The Schwinn Varsity Carbon Men's Road Bike frame is made of an aluminum carbon composite (ACC) construction for superior strength.
This is my initial “first impressions” review.
[Later my son will write a more full featured review – his testing is ongoing as of January 1, 2012 !]
I bought this road bike for my son for Christmas, and I’ve unpacked, adjusted & given it a ‘shakedown’ 10 mile ride. I have ridden road bikes for years, have an Italian ‘old school’ road bike – Benotto Mod 850, and this bike compares favorably.
Very good value for the modest $ 330 price.
Keep in mind, the bike frame is actually Aluminum, with a carbon fiber wrap (ACC – aluminum carbon composite), not pure carbon fiber – just to be clear. (You’d have to add a thousand to the price for that !)
It features the Shimano STI brake lever shifters, which are easy & intuitive to operate – allowing the rider to change gears while leaving hands on bars & brake hood levers – improving bith shifting easy & safety.
The bike is beautifully finished – and weighs about 24-25 #, not the lightest of bikes – but not the heaviest, either.
It rides on deep V style aero double wall rims – tires are 700x25c.
The rim would accomidate the narrower 23c/23mm tires, which would offer increased performance.
He gets the bike for a Christmas gift tomorrow – Dec 25, 2011, so we’ll post an update a bit later.
He’s riding that old Benotto bike – which weighs 26 #, (so this Schwinn is a bit lighter), and is easily keeping up with the local ‘old guy’ riders on their sub 20#, $ 3000 + Trek, Giant or Specialized carbon fiber ‘wonder bikes’.
(The “wonder” part must be the emotion it induces in those observing those willing to pay $ 3,000 for a bicycle !)
I trust that in a very short while, we’ll be able to give a more substantive description of how this rides & performs, as my son will pound this Schwinn Varsity CF as has hard as possible – both on our club rides & also as he’s starting to ride Criterium races and some longer road races as well.
Yes, it’s a few pounds ‘too heavy’ for an ‘ultimate racer’, but it sure seems an ideal ‘reasonable cost’ trainer and entry level racer.
In my opinion, it’s crazy to go out & spend $ 1,000 plus when one is not sure how much they’ll enjoy road riding / racing.
Ok, I’ll update this when we have more real world riding impressions. Thanks for reading !
affordableroadbikereview 
How’s the bike working out. From what I’ve read it’s a pretty sharp bike, and should be an awesome ride. Have you ever ridden any of the Vilano bikes? They seem to be about the same price point and they claim to have one in the 24# range.
Cheers
But it is hard to express to someone who does not work on bikes just how difficult it is to overhaul this kind of bike. It is heavy aluminum and the wrap is about 1mm. thick. It is $180 less than our Fuji which has a long list of better parts. The Schwinn had the worst heaviest grease I have ever seen in the hubs. The paired-spoke wheels weigh a ton, and paired spokes are weak and just plain dumb for many reasons including durability. They have galvanized steel spokes and are hard to true since the spokes are less than an inch apart and the four inch arcs between the groupings of spokes can not be trued. It had a circumferential out-of -roundness of over 1/4″ in several places. The rear solid axle hub has a freewheel , not a cassette. Terrible parts including the fork and stem. What is so galling, however, is the label that states clearly ” road tuned carbon fiber tubes!”
You’re right Roger on the drawbacks to the Schwinn you mentioned. It’s got a few flaws, no doubt. The main advantage to the precise, but heavy wheels (ours aren’t out of true yet – 1,000 miles +), is that they’ll make you stronger so when you switch over to your race wheelset or whole different race bike, you’ll fly !
At least it works for my son this way. He now races a Giant TCR Advanced SL (16 #) or his Origin8 Adrenaline with Mavic SL carbon wheelset (19#), and that is a serious decrease – the Schwinn weighs 26 # +. There is a place for heavy bikes, and moderate quality – it helps folks get into the sport at a modest cost. And it makes beginning riders stronger – if you’re able to live within it’s limitations.
Thanks for commenting, I’ll ck out your site / blog !
Hi there, where were you able to find this bike for $330?? That’s a very good deal!
Hi Andrew:
It was on Amazon.com. But the price had changed upwards, to
$ 452 as of August 2012, quite a bit more than the $ 330 we paid.
I’m going to say that that’s too much $$$.
Too many heavy parts that will need an upgrade to pay $ 450, sorry .
For a better value, go for the Schwinn RS 5.0 at vminnovations.com, or Amazon.com or the Schwinn CF-1000 at Walmart.com.
Those bikes are 4-5# lighter, have carbon fiber forks, and a better wheelset, and a higher level of componentry.
The Denali Pro also is a valid choice, at Amazon.com, for only $ 325 and it has the excellent microshift brake lever shifter 16 speed package.
If you see my review on the Denali, the Pro model has the same excellent frame but the preferred brake lever shifters & geartrain package at a very reasonable price:
http://www.amazon.com/GMC-Denali-Road-Bike-Frame/dp/B0029XLHBW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344186094&sr=8-1&keywords=denali+pro
The only drawback is the Pro is avail only in the 56 cm (Large) frame size, which works for those 5’9″ to 6’1″, so be careful if you’re outside that size range.
I just bought a trek madone road bike and spent over $1000 on a bike that retails over $3000. The reason for doing so was merely because I wanted a bike that was fitted for me, which can not be done on a mass produced Schwinn or gmc Denali which comes in only one size. I’m all about deals as well. I bought a Schwinn mountain bike from Walmart and swapped out the tires with 1.25in slicks, but that isnt cutting it anymore.
Jack:
10-4 on getting the bike to fit !
It’s also important to remember that some folks need to ‘figure out’ their bike fit / body geometry issues using a cheaper entry level bike, make what adjustments are possible, or if not possible, then move to a more expensive bike, where it’s more correctly fitted to the rider. (That was my experience, too….)
Sounds like you scored a great deal on the Trek Madone. (or is it “Mad-One” – just kidding !)
And bikes depreciate greatly – there are so many ‘garage queens’ or just bikes bought as gifts & never used, etc.
I just scored a 2011 Giant TCR Advanced Full Carbon Racing Frameset, barely used by a bike shop manager guy. His only beef was the frame, in size M/L was about 1″ too big for his modest height, and he needed the smaller size. Bingo, mine for a sweet $ 500.
I built it up with a set of Mavic Kyserium Elites & Nashbar – Microshift 9 speed groupo & now I’m riding a $ 3200 retail race machine for around $ 1100. Deal !
Thanks for reading my blog. If you follow it, new articles will arrive via email. Assuming my crazy schedule allows me time to write – don’t hold your breath – but I am a ‘keybored’ addict !