Are Schwinn bikes good?

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Ok - I will risk abuse from Schwinn fans but . . .

They are not particulary good or particulary bad!

Best described as 'Humdrum' !

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That depends on the type of Schwinn bike you want. If you want the new Schwinn avoid the ones from Wal-mart they have a Schwinn brand name on them but are cheap Chinese bikes(No regular Schwinn dealer will honor the warranty on them). The true Schwinn' s are found at a dealer of them or at Performance bikes. True Schwinn's are Le tour, Super Sport, and the Paramount road bikes(Trek Quality). You have to remember that the Schwinn brand name is NOT the same brand as in days of the old reliable Schwinn Varsity in 1990 the company was bought out to company called Oregon Bicycle(Builders of GT,Huffy, and those crappy bikes you find at K Mart). The company split Schwinn into four divisions: Road bikes(Paramount, Waterford, and Schwinn Road) Mountain bikes (Pacific and brand re-badge ), Accessories (Bell Sports re badged as Schwinn brand) and Clothing (Pearl Izumi). Schwinn bikes are pretty good if you stay with the Road bikes. If you find Paramount or Waterford (That old Schwinn bike line) that very good or Schwinn Road buy them. But Stay Away from department store Schwinn's they are NOT Schwinn bikes at all.

they used to be much better. the ones from the 60's and 70s' are classic. i would not buy a new schiwnn these days

carlos
http://www.bikingthings.com
ride fast, get fit, be happy

I am between the two other respondents.

Mr G is humdrum and fluetz seems fanatical.

I own a 2005 Schwinn Super Sport. It is a flat bar road bike, not quite a hybrid. I have 1900 miles on the bike. It is one of 5 bikes I own. I bought it in August of 2006 for $299 from a Bicycle Shop, not a department store. I love the Schwinn - for what it is. I rode it on TOSRV this past May. The only "improvements" I made to the bike for touring is the replacement of the junk Kenda Kwest 700x28's with Bontrager Race X Lite 700X25's.

Every time I brouse Performance Bikes, I see this new Schwinn Peloton on sale. Full carbon, Ultegra, pretty blue and orange paint .... it keeps hitting my wanna buy it button.

Edit: carlos hadn't chimed in when I began typing this. I wonder aloud if carlos has test ridden a new professional Schwinn, lately.

Edit: Now I am re-reading to see what I said to deserve the TD... hmmmm I wonder who....

Do any other responders actually HAVE first hand experience owning a Schwinn -- say in the last 5 years? (besides M R's daughter)

I don't know what type of bikes you refer to. But in general Schwinn is a very diverse company. As some have already said they are found in Wal Mart - the cheapo ones, and in bike shops. While they have very low end bikes they also have a nice line of road bikes for example, the Peloton and Fastback series in particular are very nice bikes. So when you hear Schwinn is good or bad, it's not the whole story.

I bought my daughter a 24" MTB last year - a Schwinn Solution AL. At $180 including shipping, it far exceeded what I expected. It has a beautiful frame and weighs in at about 26 lbs! A great deal.

They make some cheap junk and they make some good stuff. A friend of mine has a Peloton, and likes it very much.

Back in the day, when they where actually made in Chicago, they were the Chevy of bikes. Everybody had one.

Over the last few decades, Schwinn has been bought and sold a number of times. At this point, its nothing more than a brand name. You have to judge the specific bike on its own merits, because there's no Schwinn family or even a Schwinn factory to back it up.

The Schwinn name means more about brand name recognition than the quality of its bicycles. The bike business is so competitive these days that any two bikes are very likely to be similar values. Compare the frame and components, not the brand name. Get the people in a bike shop to educate you on how to look at these things. It is how they communicate their value proposition.

HTH