biketrouble

My wife bought this off of a friend to do a couple of triathlons about 6 years ago and hasn't ridden it since. At the time I didn't know much about road bikes (recovering mountain biker) but more recently I took a look at this and realized it was far from a piece of junk, even if not that well looked after.

This is a Concorde Squadra in PDM team colors, 50cm c-c frame size. Looks to be from about 1990 based purely on the fact it has brifters. The frame has Cinelli lugs and Cinelli BB (logos on both) as well as Cinelli stem and bars. The frame also has internal routing in the top tube for the rear brake cable. The group set is 6400 series Shimano 600 throughout, including said brifters. Based on posts here and elsewhere, it seems this frame was built by Ciocc using either Columbus SLX or TSX, though there are no decals on the frame indicating tubing manufacture.

The paint and decals are in awful shape, but there's very little rust. The chrome is in good shape. The drivetrain and brakes are all working great. The wheelset is clearly a mixed bag, not sure either is original though both have 600 hubs from the same period.

biketrouble

Lots of views, no comments: am I missing something? Breach of etiquette, bike sucks, or is this one just plain difficult to put a number on?

spurious

Its a difficult bike to put a price on. Ive seen a similar bike with a new paint job selling for 750 euros, though that was in Ireland. They have a bigger following here as it was Sean Kellys bike for many years. Hence the inflated price here

However I'd reckon in that condition is worth 400 euros anyday.

T-Mar

The bicycle has brifters and the 8 speed rear derailleur, so it should be no older than 1992. It's virtually impossible to assign a value without being 100% sure of the tubeset. During this era, 600 Ultegra STI groups could be found on bicycles with mid-range tubesets (~$1000 MSL) up to bicycles with high end tubesets (~$2000 MSL). Given the model and features (particulalry the number peg) it undoubtedly leans towards the latter, but you'll be hard pressed to convince a seller without the decal. Are you prepared to remove the bottm bracket to verify the tubeset and substantiate with pictures for potential buyers? If not, you may have to take a hit on the price. Maybe you should list it for what you paid. Six years of free use is nothing to quibble at.

Beach Comber

There was a similar Concorde on ebay over the weekend for, I believe, $399USD. I didn't pay enough attention to be able to tell year or specifics. But I'm pretty sure it didn't sell.

BTW - what is the little braze-on the top tube for? Can't say I've seen one like that before.

T-Mar

That's a number peg, for attching the race number and typically found only on team bicycles and some pro level models.

Beach Comber

ty!

biketrouble

Thanks for this, I was trying to pin this down - have since discovered the components section of Velobase and this confirms what you're saying.

Regarding removing the BB, this certainly is within my wrenching skill set - but where should I be looking? Inside the BB shell or do I need to be able to look at the ends of the main/seat tubes?

T-Mar

An SLX frame will have five helical ridges inside the bottom bracket ends of the down tube, seat tube and chainstays. They're only about 3.5mm wide by 0.35mm thick, so you'll need a strong light or have to feel for them. A TSX frame has the same ridges, but they extend the entire length of the down tube (and top tube but that's virtually impossible to check). It's much harder to see far down the length of the down tube, even with a dental mirror. I find the best method is to stick the threaded end of a spoke (or similar item) into the downtube bottle mounts and scrape it, laterally, along the opposite wall. If the ridges are there, the end of the spoke should catch on them. Of course, you can do this first, to determine if it is TSX. If there's nothing, you'll have to take the bottom bracket out anyway, to determine if it's SLX. Regardless, it's nice to have pics of the inside of the bottom bracket, to show potential buyers the ridges. Let's hope they're there.

frpax

The fact that it has "brifters" does not necissarily give it an age. They were likely put on after the bike was new, which, if it's the original paint, sometime in the late 1980's.

T-Mar

Yes, that is a possibility but the PDM-Concorde pro team existed from 1986-1992 inclusive, so it's very possible that the components are original. Also, I don't believe that Concorde was affiliated with any pro team in 1993, so it's probable that they still offered the livery. It's not unknown for manufacturer's to continue to offer a team replica long after the demise of the team, particularly if the association had a high public recognition factor. For instance, Bottecchia continued to offer the purple and yellow ADR livery long after 1989.