Customer Ratings: 
List Price: $319.99
Sale Price: $234.99
Today's Bonus: 27% Off
First of all I consider myself a serious commuter rider. I ride 3000 miles a year, have for two years, on and off for 35 years. I've had Schwinns, Gitanes, and Motobecanes. I hit a pothole, ended up in the hospital and destroyed my 35 year old Motobecane a few weeks ago. My bike is my only means of transportation, so replacing it was a must. I'm not a weekend racer or casual rider. I'm 6'6", 240 pounds, and an engineer. I need my bike tough, fast, and with a really high high gear. I'm not interested in some overpriced bike to impress my weekend bike warrior friends. I don't run around in spandex. I've now had it a year and a half. I still stand by this review.
What I like: The balance is good, light as a feather, the padded tape handle bars are wonderful, the gearing is great, the shifters that actually go right to the desired gears are heavenly, the brake calipers do a great job of centering on the tires. I like the quick release front hub with self centering fork depressions. Quick release seat height is a plus. The paint looks durable. The handles hold a end of bar mirror nicely. The bike rides great and I rapidly got used to it's balance.
Before I mention the negatives, I am pleased with the bike, it's a pleasure to ride and would definitely buy it again. I got it for $249 at a big box sporting goods store. What I don't like: I would love to be able to raise the handlebar stem a few inches, and have the frame larger for my size. I immediately replaced the skinny fits in your crack seat, with a wide memory foam one from Bell for my ample rear. I took off the peddle baskets, hate them things, which lost me two peddle reflectors. They have wrapped the brake lines under the handlebar tape and taped almost to the stem making it really tough to cludge solutions to mount the lights, reflectors, and speed computer. I made putty epoxy forms to get the computer to fit the handlebar center shaft. My Motobecane had brake handles that went both down the front and in toward the stem of the handlebars so you could brake in both hand positions. You have to be in the lower position to brake on the Prelude, loosing precious milliseconds in an emergency. I am at the upper limit of the seat post to fit me. The 700c 23mm 'tires' are weak for going across rough terrain, I go over 34 railroad tracks on the way to work. Blew both tires first week going too fast. The rear wheel is a pain to remove and especially to reinstall. The rims are really solid, but they are that hollow extruded aluminum design. They put a chinsy rubber strip over the spoke holes and the tire pressure (100 PSI min) caused it to burst puncturing two inner tubes within a two weeks (while it sat in the Sun). I filled the depressions with hard high temperature red silicone rubber and taped over them with 3/4" fiberglass electrical tape. It seems to be holding well now. Schwinn should have done that in design. They are sending me a bike computer as an apology for my troubles, hey they listen, got to credit them for that.
By the way Schwinn's 700c 25-32mm self sealing inner tubes are too long to fit in the tire, and fold up inside on inflation. The self sealing stuff doesn't work at this pressure, just makes a mess. Schrader valve, narrow 700c inner tubes are really hard to find, get a stock early, I found thorn proof inner tubes online. The cheap thin tubes are supposed to flex better and make you ride faster. My bike weights 26# I weigh 240#, excuse me, all you need to do is get some muscle kid and it won't slow you down. After all the tire flexes in and out, pushes in hard pushes out hard, so it's negligible unless your a racer.
Bottom line it does what I need for a reasonable price. All of the problems have been simple fixes. Most of you are not my size and won't put the bike through what I do. I love the thing, plus it looks hot. I spend $300/year on bike repairs, I was spending $450/month to keep a car on the road. My cholesterol dived, my BP is great, and my sleep apnea is in remission since riding daily.
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More in depth specs. Seat post 55cm, top post 56cm, rear cassette 7-speed 14-28t LOOK UP SUGGESTED BIKE SIZE FOR RIDERS.
How is this bike similar to a $700 bike:
Modern components easily upgradeable, serviceable, and standard. The bike stem brakes cassettes, everything except the handle bars that are smaller than 28mm( I think) which means no clip on aero bars. Light weight well constructed frame and wheels. Wheels have no seam like other cheap bikes. It has a seat that is very usable. Smooth reliable shifts. Components ( brake shifters etc.) are very workable. Cage pedals are great!
How is in unlike a $700 road bike.
Shifter separate from brakes. 7 speed instead of 8 speed rear cassette. I could only get the derailleur to work on the lowest six gears. Never really needed the high 28t anyways. The chain rubbed the frame on 14t when i first got it. I just put a washer between the cassette and the frame.( adjustment of the axle might have fixed it). Wheel tape needs to be replaced like others have stated ( it took mine a year to fail). It does not have quick release for back axle. I taped a wrench on the inside of the back frame with electricians tape.(ghetto but hardly noticeable). This bike may take some brain power to assemble and adjust. local bike will do it if you are not a patient person.
If your cannot afford a $600-700 road bike buy this!!! If you cannot afford this bike(I understand how bike stores think $700 is no big deal) then DO NOT buy a road bike. The GMC or victory versions of road bikes are not worth the anger and frustration.
I wish they had more sizes available or a woman's version.
Best Deals for Schwinn Men's Prelude Bicycle (BBWhite)
ADDITIONAL SPECS NOT LISTED IN DESCRIPTION: 7 gear cassette 14t,16t,18t,20t,22t,24t and 28t
Joytech hubs,schwinn comfort type seat,strapped pedals,promax brake system, schradder valve tubes
WEIGHT: 30 pounds
STAND OVER HEIGHT:30-31 Inches.( I recommend this bike for someone with an inseam of about 30 inches. I'm 5ft 9in 165lb
and the bike is an absolute perfect fit. Will also work for those approaching the 6ft range and for those who are slightly
shorter than 5ft 9in.)
I ride primarily for exercise and I cycle about 100-200 miles a week. I was looking for a new road bike at an affordable price and in Long Beach CA there are tons of bike shops, but most road bikes are in the $500-$1000+ range. I was unsure about buying a bike online but now I'm glad that I did. This bike is lightweight, easy to ride and very affordable. I got this bike up to about 38 MPH going downhill on a moderate decline, which is impressive considering the price! The bike comes shipped nearly ready to ride. Assembly takes 15-30 minutes and consists of installing front tire, pedals, seat, dropbars and thumb shifters. I did need to adjust both derailleurs and adjust the front and back brakes which is actually quite simple for those who are accustomed to working on bikes. if you don't have experience working on bikes there are instructions in the manual that is included with the bike(or got to youtube for a walkthrough). The only areas of concern are the quality of the tires, tubes, rim strips and bar-tape. I got 2 new tubes and a set of origin 8 rim strips for $18 to ensure that flats will not occur due to cheap quality. Bar-tape is kind of foamy instead of cork or leather. OVERALL GREAT QUALITY BIKE FOR THE PRICE...QUICK BIKE, VERY LIGHT WEIGHT, FUN TO RIDE!!!!!!
Honest reviews on Schwinn Men's Prelude Bicycle (BBWhite)
Got this bike about a month ago after deciding to change from a hybrid to a road bike. This bike is priced right, is light & fast, has a nice paint job , straight & true wheels and a fairly comfy seat. I've put about 1500 miles on it and SO FAR I've had to adjust the rear derailleur, adjust the steering stem bolt DAILY and adjust the cranks DAILY (what a Pain and they both still creak!). I'm about 6' & 180 and the bike seems to fit me nicely. The brakes could have been positioned on the handlebars differently because you lose precious fractions of seconds trying to find and grab them in an emergency when you're not in the Race position on the drop down bars. Assembly instructions were terse and hard to understand and seemed to be written by an engineer on 6 beers. If you have a limited budget and you want an entry level road bike that you have to tinker with maybe this is your bike.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Schwinn Men's Prelude Bicycle (BBWhite)
I've been riding my 1986 Schwinn Sprint for over 20 years, so it was definitely time for an update. I've been a casual rider, mostly just with my kids around the subdivision and the Sprint has been fine for that for many years. I recently decided to be a bit more serious about riding more for exercise (and fun, of course) and was looking for an entry level road bike for less than $300.
I read literally dozens of reviews of the Schwinn Prelude and they seem to represent both ends of the spectrum seasoned riders deride this bike as a low end piece of junk, and new riders tend to praise it's low cost and good quality for the money. From my perspective, I want something that will work well for riding around town for maybe 100-150 miles a month. The biggest problem I've seen mentioned about this bike is the issue with frequent flat tires. Evidently inflating these to the recommended PSI will cause a flat almost immediately. The easy fix to this problem is to go to your local bike shop and buy some high quality rim tape, take the tires off and replace the stock tape. I did that right away based on existing reviews (it seems to be the only big problem with this bike out of the box) and haven't had any issues. It costs only about $5 or so per wheel to replace the rim tape. I also read reviews that complained about the stock seat, so far I've had no issues with it. I used the same stock seat on my old '86 Schwinn and never replaced it, it was fine for me, and it feels about the same as my brand new Prelude in my opinion.
While this is no high end bike for sure, the incredibly light frame (compared to the steel frame on my old '86) blows my mind. This is an amazingly light bike. I can't believe how fast it feels. It only comes in one size, so make sure you do your research on what fits your height, but I'm 5'11' and this bike feels like it was made for me. The gears are mounted on the bar (just like my old school bike) so it feels completely natural to me, and the four extra speeds are great. The brakes are also exactly the same as my old bike, which may not be a good thing (not modern?) and they required some serious adjustment when I assembled it but it was very easy to do. They work very well and the bike stops in acceptable distance. I definitely miss having the extra bars that extend to the top of the bars, you must have your hands on the bottom part of the bar to brake. If you're used to crusing with your hands on the top of the bar you'll have to get used to quickly shifting your hands down in order to brake. That's taken a bit of getting used to for me.
Overall, for the price, I'm extremely pleased with my purchase and would highly recommend this bike for anyone looking to get a good road bike at a budget price. You cant go wrong here. I originally had looked at some freewheel single speed bikes because of my budget (I also looked at the Swchinn Exit and similarly priced models), and after riding for a while now I'm glad I didn't. Those extra gears make a big difference on the hills. This is the best bike you can get for under $250 brand new!
