Classic & Vintage - CHAMPION Stell Cr-Mo

Hello,

A friend has a Sekine Mediallian cycle from the early 80’s. The frame sticker says; Butted Tube; CHAMPION; Cr-Mo Steel. We are kind of wondering how these Japanese built frame compares with a Reynolds 531 one. The bicycle is fairly light at around 25 lbs.

Thanks, Roland

the Champion should be accompanied with a number: Champion #1...#2, #whatever. The number indicates the lightness of the frameset, with #1 being lightest, I believe. The material was very good quality, seamless steel tubing that was alloyed with chrome and molybdenum, thus the cromo indication. Reynolds 531 was an alloy containing manganese and molybdenum...I think that this alloy was supposed to yield a higher tensile strength. In practice a rider probably would not notice the difference. It's a good bike...

This is the link to Tange's website in English. They currently show a jump from Tange Infinity (seamed tubing) to Prestige in their product line but I'm sure if you would contact them and ask them for the spec for Chamion #1 they'd have it in a file they could send you. Yes Luker the Champion #1 was the lightest of the Champion tubesets and sandwiched between Champion #2 and Prestige.

http://www.tange-design.com/tange_2005/tubes.htm

Based on the era and weight, it sounds like an RM12, in which case it should be #2 tubing, which was 2nd from the top of the Tange lineup at the time. It is heavier than Reynolds 531, but is still a very good tubeset.

If you are located in North America, it is most likely that your frame was made in Canada, as opposed to Japan. The quality control on the Sekine frames were very good.

Thanks guys. You're right T-mar. It’s says on another sticker frame, Sekine; made in Canada. I just thought I read something that the bikes are actually Japanese made and only assembled in Manitoba, Canada. I found it interesting that the chain rings (Shimano) are made out of aluminum alloy. The rest of the components are also Shimano. ---Roland