I won this on Ebay. Another one not needing a resto. It was packaged very well which will always win you karma in the bike collecting world. Thanks Dick! I have always wanted a "funny bike" and this was a good deal. I have not been impressed with most production bikes from the USA but my opinion away from such "'Mercan" bikes is changing. In contrast, US handbuilt bikes have always been very nice and the current market reflects that. Schwinn is now overseas-built(what isn't?) and sold in Walmart stores so I can't vouch for them today BUT I now know there are Schwinns, other than the Paramount, that are undervalued as collectables. Where this was built(likely Japan), will have to be researched. This thing appears to have been ridden rarely. Under what chips there are lies nice chrome. I'm considering stripping areas on the chain and seat stays to reveal this chrome and eliminate those few chips. I have to say this frame is as nice as most of those in my humble collection. Made of Tange DB tubing, it isn't heavy, the lugs are numbered, and the fit and finish rivals anything I have with the exception of the Tesch. I was warned by the seller that this is a bizarre ride and it is. Despite the appearance of lots of rake, it is not at all slack and is very twitchy. Without concentration, one can't walk it by guiding it by the seat without the bars flopping over. 
Here is a pic from the Ebay posting. You can see it was set up with aero bars with the shifters relocated to the ends. This may end up being the best setup(and period-correct to boot). I chose to reassemble it out of the box without the included aerobars and decided to mount the shifters back on the downtube. Shifting is no easier but this lightens the bike and puts it back to original(I think). I substituted some matching Look pedals I had and took it for a spin.Plans are to replace the bars with some Nitto TT bars that have more rise and look more correct, possibly flipping the brake levers. I might find matching Suntour levers and a Sprint front DR to make the groupo complete. The Turbo gel seat isn't bad at all. I have a worn one and it's torture! I like the idea of a white saddle so we'll see.
Someday I might show up at a local TT just for the sake of lots of attention.
Well, I replaced the shifters and they work great. All else is the same. Afraid to take it too far without a backup 24" front sew-up spare. repairing a tubular on the road doesn't appeal to me at all.
8 comments:
I've been trying to look up information on this bike to no avail. It looks bizarre, but ride worthy. I'm almost on my hands on one, but want to know some information behind it first. Mind helping another rider out?
Btw, set up looks great.
How can I help you? It wasn't made very long. According to the catalogs online (IIRC) it was made from '88 to '89. Search for Schwinn catalogues online and flip through them 'till you find it - took me a while as I didn't know the year range. I think the frames were sold alone to be built up as desired. Not comfortable at all but once set up correctly if feels like riding in the drops. Very twitchy though.
Hello, I worked in a Schwinn shop when these came out. Maybe you have more info by now but I'm pretty sure these came with a shimano 105 group. They were sold complete and maybe also as a frame only. I think they had clincher rims and can't remember much past that. The aero bars in your photo are "Profile for Speed" and are period correct but not appropriate on the bike. The 24" wheel leans you into the wind already and the areo bars are overkill and probably have a negative effect on efficiency. The TT bike that we had in the shop never sold. I think the shop owners son still has it to this day. I suspect they are fairly rare.
The regular road Prologues were sold as frame only and came in Red/White or Black/Charcoal. My red and white one was manufactured in 1987 and had a made in Japan sticker on the head tube if I remember correctly.
On my last comment... I believe I'm starting to remember that we may have built that bike from a frame set. Sorry to add confusion.
I acquired this bike about 2 weeks ago from a bike mechanic friend and I have loved the ride. Thank you for the "twitchy" comment! I was thinking it was operator error, and would just take time for me to adjust (which I still think will help)
I have gone 60 plus miles on mine always carry my cell phone.
Love them old schwinns from that era
ck out bikesbybrian.org
see pics of my TT bike with full Superbe Pro
Thanks guys for adding such great info. I have considered racing it this year for a novelty but I like to ride to the local TTs and this would be an additional 30 miles of pain. John, I hope to find a better set of bars. I think these are just chopped and flopped Cinellis. Those multi-angle jobs would get me up a bit higher.
Dave
you can e-mail me direct
bikesbybrian@gmail.com
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