to weight of the frame. The Voyageur 12.2 also marketed by Schwinn is a wonderful bicycle, in terms of a geometry and riding quality. But the early ones were sole with alloy rims with little or no bead hook, so they need a wheel rim upgrade to reach full potential using modern higher pressure tyres.