The Raleigh is $295 and the Schwinn is $120. I will be using these to commute to school. I got a scholarship for the summer, so price doesn’t matter too much to me, I just want one that’ll last.
Any advice for maintenance on the bikes is welcome too!
Thanks 🙂
by DeadWlng
2 Comments
For commuting, definitely the Raleigh. We used to sell a ton of those at a shop where I worked in college. They’re
really solid, good value bikes. It will be significantly more comfortable and I would wager needs a lot less TLC than the Schwinn. Plus parts to repair a modern hybrid will probably be easier to get and cheaper than a vintage road bike.
I might try to take them down on price a bit though. I think $200-225 is probably more fair. $295 seems a bit steep.
Both of these bikes are pretty tall, the Schwinn especially looks to be a 25″, which is the tallest size they made it in, so unless you are in the mid 6-foot plus range, it’ll be too tall for you. They are also separated by a good forty years, the Schwinn is from the late seventies. This means very different components: the Schwinn has friction shifters, the Raleigh has indexed (1 click equals one gear change.) The Raleigh also has disc brakes, and a wider gear range, which may make getting up hills easier.
The Schwinn traveler would have been a lower/mid level bike. Made from heavy hi-tensile steel or similar, and so-so components. It’ll be fairly heavy, probably in the mid thirty pound range. Google says it would have originally had steel wheels, which is not great, with 27″ tires, which are a bit hard to find. It looks like it may have been updated though to aluminum 700c wheels, but I can’t tell for sure. All in all, it can be a reliable ride, and isn’t bad for college commuting because it isn’t anything special, so it can be used and abused a bit, you needn’t feel guilty to chain it to a rusty fence post or work too much about theft. I think the price might be on the high end unless it’s been very thoroughly serviced, I’d try to get it for like half the asking price, unless you are in a hot market like NYC or something.
I’m not too knowledgeable about the Raleigh, old steel road bikes are more my forté.