When I was assembling the bike I found the positioning of the shifters to be inconvenient, they just take up too much room on the handlebars and would require a whole body straightening movement to get to them from the normal riding position. The shifters are attractive with there thumb up and down plastic control switches; they also shift smoothly; these are not the worst Shimano have to offer. The aluminum band that ties them on to the handlebars looks cheap. The other cheap looking parts of the bike are the pedals and the seat is cheap. It has little to offer in padding and I will upgrade that this month.

For now the Schwinn is the most reasonable bike on the market. In a year or two if I get into road biking more I could see myself upgrading because there is a noticeable weight difference between this bike at 25lbs and a $700 Trek 1000 which I just know by lifting it is lighter. However, this bike is 3 times cheaper and all I need to get myself fit.

schwinn prelude: decent bike – stellar price. First off I do not give this bike a 5 star rating based on how wonderful it is. You need to spend Several thousand dollars for that bike. This gets a 5 star rating because it is not several thousand dollars yet it is an acceptable entry level road bike.

At just under 28 pounds it is 10 pounds heavier than a $4000 bike. Of course it is only a pound or 2 heavier than a $500 bike. And I argue that anyone riding an entry level bike has that on their own midsection anyway. If you are new to cycling you can get this and ride for a year before investing the big bucks while you decide if you like cycling and what you like and don’t like about a bike.

I bought mine directly from Target (on sale!) so I could get an idea of the size rather than buy on line. I noticed another reviewer said a person 5′ 10 – 6′2″ would be comfortable. I somewhat agree with the top end but I am 5′ 7 3/4″ and am comfortable on it. The seat post could still be dropped an other inch and a half but I would say that I am about as short as you could be to have the right body to bike geometry. Someone 5′6″ could ride it but I would not recommend it. I would say the same for someone 6′2″.

I have put 300 HARD miles on it. I bought it to train for my come back into triathlons (My last tri was in ‘87) but I have wound up using it as my daily driver pulling my 2 daughters in the bike trailer 280 of the 300 miles.

I store it the garage but it has been aloud to get wet frequently on rides. The dérailleurs have begun to rust as a result of wet conditions.

It has only had one problem since I bought it – the crank bearings began to click. This probably is a result of pulling 100 pounds regularly.

These bikes have a LIFETIME warrantee on parts!!! – I called the 800 number in the owners manual. They sent me a new bearing set and I installed them. The down side of this is that if you don’t have the tools you are in need of paying upwards to $50 for this repair.

If I continue to ride it next year I would upgrade the apt yet clunky bottom of the line shimano derailleurs. I would probably also get a lighter seat and possibly seat post or pedals.

EDIT

I have had it a year and 4 months now. I have decided that though it is rideable at 5′8″ it is too big for me. I also have become too competitive in triathlons to ride a low end bike. I have upgraded to the Schwinn Prologue (about 4 times as much $$$). The Prelude has given me no mechanical problems after releasing it from trailer pulling duty. It has a little less than 1000 miles on it. I did 2 triathlons on it 13th overall / 190 in my first and 2nd overall / 104 and in the next -both were age group wins. So you do not need a $4000 bike to compete.

EDIT 2 I have had this for 1 year and 11 months. Because I bought the new bike I haven’t put a lot more miles on this, but it has continued to do well with no further problems. I also realized the stem has a height adjustment. After moving the handlebars down and moving the seat forward this thing really fits my 5′8″ frame well. I put some new tires on it because I was upgrading my other bikes. The 700×23 schwalbe tires are a big improvement. I also replaced the rim strips with cloth because the cheap rubber protectors were shot allowing the rim to puncture the under side of the tubes.

Just get it. Aight. Here’s the deal. Greatest bike you could ever get for this price. Very fast. Awesome looking. Smooth ride and smooth gears. The brakes will give you a little trouble trying to figure them out… Fiddle with it a bit, bike stops on a dime. First time riding it, did a good 40 mph smooth as butter, no shakes. People say they popped the tires cause they hit a pothole… How bout this.. don’t hit a pothole. I hope when you buy a bike you plan on being able to see where your going. If not, then you probably shouldn’t be riding. Tires and rims are excellent in my opinion… So don’t listen to the people who probably didn’t even inflate them… Yeah so, all in all, great bike, quality of something you’d pay [...] bucks for. So just buy it. You won’t regret it.

Related reviews :
Read about Mens Schwinn Road Prelude Bike now

excellent bike. wow, what a great road bike. I purchased this bike just a few weeks ago for an alternative way to get to work since my transmission went out on my car and I couldnt afford to fix it or buy a new car. Easy to assemble and I have no prior bike experience. I’m 28 years old and haven’t owned a bike since I was about 13 years old. I can’t reaally compare this to others but I can say this that this bike is extremely light weight at about 42 pounds with thin tires to pick up speed quickly. I absolutely love this bike and the gears are easy to change and the bike handles the road very well but the schock’s aren’t the greatest and you will feel every bump on the road. the only thing I could recommend to replace from day one is the seat. The seat is hard as a rock and after a few miles your butt will feel like its on fire. Other than that this bike is great for the road, bike trails, or commuting to work just replace the seat. All in all I give this bike two thumbs up and highly recommend it.

Great bike! I’ve riden about 50 miles already. Easy to install, the seat is a little uncomfortable, but you get used to it. It rides very good on the road and in bike trails.

One more thing is the assembly. There are no instructions on how to assemble from “out of the box”. The ones available are needlessly detailed and often skip basics – useful for a mechanic, not for the typical user. The whole thing seems designed in a very ad-hoc fashion: for example, every allen bolt is a different size.

I’m going to count this as a loss and get my old secondhand bike fixed.

Edit: Thanks to the reviewer who posted that the front wheel could be backwards. This was indeed true. Think me a moron and I wont disagree with you, but the reason I did that was due to the wedge inside the front wheel tube that matches the one on the bottom of the handle being reversed (ie. the factory installed it back-to-front). There’s no way to get at it to turn it around without special tools so I just got a bodybuilder neighbor of mine to jam the handle in as-is. The handle comes a bit loose once in a while so I have to carry an allen key with me while riding, but given the trouble the bike’s been, it’s a small deal.

I still wouldnt recommend the bike or change my rating. Other things wrong with it: gears are not smooth at all. Chain comes apart. Balance is bad (cant ride it hands-free). Seat is uncomfortable. Also, very high friction – it’s like riding an exercise bike sometimes. I did a measurement: freewheeled it down a hill and see when it stopped by itself once it reached flat ground. My old secondhand bike which I’ve rarely oiled (it’s also a mountain bike but manifestly not a Montana) reached twice the distance.

Injury waiting to happen. I purchaced this bike ( not from Amazon ) but from a well known outdoor store that puts all their bikes together for their customers ( it’s what they do ) so when I picked this one out and the back tire kept catching on the rear brakes I questioned it. The guy at the store ajusted the spokes for me and make a few other minor adjustments and I tried it out. Good to go. Every bike needs some tweeking. SO I took it home it happened again, I fixed it myself, kept happening. Then the front tire started to do the same thing, and when I figured it was all adjusted this time I took it down my street ( no switching gear when it happend, and it was in the proper gear) the chain fell off, and then I fell off cause yeah…. no bike is worth this much aggrevation! No bike should have any issues right out of the store, especailly when they have people just for bikes! Compaired to a wal-mart like store where some joe shmoe puts it together for you. If your looking for a starter bike, a low budget mountain bike…KEEP LOOKING! This thing can’t roll on a sidewalk with out throwing you forget a trail! You know what they say, you get what you pay for….which is why I kept the reciept! Keep looking, it’s not made well at all!

Can’t say enough bad things about this bike.. I ride about 5 miles a day from home to school and back. Very flat, good weather, easy ride, and I’m not huge or anything. I figured a cheap bike like this would last a year, and then I’d upgrade. I’ve had it a month, and there have been a number of problems.

In general, the parts are flimsy. The seat post clamp won’t prop up the seat. The handlebars are loose because the bolt that holds them comes loose. The bike feels like it’s off balance. Also, while making sharp turns, my toes scrape the front tire. Biggest problem – pedals made of really weak plastic that actually ripped. Drivetrain, shifters, and brakes OK so far, but I’m not expecting much.

Do NOT buy this bike if you expect to ride it on a daily basis. Spend 2X or 3X more and get better quality components.

Beware of hidden costs!. The bike itself is great. The problem is that Pacific attempts to pre-assemble most of it and in doing so damaged the rear tire and didn’t do the installation correctly causing a serious safety hazard. It cost me $85 to have the bike re-assembled properly and to have the tire replaced. I called Pacific and they basically snubbed me saying they weren’t going to reimburse for any labor costs, which was most of it. I was furious. If I had known about the added cost up front I never would have mail ordered a bicycle and would have simply gone shopping locally. Buyer beware!

Great bike. I got the bike within the time specified at checkout, very easy to assemble, great product, no problems whatsoever. Thank you.

very poor breaks. I bought both the women’s and men’s models. The break pads refused to stop the bike even with professional adjustment. I replaced all the break pads with Shimano pads ($32.00), and lo and behold! the bikes now stop properly. The gears work fine, but the suspension on the forks is weak. If you can find a bike with Shimano parts, and a better “name brand” I would go for it…the Mongoose we bought at $99.00 is a much better bike without changing anything – Pacific Grays Peak Mens Dual-Suspension Mountain Bike acutally works as it should.

Good bike, Great Price (with caveats). For the most part the other reviewers were correct– but its not as bad as they say.

What was/is true (for me):

-The tires will be “crooked” — crooked in the sense that you WILL have to adjust the spokes to work out the wobble. Get a pair of pliers, tighten some spokes, loosen others.

– 20-25 minutes of work, no problem.

-The brakes will also need adjusting. You’ll have to turn a screw and adjust the lengths of the brake lines to your liking (they weren’t really usable as shipped).

– 5 minutes of work, also no problem.

What is false: “The bike falls apart” etc.

I strongly suspect that a few of the other reviewers have never fixed or worked on a bike before (or anything else for that matter). I’m certainly no expert, but what needs to be done once you get the bike is pretty obvious. Everything is easily fixed with a wrench or a pair of pliers.

I just need a bike that gets me from point A to point B. This bike can certainly do that and more. For the price of the bike I’m more than satisfied. But If you aren’t willing to tweak a few things to get the bike in working order I would NOT recommend.