Schwinn Prelude Mens Road Bike 700c Wheels
The Schwinn Prelude Men’s Road Bike offers Schwinn quality and performance at an affordable price. With comfortable and responsive 700c wheels, a lightweight and durable Schwinn men’s aluminum road bike frame, and Schwinn road bend bar and stem, the Prelude handles well and is fun to ride. The Prelude has seven-speed Shimano A050 shifters for adjustability so you can maintain your speed as you ride up and down hills. The Promax dual-pivot caliper brakes offer sure stopping power. Aero 36-spoke alloy wheels maintain balance and alignment, and radial-laced front toe clips and straps keep you comfortable and moving on the road.
Specifications:
- Aluminum road frame and fork
- Schwinn road bend bar and stem
- Shimano A050 seven-speed shifters
- Promax dual-pivot caliper brakes
- Alloy road crank
- Aero 36 spoke alloy wheels
- Radial-laced front toe clips and straps
- Assembly required
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Need a translator for the directions!
Ok, this is my first road bike, and I like it a lot…now that I have it built. The directions that come with the bike are p o o p! There are things not specified in the directions that are crucial in order to put the bike together. Like the lever that has to go through the front wheel in order to attach it to the front. Also, you have to install the front brake (which in not hard once you know what to do) that the directions presume that it is already installed. Just un-screw the end off of the bold (you can do this with your hands), and put it through the hole in the front of the frame, and tighten appropriately.
Besides the assembly, this bike rides great! I took it on a 23-mile ride the next day and absolutely no problems with it. Also, it is super light! My friends own GMC Denali bikes that are a size smaller and I own the large size in the Schwinn Prelude. There is no comparison that the Schwinn weighs significantly less. In conclusion, this bike is awesome!
2 Stars Not What I Expected
I had seen of lot of my comments in other reviews, but am nonetheless disappointed. For an item averaging above 4.5 stars, this bike does not meet expectations.
The shifters are indeed in an awkward position, and the brakes are only in the lower handles, which is also annoying. Most reviewers comment on being at least 5′9″, and I’d add…don’t buy this bike if you’re 6′ or taller. The petals and most of the time, my feet, hit the ground if you turn sharply.
Furthermore, the gear range (14) isn’t wide enough…the lower gear isn’t enough to climb steep hills and the highest gear isn’t enough to sustain pedaling once you have some real speed.
Overall, I learned I shouldn’t have been so cheap to buy a bike. If you want one, spring for the $400+ bike. The extra $200+ or so is well worth your happiness and willingness to ride the bike.
5 Stars very well
i bought this bike recently. it is a great bike and rides real smooth compared to older road bikes. the parts seem high quality and their easy to adjust if needed especially the brake calipers. it took me just a little bit to put it together, but thats because i took my time. if you purchase this bike you will not be disappointed. i haven’t rode a bike in years and one of the reasons was to get this bike was to help my diabetes. my first rode trip i was trying to take it easy and end up riding 14 miles. it felt really good i couldn’t wait for my next ride.
5 Stars Love this bike
I had no issues with the instructions and I love the bike. I have added Aerobars, gel padding for the handlebars and a new seat but other than that, this bike is very nice for the money. I’ll be using it in an Olympic Triathlon in Sept.
4 Stars Decent bike for the price
So I got this bike for a birthday present. Shipping was a lot quicker than I thought it was going to be. The bike came 3 days after ordering on the free standard shipping. It came in a huge box, basically the size of me. The bike came partially assembled. The back wheel and back brake were already attached to the bike frame. I had to attach the front wheel, front brake (which was a huge pain), and the gear shifters onto the handle bars. I also elected to put the front and rear reflectors on.
I brought the bike to a bike shop that one of my friends recommended to get a complete tuning before I even tried to ride the bike. When I picked it up they said there were a few of things wrong with it. The front brake was working but was very lose and was sticking. The guy who did the tune up recommended I replace the front brake eventually. He also mentioned something about some of the gears not working properly. But he fixed everything and replaced the front brake cable. The front brake is still a little loose, and I will replace it eventually. While I was at the bike shop I also picked up a water bottle holder which they attached to the frame and a one of the holding pouches which go under the seat.
So I tried out the bike for the first time. All the gears worked properly and smoothly. The strap pedals are a little annoying. You basically have to start peddling with one foot in one of the peddles, and then try and catch your foot in the other one while moving. I may look into replacing the pedals to ones without straps. The front brake was sticking a little bit but it works. Back brake works fine. I was able to get good speed with it. The ride was smooth. After about 30-40 miles on the bike, I got my first flat tire. The back tire went flat from what I’m 99% sure was a puncture flat (basically I hit a bump too hard). This is the most common problem to happen to bike riders so I’m not looking to much into it. I took the bike to another bike shop to get it fixed. It took all of 5 minutes to do, nothing terrible. I am definitely looking into getting some spare tubes and a flat tire kit because this particular one happened at a very inopportune time.
Overall I’m pretty happy with the purchase. For a little over 200 bucks, its definitely a deal. Some of the components are a little shoddy, but you can’t expect to get the same quality as a 600-700 dollar bike. My first replacement will probably be the front brake since there is no way to solve the problem of it being slightly loose. I would definitely recommend getting the bike tuned right after you put it together at a bike shop. [...] Do some research, call around to local places to get prices. You could end up saving a lot of money. One of the places I called, which happened to the be the closest to my house, was a 70 dollar full tune up.
UPDATE 6/6/09: Well I have had this bike for about 3 months now. I took this bike on a 42 mile bike tour through the rain and it made it through. Although the brakes started to stick about half way through. The brakes are the biggest problem on this bike and have been a nuisance since I got the bike. My back brake is basically shot. I think it’s something with the wiring. I’m gonna havta bring the bike in to a shop yet again to see what the problem is. The brakes are the only thing I can really complain about. Everything else has held up fine.
Buy/More Info
but have on hand both metric and English allen wrenches. It took about 20-30 minutes to put together the first one, about 15 minutes to assemble the second one. The hardware is cheap, so be careful tightening bolts and screws, and make sure you have the proper alignment of the pieces before tightening. If you’ve put together furniture from IKEA, you know what I mean.