Road Cycling - Univega Champizione- should I buy it? Old tires, peeling handlebar wrap, old.

I'm a tall lad- 6'2" and old roadbikes are hard to come by at my size.
I've heard Univega's aren't bad. I've been reading this forum for a bit and so I've had my eyes peeled for Ebay, Craigslist and thriftstores. No luck yet in scoring a replacement for my teenager-sized used-costco mountainbike.

This Univega has the word "Champizione" (spell?) written across the top tube. The tires look shot, handlebar wrap is peeling and I'm pretty sure the cables are cracked and old.

I'm looking for a cheap roadbike to ride around- I'll be buying shoes and clip pedals in a while.


What do you all think? Good deal? Too much work? What amount of $$ will I be looking at?

Oh- and I can't seem to get any info on the Champizione brand of Univega bikes. I must be mispelling it but I haven't found anything close.

Anyone? What do you all think?

...6'2" and old roadbikes are hard to come by at my size...I've heard Univega's aren't bad.

I'm looking for a cheap roadbike to ride around- I'll be buying shoes and clip pedals in a while.

Good deal? Too much work? What amount of $$ will I be looking at?

Hi charlesw,

Afraid you may not have given enough info to work with. To get a better/better quality of response, you might try stating what your budget is and what kind of riding you plan to do - is it hilly where you live? Do you just plan on riding casually? Are you going to be riding seriously to improve your fitness?

First, I'm 6'1" and it isn't hard to find bikes that will fit someone this tall unless you are all leg and no torso (and have the inseam of a 6'6" guy...). You might look at the 58-59cm range unless, again, your inseam dicatates something bigger - your best bet is to get fit at an LBS that has an excellent reputation among local riders/clubs, even if you have to pay, unless budget is a real constricting issue.

Like many consumer bike brands, Univega made some nice bikes early on (I think 80's?), but I believe then started having cheaper, heavier steel frames made for them in China. Don't really have any idea what Univega is doing recently, as it is not a brand that is seen much at any shops/stores that I frequent. Could the one you are looking at be "Competizione", as I had a friend in school who had one of these and remember it being a nice bike. If you're looking at something specific, you should also provide info about how it is set up, componentry, frame composition, condition, etc. and how much is being asked for it. However, given the advances in technology (frames, shifting, braking, - just about everything...), I'd be looking at a number of different, current, possibly better options.

If you are thinking you are going to be upgrading components, as opposed to just adding pedals/shoes, you should focus on the best frame you can get for your money. But, you have to have a budget first, then people with more experience will be able to give you some idea of what your options might be.

Good luck. :)

Thanks, Steelrider.

Budget: My budget right now is probably around $200 total for the bike- repaired and ready to ride. I'd like to find some used shoes and pedals. Unfortunatly, most shoes look like they would be around $100 (for a deal) and pedals around $50.

My Plans: I'm planning on riding for fun and fitness- entering some small contests around my area. I ride to work each day- a short, flat 20 min ride.

As you can see by my posts- I"m a pretty amateur rider, thus I can't give any info on the geometry, setup or frame composition of the bike I'm thinking about purchasing. I've tried learning about bikes but there is just so much to read- I don't know where to start.

I have a normal build. My sister, who is an amateur triathalete, mentioned that I should have a small amount of space between the top tube and my crotch- standing flat over the bike with my riding shoes on. While standing over this bike in normal shoes, the top tube is definatly up in my crotch. (thus, I was excited this may fit me)

I've been looking for 58cm frames for a while- everything on ebay is about $100 over my price range and the local whitepages/craigslist/etc. have high quality/very small roadbikes. I'm really looking- I'm very excited about riding with a roadbike instead of cheap mountainbike- but unfortnatly have struck out finding anything except for this Univega in disrepair.

For $200 would it be best to look for a disgarded bike such as the one I found- or ditch it completly and get a $300 used bike somewhere else?

Also, is there any advice anyone has as to how to check the quality of the gearing/components when I look at a bike? Should I have a list of components I should definatly avoid? I know campognole (sp?) components are very good as well as Shimano600, etc- just from reading the boards.

I found a much better bike- it looks like a great deal. What do you all think? This is far under my price range- is this worth $100?

$100
Univega Sportour Cromoly Frame and Fork (bike was build 1984/5)
Centurion? Cyclone Components (owner says back then, Centurion was on level with the best shimano components)
Chainring/Crank is SR
Diacomp short reach brakes
Cateye computer
italias seat
spinco seatcover
40 spoke wheel, roadmaster hub
New tires, new thorn resistant tubes

I found a much better bike- it looks like a great deal. What do you all think? This is far under my price range- is this worth $100?

$100
Univega Sportour Cromoly Frame and Fork (bike was build 1984/5)
Centurion? Cyclone Components (owner says back then, Centurion was on level with the best shimano components)
Chainring/Crank is SR
Diacomp short reach brakes
Cateye computer
italias seat
spinco seatcover
40 spoke wheel, roadmaster hub
New tires, new thorn resistant tubesSuntour components. Cyclone was good mid level stuff.

As long as the frame has not been obviously crashed (big dents/divots in the steel) and there is no evidence of rust around the bottom bracket, dropouts, seat tube or head tube, this sounds like a good deal given your budget. This frame is probably made of double butted chromoly steel and will be sturdy, but is not particularly light - which again is to be expected given what you have to work with.

Given your proximity to LA area and your budgetary restrictions, you should probably start looking at garage sale listings and sub $1-500 dollar listings in the paper (for sale ads that are free/low cost to the sellers). I have seen some outrageous bikes at garage sales, as I cruised some with my neighbor when he was looking for a cheap bike. I think the difference might be that the eBay-ers are looking to make some money due to the hassle of money transfer and shipping - many of the garage sale folks just want to get it the heck out of the garage/house and you can negotiate with them. This way, you might also see if you can snag your sister to go along and check some of them out and get her informed opinion.

Go to these sites and check out what they have to say about fitting a bike, go sit on some and see if you can figure out what they are talking about. If you have access to a computer/Internet, Google the snot out of terms/brands and see what others have to say about these things. Ask questions of your sister and this forum if you don't "get" something and learn enough that you can trust your own judgement - your own informed opinion should be the major determinant in your decisions about what bike is best for you. Trite, but true - knowledge is power and you need to be in a more powerful position if you are afraid of getting jobbed by some online seller. Having said that, someone you know and trust (your sister?) can fill in the gaps and help provide you with knowledge that you don't currently have.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/articles.html
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com

The Sheldon Brown site has some particularly good primers about fitting and frame materials that will help you. Your problem is that within a higher price range, you can get a good bike and even possibly spend way too much. However, with a little knowledge, it would be hard to make a disastrous decision as you'd still have a rideable bike, just not one that is ideal for your purposes. In your case, you could end up with a screaming deal (from somewhere like a garage sale) or end up with a piece of junk that isn't really even suitable for the purposes you listed.

Good luck!

Thanks for the points about the rust. Is rust and dents from accidents the main things that are warning signs for buying a bike?

Just about everything can be replaced- so I figure if I know components/tires/brakes/frames better- I'll be able to see an amazing bike when I find it.

Hopefully you've seen some of the current posts from folks with as/more constrained a budget as/than you. Pretty encouraging...

It sounds like a standard cromo frame, but if possible check to see if the label is still on the frame, because Japan did make some awsome frames. Suntour Cyclone as one poster mentioned was their midline stuff...BUT Cyclone and Suntours other midline stuff was as good if not better then anything Shimano or Campy had out back then! According to Consumer Reports back between 79 to 81, reported that Suntour VXG system was not only a best buy but shifter smoother, faster and more accurately then anything the other companies had INCLUDING their top end stuff...and VXG was one step down from Cyclone-kind of a mid mid end, whereas Cyclone was high mid end.

Assuming that the bike is rideable, I would check to see if it passes the hands-off test, i.e. whether it has any consistent tendency to pull to one side when you ride. That can tell you a lot about whether the frame and fork are straight and properly aligned. As a teenager I once bought a road bike that looked pristine to my eyes, but had a bent fork.

As for the shoe/pedal issue, Performance usually has cheap pedal/shoe combo deals - there's one on now for $70. If you get the $100 bike and $70 pedals and shoes, you still have $30 left over for some titanium chainring bolts ;-)

Sydney, Froze, Indolent, Steel: Thanks for your comments.

Indolent, I assume these are the shoes and pedals you meant:
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile_combo.cfm?SKU=17368&estore_ID=&subcategory_ID=2111&CFID=33939278&CFTOKEN=49330851
That is a pretty good deal! I checked reviews and people seem to trash on them as they are hard to clip out of.

However, I checked http://www.nashbar.com/ and found other pedals for $30 and on up- as well as Sidi [and other brand] shoes for $30 so I could get some cheap shoes and pedals for not much.

Thanks for the help all!