Mr. 66

Thanks! Still looks great. I used to have one that was like an '85 with the moosebars.

Note, I think those cranks may be a recalled item. The recall is still supported.

brewerkz 

Schwinn Madisons were made in 1985, 86, 87, then again in 2009, 2010, 2011. The lugged 80s are tough to find.

gstein

Looks like I missed the recall on my crankset by one digit. FC-M290 eligible, does not appear FC-M291 qualifies. But nevertheless, thanks for your note, appreciate the notice.

gstein

I may have to walk back my prior comment a little bit. Just took the Tempo out for a ride this morning. I still think the Super Sport rides a little smoother, and all-around a little more enjoyable to ride, but the margin between the two is less than I originally thought.

Wildwood 

Not bashing Schwinn - and yours are nice - but why not branch out and try a new flavor. Like - one from every country in Europe.

curbtender

Don't you already have that covered?

Schweinhund

Sorry to disappoint, but thats original as well.

trainman999

gstein Your next mission should you decide to accept it is to find and purchase one of thease. It will keep your lesser Schwinn's in line.​​​​​​​

70's

80's

90's

merziac

Or just about any other Paramount you can get your hands on.

gstein

I think I’m all done (for now) with the Schwinns…although looking at those Paramounts is tempting. Next up is a custom bike build, just gathering the final parts.

Wildwood 

I tried but fell short - by a few bike building Nations, the Scandinavian ones mainly .
But I overachieved regarding Italy, .
Then I went N-10 on vintage. 58cm tad too small, 62+cm tad too large.

The more modern bikes (9&10sp) are from USA builders.

My only Schwinn was many years back - 70's Super Sport. As purchased.

apologies for mismatched tires, t'was corrected quickly. A fun experience, but heavy. It was passed to a new owner who rode trails exclusively

gstein

I was finally able to take the Premis out for a longer ride after repairing the frayed and worn out front tire. I felt that I really lucked out as I found a NOS Schwinn Pro Circuit tire…still in the original box!

After reading the favorable reviews I would say the Premis lived up to it’s reputation. Although similar to my Super Sport the Premis seemed to climb with a little more ease. Like others, I never really paid any attention to the vintage Schwinn road bikes. Probably one of the better vintage bike that have went a little under the radar allowing someone to pick one up for typically a very reasonable price and with a little work have a really nice riding bike. I would say this goes for all the mid-level bikes, at least the ones I own: Tempo, Super Sport and Premis.

gstein

Whoops…posting faux pas…this time with drive side.

rgvg

I'm contemplating one that looks like yours. Just wondering are the shifter bosses the round ones or the square ones? Would they be easy to convert to bar end shifters?

52telecaster

I don't currently have any but I always enjoyed tenax Schwinns. Well designed sport bikes!

beicster 

That Voyageur is an 86 (I think). Mine is an 85 and looks very similar. I can’t say abou the 86 but the 85 definitely has the weird shifter bosses. With a little time invested, you can make it work.

gstein

Well apparently I was wrong. I found a 1988 Circuit that I couldn’t pass up. All original except for a dreadful padded seat and vintage dirt drop stem and aero bars. Also had mismatching tires (although one of them is an original 19mm Prologue S tire). Frame is a 25, but after lowering seat and stem, I may be able to make this work. Won’t know until I can take it for a ride.

I tried to temporarily install some Cinelli Campione Del Mondo handlebars but the width was too thick to accept the brake levers.

I’d like to get this back to original if possible.
I think I have found a Concur white leather saddle. Any chance someone might have a Cinelli 1-E 420mm bars and Cinelli 1-C 110 mm stem they might be willing to part with??






Have begun the clean up process. All the surface rust came off the chrome.

Crank in nice condition with limited wear.

top506

That is the coolest Biopace chainring I've ever seen.

Top

Vintage Schwinn

... You'd Think That People Would Have Had Enough Of Schwinn Roadbikes, But I Look Around Me And I See It Isn't So......

RiddleOfSteel

You won't find any help from me on the stop-buying-Schwinn train. 1985 Voyageur SP in essentially NOS condition, bought super cheap a year ago, fell in love with the color, fully went through it and polished and replaced what was needed (aka consumables), determined it was a little too small for me (at 25") to look "good" and have had it on and off for sale, but...I keep dropping saddle height and well I'm gonna keep it! I'm on the hunt for a truly mint condition Sugino AT crankset in 175mm, not the 170mm I have on it right now. Swapping bar, stem, and seat post to get things comfortable (just enough higher than all the "minimum insert" marks will give me) yet still look period and on point. I'm at a point where truly long wheelbase bikes are the ones that really work well with me, biomechanically. 45-47cm chain stays and 72° HT angles for dead true straight line character yet beautifully sweeping in the corners. Larger tire capacity for less stress on the increasingly-sensitive knees etc. I love the old 5/6-speed Suntour freewheel sound (why I'm keeping it 27" wheel) plus the vertical dropouts, especially if I decide to run fenders on it. I love the go-fast road/race geo, and have had my share of high performance Schwinns--one Paramount I'm selling, three prior owned, a Prologue, a 1985 Peloton aka pre-Circuit, 1984 and 1987 Super Sports--and they have had their important place in my bicycle journey, but it's VSP time.

madpogue 

But what's wrong with that, I'd like to know....

SoCaled 

Not sure what you were thinking here? welcome to the den of enabler's, nice stable.

gstein

I just realized that in 1988 Schwinn must have released two similar, but not the same, red Circuit bikes.

I have seen three differences between my bike (and madpogues bike as well) compared to most other 1988 red Circuits. I’m sure there are quite a few BF members that already know this, but for others here are the differences I am seeing.

1. Color. My bike is more of a deeper, darker burgundy red vs other model is a brighter red.

2. Schwinn decal on seat tube. Mine is a solid silver color, other model is with lines and is not solid.

3. Schwinn decal on fork. Mine has no decal other model has the Scwhinn decal.

Perhaps someone can school me on if there are other differences and/or the reason behind the different design.

madpogue 

Mine's a 1989. I wonder if yours might be as well. What's the number on the headbadge? Keep in mind that any date late in the year could indicate the next year's model. The '88 and '89 catalog pages illustrate the difference with the fork decal; there isn't enough detail to ascertain whether the seat tube decal is different. Color is also a tricky thing to compare because of how they're rendered. You'd almost need both examples side by side in front of the same camera under the same light.

AdventureManCO 

Let us know how it rides once you get some saddle time in. I'm sure I'm not the only one really curious on the differences in ride qualities between all the lightweight late-80s Schwinns. Honestly there are so many models I tend to get confused...Premis, Prelude, Circuit, Super Sport, Prologue, Peloton, etc. What is the hierarchy? I've tried to go back to the catalogs, but some catalogs have some models, yet not others. Its always fun to instead, put down the catalogs and just see how the things ride.

Looking forward to your ride report, and I'm also interested to see how the larger frame size changes the ride.