Older Fuji Sagres information please.
Hello. I recently purchased a older Fuji Sagres from my S/Os boss for the low, low price of $25 and I am interested to find out something about it.
The bike is made is Japan and would seem to date from the late-70s to early-80s. It is constructed of "Fuji VaLite Triple-Butted Tubing" which I understand was Fuji's proprietary chrome-vanadium steel tubing used on their midrange bikes, and has Nitto alloy stem and Nitto "World Olympiade" or something allow Maes-bend drop bars. The bike has a six-speed rear cassette and double-chainring Sugino crankset, which seems to be chrome plated. Front and rear derailleurs are Suntour AR, and the shifters are stem-mounted Suntours. Brakes are alloy Dia-Compe 500 sidepulls, and wheels are 27X1-1/8" alloy Suntours. Headset is a Hatta, and the seatpost is a 26.8 mm Sugino. The bike is remarkably free of extra braze-ons (it's single water bottle mount is really the only one) which seems to suggest that it was more of a performance-oriented and less of a touring-oriented model. The stem mounted shifters seem like more of a touring-bike feature, however.
The bike is silver with a blue wrap-around decal on the seat tube. The decal has flat edges, not the diagonal edges seen on the late-80s Fujis. The downtube decal says "Fuji Sagres" and the the top tube has a "VaLITE Tubing" decal on it.
The bike is a very nice ride and I put Shimano Tiagra aero-levers and new Fuji-branded Velo racing saddle that I got as a take-off from a local bike shop for $15. The bike is very light, much lighter than many new "affordable" aluminum frame bikes that I have ridden. It has a wonderful, snappy feel to it.
So, I would just like to know how old folks think this bike is, what (approximately) it retailed for new, and where it was in Fuji's contemporary lineup. If anyone can help me out, I would appreciate it. Thanks!
Tim