Classic & Vintage - Univega Sportour for $75

I think I'm gonna go check it out today or tomorrow - if it rides well, is it worth it? I have a commuter bike and a mountain bike now, I'd love to have something that's good for longer rides, and this seems it would fit the bill. Any thoughts?

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/bik/247045661.html

Cheers

Nick

I have a Univega Sportour that was my sister's that I'm refurbishing. I believe the Sportour was probably in the middle of the Univega lineup (there seem to be a million different models, it would be great to get some kind of definitive answer on this). It is somewhat heavy, but has the triple-butted "magnalite" (?) tubes and after all those years and a good bit of riding it's in great shape. Mine seems to have lower end components than the one you posted (stem shifters, lower end cranks, tourney RD), so I would think that 75 bucks for all that Shimano 600 and a decent frame is a pretty good deal if it's in the "great mechanical condition" that he describes.

Well, I have my reservations about it being original. My1983 literature shows it spec'd with SunTour AR and an SR crankset. frame is spec'd as CrMo butted, with hi-tensile fork. Original price was $320 US. Sounds like a fair price if it's been updated with some 600 and is in good condition.

Depending on the exact year, I considered these models to be upper entry level or lower mid range. Many Univega were manufactured by Miyata. Mangalight is a reference to Miyata's proprietary manganese alloy tubing, which had properties between h-tensile and chromium-molybdenum. It was generally used in the stays and forks, in conjunction with butted chromium-molybdenum main tubes

I agree with T-Mar, I don't think the 600 is original. I purchased my sportour in June 1983, and it came equipped with SunTour ARX, and SR cranks.....

mark

If it is clean and it fits you, it is an EXCELLENT price in a hot bike market area. The only reason it is probably still around is that it is out a ways from SF and Berkeley.

If it fits, needs no work, and it rides well, grab it before someone else does.

Excellent, thanks much for the advice, everyone!

I was lucky enough to find a 1985 Sportour at Goodwill last year for 40 bucks. It fit my son perfectly and he really enjoys it. I gave it to him for Christmas. It is in great shape and even had the original tires on it (they've been replaced). The fit and finish is very nice.

Joe C.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q235/jec27/DSC00193.jpg

My brother has a Sportour of that vintage. We found it a couple of summers ago at a thrift store for $15. By a curious coincidence, his DT shifters and front derailer had also been upgraded to Shimano 600. It still has the SunTour ARx rear derailer and SR cranks. It's a nice bike, but he doesn't treat it too nicely. It makes me wince a bit, but it's his bike and he hasn't done anything really bad yet. Check out that rear cluster, by the way. It's probably a 6-speed Uniglide freehub, not a freewheel! Neat stuff. Like I said, this is a nice bike, it would make a great daily rider.

That headtube looks pretty large from the photos on the Craigslist thread. Make sure it's not too big for you and that the standover height is a good fit. I've got 2 of the Sportours; a Black and a Pearlescent White. Both with CrMo tubing and the black has the early Shimano 600 Arabesque derailleurs. Both nice rides.

I just remembered an earlier post about Sportours. I have the same exact bike as the one robtown picked up NIB and shown in the link below. That came with the Shimano 600 Arabesque derailleurs out of the box and mine is the same. I don't remember there being a "Tange" tubing sticker, just the generic "Cr-Mo" one. I have to take a look at them tomorrow to get the serial #s.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=207903

Anyone still have the original MKS pedals? I'm looking for dust cap.....lost one a few years ago and never have gotten around to replacing it....

thanks

If it fits and is in good mechanical shape - buy it. As TIOS says I bought one NIB for my son. Nice 600 components and rides smooth. I wish I had bought a 25" for myself. I sold a Schwinn World Sport to make room; a nice if heavy ride.

I just remembered an earlier post about Sportours. I have the same exact bike as the one robtown picked up NIB and shown in the link below. That came with the Shimano 600 Arabesque derailleurs out of the box and mine is the same. I don't remember there being a "Tange" tubing sticker, just the generic "Cr-Mo" one. I have to take a look at them tomorrow to get the serial #s.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=207903

Yep, I have that one too, it's a 1982 and it came with the full 600 Arabesque group, friction DT shifters. The decal on the seat tube specifies Tange Champion.

Anyone still have the original MKS pedals? I'm looking for dust cap.....lost one a few years ago and never have gotten around to replacing it....

thanks

PM sent

I bought a Sport Tour over the summer in a nice sky blue color. I keep meaning to lose the steel handlebars and convert it to fixed, but alas, no time right now. I love Univegas, classy bikes.

Go for it. One of my biggest bike-regrets was not springing at a Univega Sporttour with a beautiful steel frame, triple crankset, rack and panniers for $100 in amazing condition. I emailed the guy early, but hesitated too long (including making a thread on here asking about it) and it was gone like that. Sigh.

Go for it. One of my biggest bike-regrets was not springing at a Univega Sporttour with a beautiful steel frame, triple crankset, rack and panniers for $100 in amazing condition. I emailed the guy early, but hesitated too long (including making a thread on here asking about it) and it was gone like that. Sigh.

Maybe making a thread on here dooms you! The guy hasn't emailed me back :(

Maybe making a thread on here dooms you! The guy hasn't emailed me back :(

Yup, the listing has been deleted - that bike has left the building. Don't forget, there's lots of folks here that live in your area, so a public thread can be a good thing and a bad thing.........:eek: (and NO, it wasn't me that snaked you.... :) )

Like I said earlier, you live in a hot bike market so it's better not to dither too long on prospective bikes. Turds routinely sell for $100, so anything decent like the one you posted get snapped up PDQ.

What size are you looking for? I've got three good bikes in the shed that are complete, but need overhauling - a Schwinn Le Tour, a Nishiki International, and a Centurion (no model designation). If you're good with a wrench and don't mind cleaning them up, drop me a PM and we can talk.

Yep, I have that one too, it's a 1982 and it came with the full 600 Arabesque group, friction DT shifters. The decal on the seat tube specifies Tange Champion.

While specs do change from year to year, going from a "full 600 Arabesque group" to a ARx/Custom/500G mix over the course of one year is a substantial downgrade. There must have been a lot of shocked, potential Sportour customers when they saw the 1983 model.

This thread is a few months old, but I thought I should revive it just to add a data point for future searchers.

I ran across a Univega Sportour yesterday at a second-hand sporting goods store. Black with all red lettering - "Univega" in its usual art-deco font with "Sportour" in a rounded block font at the front of the top tube. I didn't see the serial number, but from this and other threads, I surmise it was from 1982 or so. It had a "Champion Chrome-Moly" sticker high on the seat-tube, and the "Made in Japan" sticker about an inch above the bottom bracket. The brakes were non-aero Diacompe levers and side-pull calipers. Cranks were SR, with an unusually small inner chainring for the era. Wheels were 27-inch, 36-spoke alloys, no brand visible, and the hubs were too dirty for me to ID, as was the freewheel (6-speed). Shifters (clamped-on) and both dérailleurs were Shimano 600 Arabesque.

The bike was functionally in great shape, though cosmetics needed lots of attention. I was very surprised at how light it was. I wasn't carrying a scale, but there happened to be a 25-pound dumbbell sitting about five feet from the bike, and it actually felt heavier.

Anyway, I'm pretty convinced that the 600 Arabesque must have been OEM for these. It's hard to believe that this many owners in widely scatter locales just happened to use the same replacements.

I bought a 64cm early 80's Sportour on CL in February for $60. The original owner said it had less than 100 miles on it and it looked it. I took off the original Shimano 600 group and Custom crank for another project, replaced it with a clean set of ARX and Silstar crank, and then sold it to my nephews friend who is a 6'3" college student. He loves it.

I bought a 64cm early 80's Sportour on CL in February for $60. The original owner said it had less than 100 miles on it and it looked it. I took off the original Shimano 600 group and Custom crank for another project, replaced it with a clean set of ARX and Silstar crank, and then sold it to my nephews friend who is a 6'3" college student. He loves it.
He should, that's a sweet looking ride.

He should, that's a sweet looking ride.

And it rode as good as it looks. I would not have hesitated to have kept it had it been my size. As it was I could barely stradle it on my tiptoes but the reach was close to perfect for me. It had a 64cm seat tube and a 57cm top tube. It struck me as odd as to why it would be so disproportioned.

I bought a 64cm early 80's Sportour on CL in February for $60. The original owner said it had less than 100 miles on it and it looked it. I took off the original Shimano 600 group and Custom crank for another project, replaced it with a clean set of ARX and Silstar crank, and then sold it to my nephews friend who is a 6'3" college student. He loves it.

I just picked up this same model in a 58 the other day of off CL.........Paid too much I'm sure, but it's going to be a full on restoration project..........

I just picked up this same model in a 58 the other day of off CL.........Paid too much I'm sure, but it's going to be a full on restoration project..........

Do we get photos?

East Hill

Yes!

I need help with dating.........so tonight!

Yes!

I need help with dating.........so tonight!

[says with straight face] Uh, I don't think I can help you with the dating part--

:roflmao:

But we'll see if we can't help you with figuring out the date of your bicycle :p .

East Hill

I got one of these from the Goodwill for $10. It had a mixte frame with Arx derailleurs, about 53cm seat tube & was a nice rider. One of my grandaughters rode it whenever she visited & I appropriated it for a few months when I was recuperating from abdominal surgery. Later traded it straight across to a co-worker for a 1964 Schwinn SuperSport. He wanted it for his girl friend & everybody was happy with the trade.

I picked up a sportour today for $75 with Shimano 600 derailers. Guess I paid to much; but, 25" frames are kind of hard to find. Mine has a 6 speed freewheel and 2 different rims. what I need to know is where to go from here? I'd like to put 2 new wheels on it and keep the original freewheel. Is that possible?

http://www.barks.us/UniVega1.jpg

I picked up a sportour today for $75 with Shimano 600 derailers. Guess I paid to much; but, 25" frames are kind of hard to find. Mine has a 6 speed freewheel and 2 different rims. what I need to know is where to go from here? I'd like to put 2 new wheels on it and keep the original freewheel. Is that possible?

I don't think you spent too much. I bought a Univega a couple months ago for $75 too. ;-)

At first I figured I should have talked them down more, but it is really a nice bike. Yours looks good too. Mine has Shimano 600 SIS shifters and RD.

As far as the wheels go, I have a similar question. Are wheelsets designed for fixies/single speeds compatible with old freewheels as long as the spacing is right? Is the threading the same?

Another thing I've considered is just getting some wheels with a modern freehub and using a 7 speed cassette. A while back Nashbar was selling 7 speed downtube shifters dirt cheap.

Thats where I'm at, can I/we buy nashbar wheel specials with modern freehubs and use our old (600) chainrings? Most likely I can have the guys at work powder coat the frame for some beer as long as it is black or white. I have a thousand questions about resurrecting this old bike; but, for now i just need to determine if i can do it for under say 500 dollars. If it isn't feasible, I'll just flip it on CL and be done with it. But at 6'6" and +250 pounds a 25" steel frame means a lot to me. Especially, when its a cr-mo frame. Which is why I bought it on a whim.

Univegas are nice bikes although I prefer Raleighs. I refurbished a 1982 Super Strada that my son-in-law was going to toss out in the trash. Spent about a year doing the clean-up. I considered it a learning experience as far as bike mechanics is concerned. It turned-out pretty well; see attached photo. Yes, you can use 700C wheels on the old frames. The Univegas from the early 80's had a rear spacing of 126mm. You can have the LBS cold set the frame to 130mm and use new 700C wheels with 8/9 speed cassettes. Or you can buy new wheelsets with 126mm hubs or have new wheels built with your old hubs if they're still in good condition. I bought a pair of used Araya 700C wheels from Atomic Cycles in Van Nuys, Ca for $10.00 each and put some Vrederstein skinwall tires on. After adjusting the brake pad positions and fine tuning the rear derailer the bike rides great. The bike has all of the Shimano Dura-Ace 600series drive-train parts including the weird DynaDrive pedals which actually work really well. Any other questions, feel free to drop me a line. PG.

Boy, PolishGuy (http://www.bikeforums.net/member.php?u=81829) I hope mine looks half that nice when i'm done. absolutely beautiful.

Astropuppy, thank you. PG.

After finding replacement wheels http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/wheels/630.html I've spent the better part of my evening ignoring family and researching what it takes to remove and replace the bottom bracket and Headset on my univega for painting. I need to know if it's worth $70 to have the LBS do it; Or, if I should try the DIY methods I found tonight.
http://davesbikeblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/headset-removal-and-replacement.html
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbcups.html

My initial reaction is to go for it. Developing these skills might help in the future.