Classic and Vintage Bicycles: What's it Worth? Appraisals and Inquiries - Miele Columbus SLX Frame

Hi all,

I recently came into possession of what I understand is a fairly decent Miele frame made of Columbus SLX tubing. Unfortunately, the frame itself is too small for me at 21". Rather than build it up I have decided to strip the components that it came with for myself (for when I find a good frame in my size) and sell the frame/fork to someone who can ride it.

I have little experience in valuing something like this and I want to avoid a)getting ripped off, and b) asking too much.

I don't know anything about the frame besides the fact that it is made from Columbus SLX, and I believe it was purchased at some point in the 80's for "around $1200". There is no model name on the frame, and no serial # that I can see anywhere. The decals are not in great shape, as the pictures show, and there are rusty bits here and there where the paint is scratched off, nothing that seems too serious to rectify though.

More images here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/zweiducks/sets/72157622234227475/
(frame has since been stripped of components and cleaned)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zweiducks/3916741020/sizes/l/

Thanks!

Columbus SLX bikes/framesets come to market on a regular basis in varying degrees of condition from beat to death to mint New Old Stock (NOS) and from high end well know manufactuers to lesser known makes. Overall condition, amount of chroming and the manufactuer all come into pricing consideration.

I'll be very blunt and honest when I tell you a Miele is nothing special. Your is in average condition.

Prices of ramesets vary from $125 to $600. My best guesstimate for yours is $200-250.

Yep, on the Toronto CL you could probably get $150 for the frame/fork and maybe $500 with a Dura Ace build.

I would guess three at least. I've seen lesser bikes go for more. There's some amount of imfo. on Miele in threads in the forums and on the net. Posts about the bikes have come up in the past week. Miele's gone now, he was a very traditional frame builder in Canada using Italian approaches, he made other bikes also. The CO. went on without him to make other models. His work is still highly regarded. Those who know of him would like that frame. Colubus SLX was among the very best tube sets available in the '80s and still highly respected and continued to be used well into the 90s and beyond. The right person could give you more but I would have to agree that a somewhat narrower audience than the more well known bikes . Your bike's in fair shape and I think that you'll gain more by selling the frame seperately. Your bike is the real deal, it's what you say it is. Less than two hundred .. they can go .. and even that's too low. You may want to list its metric size.

Thank you all for the replies.

miamijim, bluntness appreciated, that was exactly what I was looking for.

I'll be posting to craiglist in the next week or two looking for a couple hundred bucks or (preferably) a trade for something comparable in the 23"-24" range as that's what I'd really like.

You guys are awesome.

Columbus SLX bikes/framesets come to market on a regular basis in varying degrees of condition from beat to death to mint New Old Stock (NOS) and from high end well know manufactuers to lesser known makes. Overall condition, amount of chroming and the manufactuer all come into pricing consideration.

I'll be very blunt and honest when I tell you a Miele is nothing special. Your is in average condition.

Prices of ramesets vary from $125 to $600. My best guesstimate for yours is $200-250.

I'm kind of the defender of the Miele name here in the northeast. Despite being recognized by a small audience, they are very nicely built frames. To say they aren't anything special, well, I ride two of them, a Lupa and a Gara and think they're one of the '80's labels that continue to fly under the radar.

Scott

that miele leaves me thinking its a bit suspect.

mish-mash of components is something every miele would see, but the no-name drop-outs are something i wouldn't expect on an SLX tubeset... the decals look post 1990, really plain lugwork, no chrome, and nothing on the seat stays....

the only bit of saving grace is the lack of braze-ons for fenders/racks, which may or tend to indicate the bike has tight geometry and hopefully worthy of the SLX sticker...

that miele leaves me thinking its a bit suspect.

mish-mash of components is something every miele would see, but the no-name drop-outs are something i wouldn't expect on an SLX tubeset... the decals look post 1990, really plain lugwork, no chrome, and nothing on the seat stays....

the only bit of saving grace is the lack of braze-ons for fenders/racks, which may or tend to indicate the bike has tight geometry and hopefully worthy of the SLX sticker...

I'll agree that the downtube decal looks out of place but other features point to a higher end (for Miele)frame. Its pump peg, rear derailleur cable stop and dropout style are all indicative of a frame placed in the upper area of the catalog. The lug work and no name dropouts are why I consider it to be 'nothing special'. It reminds me of the D'Arienzo frameset I sold awhile back, it was full SLX but truely a frameset that was 'nothing special'. As a reference I sold it for $125 on CL but it was pretty beatup being a 3/10.

yeah, i think the decal is in the commonplace for Reynolds frames? i am not sure as i have never owned or looked into owning one.

either way, I have seen some really nice Miele's and even some penned by Rossin, and this fine example here:

http://img1.classistatic.com/cps/kj/090724/773r2/6500g67_20.jpeg

and with this type of attention to detail.. i have a hard time swallowing such a plain frame built with pretty nice tubing!

oh well, as u said, they do slip thru the cracks!