1.High quality bike-- made for the US importer by
Miyata ca. 1980. The importer was Lawee in Long
Beach, CA. Listmember Mark Ritz worked for them. If
this bike was sold during his tenure he'd have some
information.
2. Tange Champion #2 (I think) in main triangle,
cheaper steel in rear end and fork, still a strong and
good riding frame.
3. Brakes are Dia Compe centerpulls, high quality,
sort of a better finished Japanese-made Mafac
Competition. The flaw--pads with threadless shanks
like Mafac and all cantilever brakes, but the shanks
are smaller than standard. You cannot use generic
pads in these brakes although I haven't ever tried to
refit different eye bolts to change that.
The frame geometry is a little crisp for being a real
randonneur bike. I think the chainstays measured
about 42cm. This was equal to the highest quality
Univega frame with some less expensive, as
touring-oriented production bikes usually got, parts.
David Feldman
Vancouve,r WA
--- Raoul Delmare <Raoul.L.Delmare@worldnet.att.net>
wrote:
> A friend of mine just sent me an e-mail , about
> winning a terrific bargain on eBay .
>
>
http://ebay.com/
>
> What are those brakes ?
>
> What is that tubing ?
>
> Fine quality tubing through-out ?
>
> Or was it fine-quality double-butted main
> tubes , with less-than-the-best for the stays and
> fork blades ?
>
> How nice is it really ?
>
> What year ?
>
> I'm guessing 1979 . But I admit , that's
> just a wild guess . Check out that water bottle
> holder . ( Velcro , "hook-and-loop" ) When were
> those first sold ?
>
> And , a BIG question ; who made Univega
> frames ? Did Univega actually make their own
> frames ? Is this really a Bridgestone ? Is
> this really a Panasonic ?
>
> Thanks in advance !! !! !! !! !!
>
> I may be even more enthused than he is !
>
> Another question is where did it fall in the
> model line-up ? It is obviously somewhere between
> "middle" and "deluxe" . Just how nice is it ?
>
>
> This is a lovely bicycle , made in Nippon (
> Japan ) . It's very much in the randonneur style
> . It does have rear rack mounts . Like those
> SunTour GS forged steel drop-outs ! It was not
> quite fancy enough for the brazed-on center-pull
> brakes .
>
> However , what model are those Dia-Compe
> brakes ?? Those are obviously inspired by Mafac
> Competition brakes , only with nicer finish !!
>
> And the crankset was obviously inspired by the
> Stronglight 99 .
>
> And I never noticed before , just how much that
> SunTour front derailleur resembles a Huret Jubilee
> . :^) It's no mystery what was going on with
> this bicycle . It was a Made-In-Nippon , French
> randonneuring bicycle !!
>
> Thanks for any help anyone may be able to offer
> .
>
> Raoul Delmare
> Marysville Kansas
>
>
>
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