Univega
 

since Paul is shipping off his s-course, and we have the trek thread, i got to wondering about the rep of univega road bikes

i have one abou 15 years old - was the cheapest sports-touring bike i could buy at the time - roce the h- out of it and wore out some gears, then moved up a hill to my present house

never thought it was anything special until i was selling something and the guy saw the bike and started slobbering

he wanted to buy it, but i'm still a fair weather rider so i said no

but is it anything special?

Beats me...you try an ebay search?

not really, if he would have given good $$$$ let it go.

A Univega is really a Miyata, a japanese brand. They made nice lugged steel frames.

Unless you have reason to sell, don't. The frame will last a lifetime.

There's a fairly strong market for classic Univega bicycles. Is it steel and lugged? Classic steel Japanese-made frames like Fuji, Univega and Bridgestone, are becoming very rare and selling for a lot of $$$. There were only a few steel frames made better than Japanese bikes, and as you'll guess, many of those were Italian made.

But heck, why get rid of it? They don't make 'em like that anymore, and I bet that bike rides like a dream. If it were mine, I'd put some low-resistance tires on it, inflate them to 140-pounds of pressure, and terrorize the neighborhood dog walkers with it. :D

Anyone know about 70's era Nishiki by Kawamura? Steel and lugged?

Check into this forum:

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/

post the nishiki photo. ( I worked for them )

I can't. I gave it to a friend about 3 years ago. Just wondering if I should give him a heads up if it's worth anything.

Most aren't even the above Univega. I've seen old big name bikes Colnago, Masi etc sell for just a few hundred$

Depends on the condition and components. I've seen old Colnagos - such as the Colnago Mexico with all Campy Super Record, sell for over $2K. Needless to say, it was an pristine condition.

Hmmm, the vintage guys there seem to go ga-ga over reynolds 531 tubed frames...Scott's getting a good vintage bike. Hope he rides the hell out of it!:D

yup, I've seen bikes that have sold for major $$$ and I've seen ones that should but don't go for coins

is all about the buyer.

Kind of like the early 911 realm, right? Condition-condition-condition, but a fool and his money are soon parted. ;)

Thans - yup it is a classic steel frame.

I put some nice Mavic wheels on it. And it has gone thru a couple seats. Not "stock" anymore.

I've got some sentiment in it, so don't plan to sell. But if the right fool wandered by with enough money...

I was on a group ride last week with a bunch of "privileged" cyclists on their multi-thousand dollar carbon this-and-that bikes. I was riding my Columbus steel-butted Colnago. Yes, I kept up with them with my 23-yr-old bike. But what really interested me was how lousy their bikes sounded with each bump or rut in the road that they hit. Their rigs sounded as if the frames were rattling apart, while mine didn't make a sound.

My end impression: steel and old-style 36-hole wheels (but with the newest and narrowest performance tires) will always give the best ride.

people today don't focus on "the ride" of a frame as much as the weight and what team was on it

That's very true. I was at my LBS last week, drooling over a Trek Madone 5.5, then a Look 586 (?) which was all Campy.

The Look was $9,000.

The Trek was a more digestible (yeah, right!) $4,600.

Both were light (15lbs), and assuming what I know about bicycles, fast enough to get you in some very serious trouble.

But to get to your point, Jim: the LBS also had a replica of the Pinarello Prince ridden by 2008 Tour de France winner, Carlos Sastre. The rig was loaded with Campy Carbon Super Record, including an 11-speed cassette, carbon wheels, etc., etc.

Price: $15,000

Please...I'd be afraid to ride that thing.

went out back and looked at it again - not lugged

the model is Superstrada and i'd guess it was made in the mid-90's based on what the store told me

I do like the feel of the frame on bumps