Classic & Vintage - A Picture of my Univega Ultralegerra

Now that I finally got a digital camera I want to show my Univega Ultraleggera!!


http://www.dropshots.com/photos/254648/20070304/b_171120.jpg

The frame is made from oversized .8/.5/.8 Tange Prestige Tubing. I am sure the forks are Prestige also. The dropouts are Shimano. I believe it was built in the late 80s early 90s. I put on the Shimano decals. I have decked this bike out with a combination of 7400 serries Dura Ace and 7700 Dura Ace. I have a friction 9 speed setup (the shifters are Suntour Superbe friction.) I also have another set of Dura Ace 7700 32 spoke hubs built on Open Pro rims.

I am 6'1" tall so the 56cm frame is compact for me. I really love the way it handles and climbs. This bike is very fast. After riding it for a year I am now a big convert to riding a more compact frame. I normally ride a 59 cm frame.

I have never seen another Ultraleggera. Does anyone know about this bike and maybe even who could have built this Univega.

Univega's from Japan were made by Miyata, I believe they moved to Taiwan later but not sure which factory or year. They were a private marque imported by Ben Lawee and the brand basically was his Italvega marque moved to Japan. Even used the some of the same model names, like yours, but I'm not sure about the component level. I have seen another of his marque/model, the Bertoni Ultraleggero, oufitted with Shimano 600.

Wow! Sweet looking bike! Those wheels really make it stand out! Nice ;)

Dang! That's a beautiful combination of modern and older parts. I'm loving the quill stem, that's the perfect angle. Shimano wheels look surprisingly sharp, too.

Not too sure about the "Dura-Ace" decal on the seat tube. Otherwise, beautiful.

Dang! That's a beautiful combination of modern and older parts. I'm loving the quill stem, that's the perfect angle. Shimano wheels look surprisingly sharp, too.

Not too sure about the "Dura-Ace" decal on the seat tube. Otherwise, beautiful.

I agree, that stem looks amazing.

That is a good looking bike!

Tom

Univega's from Japan were made by Miyata, I believe they moved to Taiwan later but not sure which factory or year. They were a private marque imported by Ben Lawee and the brand basically was his Italvega marque moved to Japan. Even used the some of the same model names, like yours, but I'm not sure about the component level. I have seen another of his marque/model, the Bertoni Ultraleggero, oufitted with Shimano 600.

I know that Miyata built a lot of Univegas. However, according to T-Mar, Miyata did not use Tange tubing. They used their own proprietary tubing. So I am thinking that someone other than Univega built it. Given the Tange tubing, and the Shimano dropouts I am leaning towards a Japanese manufacturer. This is a pretty high end frame. One of the nicest Japanese steel road frames that I have seen. I bought on ebay for $75 (I think that even included shipping) which was an outright steal. It came with a Dura Ace headset which I assume was original. I have seen some 3Rensho track bikes with a similar construction (fillet brazed) and with forks that have a very similar look of my Ultraleggera.

It is intersting to know about the Bertoni Ultraleggero. I will have to do some research to find out more about that bike. Thanks for the info.

It is intersting to know about the Bertoni Ultraleggero. I will have to do some research to find out more about that bike. Thanks for the info.
The one Bertoni Ultraleggero I found was a on bike123.com, Vitus 979 tubing, but no picture. I was doing a little Bertoni research because of the Corsamondiale I own. That bike (SL tubing) was also 600 equipped but I have converted it to c'94 Record/Chorus.

Dang! That's a beautiful combination of modern and older parts. I'm loving the quill stem, that's the perfect angle. Shimano wheels look surprisingly sharp, too.

Not too sure about the "Dura-Ace" decal on the seat tube. Otherwise, beautiful.

Thanks. I have four projects that I am working toward. They are 80s steel road racing bikes built with Campy Record, Shimano Dura Ace, Suntour Superbe, and Mavic gruppos. I chose my Dura Ace bike to be the lone bike to be a combination of modern and old. The other bikes will be built strictly to the period. The stem on the bike is a 120mm Cinelli 1A stem. The bars are 44cm wide Cinelli Giro D'Italia. I have a 110mm Dura Ace stem that I will probably replace the Cinelli with. One thing that I think really looks cool about this bike is the compactness of the frame. The old style geometry kind of has a modern look because of its compactness.

As for the decals. I bought a nice sheet of Shimano decals and kind of went crazy with them.

There is one other thing want to mention about this bike. The paint has chipped in a few places. Underneath it appears to be chrome. It is nice, silvery, very polished, and shiny. I am thinking the whole bike was chromed and painted over. Does anybody know about this practice? Could this give a hint to the date that it was built and the quality of the bike?