Schwinn Katana Road Bike | 
| Brand: Schwinn
Category: Sports
Buy: $319.62 - $324.67
as of 9/5/2010 19:06 CDT details
In Stock
Rating:  62 reviews
Sales Rank: 1,718
ASIN: B000GZT6PO
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| Features:
| • | Entry-level road bike with ultra-light aluminum frame | | • | 14-speed Shimano drivetrain and shifters with A050 rear derailleur | | • | Tru-Vativ IsoFlow alloy cranks; alloy wheels, and paired spokes | | • | Ideal for morning commutes or casual city riding | | • | 54cm frame size is appropriate for riders 5'6" to 5'9"; 58cm frame size is appropriate for riders 5'10 to 6'1" |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Ideal for that morning commute or getting out for your evening ride, the Schwinn Katana has everything you need to get you quickly and easily from point A to point B. The Katana features a 14-speed Shimano drivetrain with a quick-shifting A050 rear derailleur, and lightweight Tru-Vativ IsoFlow alloy cranks to keep your legs moving fast. The alloy Aero frame, deep-dish alloy wheels and paired spokes make the Katana ready to hit the road in a snap. Katana Specifications: - Speeds: 14
- Drivetrain: Shimano
- Rear derailleur: A050
- Cranks: Tru-Vativ IsoFlow alloy
- Frame: Alloy Aero
Bike Sizing Information: - 54cm frame size is appropriate for riders 5'6" to 5'9"
- 58cm frame size is appropriate for riders 5'10 to 6'1"
About Schwinn
Ignaz Schwinn, with his partner Adolph Arnold, incorporated "Arnold, Schwinn & Company" on October 22, 1895. Within a few short years of its creation, the company became an acknowledged technical and quality leader of the bicycle industry. More than 100 years later, Schwinn has become an American icon and built some of the best-known and best-loved bicycles of all time. A world leader in technology and fabrication, Schwinn has been an indispensable player in revolutionizing bicycling around the world. With these moves and a continued dedication to quality, forever synonymous with the Schwinn name, America's most famous bicycle brand looks forward to another century of quality, dependability and performance. Moving forward, Schwinn continues to lead the industry with innovative new bikes and technologies.
Product Description
Ideal for that morning commute or getting out for your evening ride, the Schwinn Katana has everything you need to get you quickly and easily from point A to point B. The Katana features a 14-speed Shimano drivetrain with a quick-shifting A050 rear derailleur, and lightweight Tru-Vativ IsoFlow alloy cranks to keep your legs moving fast. The alloy Aero frame, deep-dish alloy wheels and paired spokes make the Katana ready to hit the road in a snap.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 62
 Schwinn Katana Review September 4, 2010
Jeremy
This review is for the Schwinn Katana 58cm Road Bike.
The bike was purchased after much thought and contemplation on the best entry level road bike for under 400 dollars.
I ordered the bike on Friday August 30th, 2010 and received it on Wednesday, September 1st 2010. It came in a large plain cardboard box which contained withing it the actual Schwinn Box with the bike inside of it. Unpacking the bike took about 20 minutes and it was packaged well. The first step I took in assembling the bike was to look it over and inspect it for any damage. The only significant blemish I saw was on the front rim in about a 3cm area of the grooved brake rotor which looked like it had been scraped slightly. I began first by removing all components that I knew I would not be utilizing such as the reflectors, the metal portion of the foot pedals with the foot straps and various peel of stickers. The only thing to assemble was the seat, front wheel, front brakes, and handlebars. With the correct tools and knowledge of how bikes operate this takes approximately 10 minutes. I then removed the rear wheel and along with the front, I removed the tires, removed the stock rubber rim tape and installed Forte Cloth Rim tape for better protection for the innertubes. I did not invert the front headset handlebar bracket as some have done because I like the lean-forward position. However, many may want to do this. And as stated before it is simple. Simply loosen the two Allen screws and slide the bracket up and flip it over. On my initial road test, the first thing I noticed was the front brakes were weak and did'nt provide sufficient stopping power in relation to the speeds this bike is capable of. The second thing I noticed was that when placed in 7th gear, the chain was significantly rubbing the back of the largest front sproket causing noise and friction to be evident. I returned home, and played around with the brakes and finally after consulting various resources I began to try to loosen the hex screw that hold the two parts of the cantilever brakes together and found that it had been torqued on so tight from the factory that the cable was not able to fully retract once pressure was released from the brake. I loosened the screw and adjusted the brake pad position closer to the rim and voila, problem solved. As for the chain rubbing the sprocket, there are two basic solutions: either grind down the sprocket where it is rubbing to provide clearance or, like I did, you can go to a hardware store and buy some metal washers or spacers and install between the 5 hex screws that secure the sprocket to the crank to give you the 2 or 3 mm clearance needed, if you have this problem of course. I then set about tweaking and adjusting the derailleurs back and front and had to tweak these and move the front derailleur cage a bit so that it wouldnt rub the back of the pedal. I also had to tune up the rear wheel by truing it just slightly.
All in all I spent aprroximately 5 hours all together disassembling tweaking and testing the functions of the bike.
The bike is definently ridable right out of the box, but as stated earlier, if you want this bike to perform to its maximum, you will need to either tweak it or have someone do it at your LBS. If you do it yourself, YouTube and BicycleTutor are very good resources for videos on how to do all of this yourself.
I gave this bike 5 stars for two basic reasons: the price and secondly, it's potential. I dare say you will find no better road bike by a name brand for this price. Coupled with it's style and factory components it is the best buy for the price. It's potential is almost limitless as there exist many upgrades for the bike and the frame is aluminum and light.
The cons are that the bike more than likely will need to be tuned up and this may take time. The purpose of the bike coming almost completely assembled is so that the average person can ride in minimal time. However, someone like myself will quickly realize that the factory assembly is basically just to get all the parts together. Tweaking is necessary if you want everything to mesh and run smoothly. In my eyes this is not really a negative at all as it gives you the chance to become initmately familiar with the bike. When ordering something online, always be mindful that something may be left out. These are instances which are few and far between and should not stop you from enjoying this bike. As I always say: There are no problems, only solutions.
General Specs: 54 or 58cm Aluminum Frame
700x26c Wheels
Kenda Tires
Shimano Running Gear
Promax front and rear Brakes
TruVativ Crank
14 speed
Total Weight: Unknown, have yet to weigh it. Just by feel, approximately low 20's
I will post pictures within the coming days.
great deal August 28, 2010
fredsal
Great Deal! went to a local bike shop 1st to get a entry level bike. The cheapest one started at $750.00. After searching the web for 2 weeks I decided to take a chance and purchase the Katana, I couldn't be happier. I changed the pedals to a Shimano clipless to go with the shoes I purchased, plus it makes the bike look even more expensive. I've been putting about 60miles a week on the bike and have no problems. Getting ready to do my 1st bike ride, 100miles for the MS city to shore. If your buying your 1st bike you can't go wrong with this, i'm telling you.
Good buy for the money August 24, 2010
C. Mason
First, let me state I rarely take the time out to provide a review for most of the products I purchase, but this item was more than worthy. Item arrived about 2-3 days after purchase. Back wheel and rear brakes were already setup. I had to install the seat, front wheel, brakes, and handle bars which were all pretty straight forward. The only part that was a little tricky was the handlebar headset. It came angled down and I noticed this was not going to be comfortable when riding. You will need to reverse this part so that the Schwinn name is upside down so the roll bars will be positioned comfortably. You'll need to do this by simply holding the plastic piece in the middle of the headset that reads "quality schwinn" and twisting the middle piece on the outside of it. After I figure that out the rest of the setup was straight forward. You can attempt to decipher the manual that came with the bike, but if you have an ounce of knowledge about bikes you should be able to setup this up without much issues. I give it 1hr to 2hrs setup just to be on the safe side as you'll need to customize things to your liking.
I'd suggest watching a few vids on youtube in regards to adjusting the derailleurs as they will help. However, initially I took mine to the bike shop and they charged so little that it may be worth the trip initially. I still had to adjust them a bit thereafter, but that initial trip to the bike shop helped a lot.
I have only two minor complaints about the bike. One, similar to all the other reviews the brakes on this bike are poor. Matter of fact they're quite scary especially when coming down a hill doing 30+ MPH. I'd suggest changing your brakes immediately. This is something you can do yourself for all of $20 so I didn't consider this a deal breaker by any means. Two, the bike seat. I didn't even attempt to ride on that brick. Go invest in a decent gel bike seat, trust me, it's not worth saving on weight in the seat area. If your butt is not comfortable while riding then you're not comfortable.
Overall, I'm extremely happy with my purchase. You can not beat this bike for the money...hands down. I love passing people on the trails on my new road bike. I get tons of compliments on the bike appearance and it rides smooth. I've noticed a big difference in my speed and I have gone on much longer bike rides than I would have ever thought of doing in the past. This is one of the best investments I've made in a long time. I have almost 300 miles on my bike in 2 months. I'm very happy with my purchase and I'm sure you will be too.
Awesome bike August 20, 2010
OfficialMe
I bought this bike, which is pretty good in size and everything. It is easy to arm not difficult at all. The bike chain does hit the bigger chain wheel when you switch speeds but overall its a great bike.
Bike is GREAT! August 20, 2010
Tim McClaren
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My previous bike was a steel framed ten speed from the 1970's. The new Schwinn Katana Road Bike is so light weight it is like riding on a cloud. It is truly a lot of fun! I look forward to get on it and I ride it often. The bike came very quickly after being ordered. The assembly was fairly easy. I found the front wheel was in need of being trued, probably in shipping. I called Pacific Cycle (Seller) and they told me to take it to a Schwinn Dealer, which there was one in my town. I had the wheel trued and the dealer made some minor adjustments to the index shifting for the rear derailleur. I sent the bill to Pacific Cycle and they sent me a check. Pacific Cycle has been very good to work with and they seem to want to make it right.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 62
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