Should I get the Schwinn Volare or Schwinn Prelude bike?

There is a lot elitism being talked here,

It all depends on what you want it for? for competitive use, useless, but for commuting and occasional longer rides it will be fine.

You dont need a ton of different gears, freewheels have been around for decades and worked fine.

I have a dirt cheap mountain bike as I can't even afford $300 for a road bike, I cycle about 100 miles a week and the only items I have had to replace so far are tires when they wear out.

But I do agree find a bike that fits.

Pardon me. Think I'm going to be ill. Neither bike is what you'd call a real Schwinn as found in an actual bike shop. Just cheap junk.

Take your $300 and flush it down the toilet. Same thing. Same way with any road bike priced under $600 to $700. My 7 year old Raleigh hasn't had a problem. Back in 2010 it was $1100. I've seen those cheap bikes fall apart in a year or less.

Easy answer... NEITHER. They're the SAME BIKE, just different colors. Both bikes come with an OLD & outdated 7 speed freewheel (14 to 28) rear hub. Better bikes use a "freehub" and cassette. http://www.sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html

BOTH bikes use a crappy 42 / 52 crankset. Compare that to a better bike with a 34 / 50 compact crankset and an 11 - 32 eight or 9 speed cassette. BOTH bikes you referenced are geared very high, making steep hills a struggle.

BOTH bike use tubes with Schrader valves instead of Presta valves. Think about this for a minute. The hole for a Schrader valve is bigger. And the rim of the wheel is narrow. Presta valves were designed to work with narrower road bike rims.

With both bikes, there's NO choice of frame sizes. You never stated how tall or short you are. BOTH bikes have roughly a 56 cm top tube length. That's a fairly big frame. You can't TEST RIDE either one. You have to assemble & TUNE-UP both of them. No bike comes out of the box "ready-to-ride" - not even a $5,000 to $10,000 racing road bike.

I type the same thing on this website week-after-week & sometimes almost daily... You want a REAL road bike? Then go to a REAL bicycle shop. The lowest priced good ones start around $600. If that's not an option, I'd MUCH rather try to find a gently used one made from one of the leading manufacturers. If you bother to look on the Schwinn website, you WON'T FIND a "road bike". http://www.schwinnbikes.com/usa/ That's a discount store / internet bike. In short...J-U-N-K.

Search Craigslist in your area for brands like Giant, Trek, Cannondale, Fuji, Raleigh, Masi, etc. Avoid any ads stating "vintage" or classic. Key words meaning old & way over-priced. Look for a bike with at least an 8 speed "cassette" - not a freewheel. Look for double wall rims. Look for a bike with Shimano STI shifters or equivalent, not those crappy thumbs shifters. With STI shifters, you can both shift & brake all from the same hand position. Insist on a thorough TEST RIDE before handing over the $$$.

Final thought... Even if you don't buy anything, start by going to a REAL bicycle shop. Look around. Ask questions. Maybe even take one or two out on a test ride. This way you'll have an idea what frame size you need. About two years ago I assembled & tuned-up one of those internet sale bikes for a friend of a friend. Charged him $40. A few days later he called me back up again. "You give me the $40 back & I'll GIVE you the bike." Yep...that bad.

Both of these bikes use a freewheel instead of a cassette. A freewheel is prone to bent and/or broken rear axles. Both are over 30 lbs. At best these are high end department store bicycles. Go to a reputable bicycle shop and buy something that'll last for many years as long as you maintain routine maintenance. A bicycle shop will also get you the proper frame size and adjust the bike for you. Here is a bicycle frame size calculator that'll let you know the general area you need in a frame size.

https://www.competitivecyclist.com/Store/catalog/f...