Classic and Vintage Bicycles: What's it Worth? Appraisals and Inquiries - Is this worth it? Vintage ALAN

See title...
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/bik/1333942320.html

Thanks so much!

Jason

The ALAN's are not like the aluminium bikes of the past generation, they are quite comfortable to ride. I don't agree with the "very light" description though. Yes, they are a little lighter than a steel frame but not by much.

I have one and do like the ride quality very much. Some people say that the tubes can come loose and give a dead ride but I have not found that with mine.

The aluminium lugs clean up to a brilliant shine and look fantastic. Although I'm a Campagnolo fan, I do like the Suntour Superbe Pro components and that is what I recommend for that bike. I think there are enough Suntour components to try to complete the gruppo. ALAN decals are available through Ebay - Cyclemondo. He makes really good repro decals.

I think $575 is the limit of the bike's worth but it is a great Italian frame.

Best of luck,

Gary.

I think it's worth it.

Thanks for the info Gary. Im not familiar with suntour components as the only ones ive experienced are the crappy pieces that come on the entry level diamondback bikes I sell at work. What would you compare it to? Also if that is the upper limit what would you think is a fair price to offer him.

The Superbe Pro groupset was cutting edge in the 80's with a slant parallelogram rear derailleur that changed better that Shimano or Campagnolo. It was top quality then and is quite well thought of today.

I'd probably offer a little lower, say $540 / $550 and see if he would sell.

In one of the other threads I have said that a Merckx bike was my all time favorite, which is true, but I did consider my ALAN; it really is a nice bike to ride. Here it is:

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x300/garyf5354/DSC00125-1.jpg

one tiny nit to pick: seller says the name stands for ALuminumANodized (which is what I used to think, too) but it's been documented that the name derives from the first names of the son and daughter of the founder of the firm...don't recall the names right now but something Italian like "Alberto and Annamaria".

Related (I think) question.
Anyone have any information on "Bador" bicycles.
I've only seen a couple of them back in the 80's and IIRC, they look identical or very close to what Alans look like. Are they the same frame with a different brand stuck on them??
I still remember that day back in the 80's when an old rider was talking to the guy behind the counter of our LBS and my younger brother mistakenly said that "hey wow, an Alan!" the old guy took offense to my brother's mistake and yelled at us (then, young college kids) with a scowl on his face, "No way! This is a Bador, the lightest bike on the planet!" X8^O
I don't think I've seen a Bador again since that day and you cannot even find Bador bicycles in Google........ Now I'm wondering again what the Bador bikes were all about.
TIA for any info on it

Chombi
84 Peugeot PSV....the lightest steel bike in the world!!!.....uhhmm.....maybe just the 80's Peugeot world....;^))

one tiny nit to pick: seller says the name stands for ALuminumANodized (which is what I used to think, too) but it's been documented that the name derives from the first names of the son and daughter of the founder of the firm...don't recall the names right now but something Italian like "Alberto and Annamaria".

BINGO!

"ALAN is, at first sight, a bit of an odd name for an Italian framebuilder. When the founder of the company, Sig. Ludovic Falconi set the company up in 1972, he thought to use the first two letters of the christian names of each of his two children to form the company name ... so Alberto and his siter Anna contributed 'Al' and 'An'."

BINGO!

"ALAN is, at first sight, a bit of an odd name for an Italian framebuilder. When the founder of the company, Sig. Ludovic Falconi set the company up in 1972, he thought to use the first two letters of the christian names of each of his two children to form the company name ... so Alberto and his siter Anna contributed 'Al' and 'An'."

ALuminum ANodized is a common misconception fueled by the Sheldon Brown/Mike Kone Vintage Lightweight Price Guide (http://sheldonbrown.com/vrbn-a-f.html#alan). Although the ALuminum part is correct, my example shows no signs of ANodizing whatsoever so I'll buy into the official company version.

re Bador: I think this is simply another term for the Vitus aluminum frame, I know Bador was a components manufacturer, but seems they entered a joint venture with CLB to make the Vitus frames...here's a quote from Mr. Norris Lockley:
"Since the late 70s, the company (Vitus) had had a joint venture with Bador and =
CLB-Angenieux to produce the renowned Duralinox range of frames - =
frames which were quite revolutionary in their time - and which sold =
well as long as the likes of Sean Kelly rode and won on them."