Classic & Vintage - Austrian Sears, should've bought it, right?

Went to the FM again, and there it was, an Austrian made Sears roadbike. Medium solid blue color, simplex deralleurs, steel rims with textured sides. I could not find a metal pedigree sticker, unfortunately. But, despite having chrome steel rims and steel cottered cranks, it weighed about the same as a CrMo schwinn with alloy rims and cranks. In other words, not a whole lot considering. No forged drops or anthing fancy, but it did have one chrome wingnut left on the left rear, and centerpull weinmanns. I didn't ask a price. If you guys think it's worth it, I will go back next week and get it. I don't imagine it will be a quick sell around here, not pretty and no suspension. It was probably $20 at the most.,,,,BD

It had top tube mounted plastic levers with metal wrap around sleeves. One of the shifters was broken off:(

It would probably be comparable to a Peugeot UO-8, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

It was a lugged frame, with a couple of cutouts in the head tube lugs. Nothing real fancy, but decent. That's enough for me, I will grab if it's there next week. The guy won't negotiate though, as I've bought from him before. A slightly raggedy Continental was $20, and worth no less in his book. This will probably be about the same. A junked out 80's low end Raleigh covered in black spray paint was $40, though.,,,,BD


This is the FD/RD setup it had. Decent, or no? I know nothing of Simplex.

http://www.cycleacts.com/images/New/SimplexDerSet.JPG

My Sears bike is nice enough for a daily rider... I have updated to alloy rims and a cotterless crank, Nitto stem and alloy bars.

If it is the right size, I would say almost any bike is worth $20.

Mine was all original when I got it from the original owner, a good friend of mine, and it didn't have wing nuts in the back. It did have them in front, and it had Shimano derailleurs. I found my bike in an image of a Sears catalog, and it was Sears Finest 10 speed in 1971... The one you saw sounds similar, only possibly a different year.

http://www.aperfectworld.org/Other_Projects/Sears/sears195.jpg

Interestingly, it seems that each Sears model came in only one size. Their best came in 22" at least in 1971.

That's it! The one on the top of the ad. Exact same decals, color, brakes, cranks. Everything!!,,,,BD

Oh, and rear brake cable goes through the top tube too... :D

The same basic bike may have been in the catalog for a few years. I don't know for sure if mine is actually a 1971, but I know the original owner graduated high school in 1974 and she had it for a couple of years before that.

I suspect mine might be a year or two newer than the one you saw based on Simplex vs Shimano, but I could be guessing in the wrong direction... or maybe it depended on the specific run.

EDIT: I just looked again and noticed that the bike there didn't have the brake cable internally routed... I guess that mine could be a 1972 or 1973 model.

I just noticed that all bikes on the page are supposedly "reflector equipped", but they aren't. Guess they were shot right at the end of the designing phase.,,,,BD

Regarding Reflectors. I have noticed what could be date codes on the back of the front and rear reflectors on the last old bike I accquired! If they were date codes they do agreed closely to what I believe is the date of the bike.

Does anyone know if this is true or not true! Comments?

Al

It was a lugged frame, with a couple of cutouts in the head tube lugs. Nothing real fancy, but decent. That's enough for me, I will grab if it's there next week. The guy won't negotiate though, as I've bought from him before. A slightly raggedy Continental was $20, and worth no less in his book. This will probably be about the same. A junked out 80's low end Raleigh covered in black spray paint was $40, though.,,,,BD


This is the FD/RD setup it had. Decent, or no? I know nothing of Simplex.

http://www.cycleacts.com/images/New/SimplexDerSet.JPG
If those are the Simplex derailleurs with the big plastic parts, I hear they're not so good.

My friend bought a bike that was dubbed a "Puch" by the seller. As the paint job wore off, he found that it was a Sears bike instead. But when he took it to the shop, a mechanic informed him that it was indeed a Puch, and Sears did the Puch bikes in the era that his bike came out of. Notice both are from Austria? I'd bet dimes to dollars the bike you saw was Puch made as well.

I'm not a big fan of plastic parts on bikes, for any stress parts. Plastics are getting stronger than ever, but I don't trust it just yet. A plastic part made in the early seventies? No thanks. Not only the crudeness of an early plastic, but then add age and exposure. I wouldn't doubt they would be unreliable. I could pick up
some better stuff a few rows over in the same flea market.,,,,BD

PUCH or AD????

Not sure which. No names on it other than Sears and Austria. I am talking with someone who has a Raleigh Olympian now, so I may leave it where it sits, hehe.,,,,BD

Puch and AD are the same. Steyr-Daimler-Puch. Daimler as in Austro-Daimler.

Those derailleurs are Simplex Prestige. Normal, garden variety stuff for the early 70's, shifted OK but had a reputation for the plastic to crack within two years of hard riding. They'll do you ok for getting the bike on the road, but you'd probably be better off picking up some cheap SunTour from the period (Honor, V-GT, Compe-V, etc.).

$20.00? Go for it.