DavidARayJaxNC

I have a Ross Eurosport frame, and some 27" rims and some other vintage parts. By the end of it though I think it would cost me about $50.00-$100.00 to put together. I think it was meant to be a 10 speed, but I dont know. It doesnt have rear brake posts so I think it was meant to use cruiser brakes. Does anyone think it would be worth the money to put it together? Maybe as a singlespeed fixed gear bike. I don't know. I am lacking the fork. What do you guys think?

M-theory

Ross? Short answer?-no. Ross was a department store bike...a little better than Huffy or Free Spirit. I think they did make one higher-end frame (I don't know the model)....but I still wouldn't touch it.

I aquired an '82 Ross Super Tour with all Shimano 600 Arabesque in good condition....for $25. I sold it for $75 and that was good money for that bike.

Mooo

The Eurosport was a competitor to the Varsity. Was sold through bike shops vs x-mart. The Gran Tour models were prettty decent, some of them very good - with a few brazed up by Tom Kellogg or Jim Redcay (sp?).
Price of a Eurosport ca 1980 was around 160-170. The upscale Gran Tour was 250-800 in 1983-1985, and I've no idea what the signature series ran.

sonatageek

I was wondering if a Ross Eurosport, with new tires and tubes, for $25.00 would be worth picking up? I am going to look at a few bikes on Saturday and one of the folks has the Ross in addition to the Univega Mixte that I am actually going to see.

Thought?

McDave

I think you're confusing the later Chinese xmart bikes with the early USA made (and later Japan) bike shop bikes, the later of which can be very nice. I know, I have several.

If this bike were in nice shape it would easily be worth $125 to $175 to me today.

To David and sonatageek, any vintage steel bike in ridable condition is worth $25 to $100, imo. While the Ross' don't get much respect (see above), the older ones are at least decent bikes, as is the case with the Eurosports, and can be real nice, as in the Gran Tours (below) and Signature Series.

raverson

You're right about the Ross getting no respect. This is a Ross Centaur with a 12 speed Shimano indexed drivetrain and a cromoly frame. I have had a difficult time finding a CL buyer for it at a reasonable price. It seems a pink and white Ross is a scary thing to bike buyers.

East Hill

You know if I was down there visiting my mum in San Jose and saw that nice white and pink bike I would go for it. Assuming, of course, that it is a tiny bike. I have no fear of pink bikes, unless they say 'Barbie' or 'Princess' on them.

East Hill

DavidARayJaxNC

The frame is new old stock. Do you think that they frame it self would have any good resale value?

McDave

If you mention that it would made a good fixed gear conversion since it has no downtube bosses and nearly horizontal rear dropouts, it would probably go between $50 and $100 on ebay, maybe more!

DavidARayJaxNC

I dont understand what you mean byno downtube bosses and nearly horizonal rear dropouts. I always thought it would be a good fixed gear, thats why I grabbed it up. How hard wuold it be to put it together to make a good fixed gear? All it would need is the wheels, crank, and handlebars, right?
Plus, do you think that it needs coaster brakes? or is there a old way to set up brakes that I dont know about. I notice that it doesnt have any brake mounts. is it good to have a fixed gear bike with coaster brakes?

McDave

The shifters mount on the stem on the Eurosports instead of the downtube, so that leaves the downtube without a boss or hole to mount the shifter on. Gives it a cleaner look.

Horizontal, or near horizontal dropouts (the slots where the rear axle rides) make for easy chain tension adjustment on a fixie since there is no derailer to take up the slack.

DavidARayJaxNC

I guess having a good fixed gear would be unique, I could roll up to the group I ride with, with a good vintage steel fixed gear.
What do you think about these rims? I think they wre meant to go with **** bike, but I will never know. They are 27" x 1 1/4". Do you think that they are Steel, that is most likely isnt it? There is not maker print on the rim wall so how can I tell who made it?
This has a 5 speed Cog. Would there need to be 5speed cog on a fixed gear? So you can change the speeds by moving the chain?
This front wheel has butterfly nuts on the bolt for a type of Quick Release.
They dont seem to have the coaster brakes in the rims. So maybe these arent the rims for that bike.

McDave

Now you're exceeding my expertise as I know little about fixies, but I've seen some just lock the derailer (somehow) in whatever gear you want out of the 5 and call it a poor man's fixie. But then you will need to add a brake either front or rear since it won't be a true fixed gear.

I've also seen cheap rear wheels on ebay that have a gear on both sides of a fixed hub so you can just flip the wheel over to have the option of a different gear tooth count. I always thought that would be a neat solution since I prefer gears... lots of gears.

PTB

Because of the value of the parts you'd have to put into it, the frame is probably worth selling alone--no need to put crappy wheels on it, which don't have any value and will just drive up your shipping costs. And yes, those wheels do look likely to be on the crappy end. Any alloy wheel would have a name-brand stamp on the inside of the rim near the valve-stem hole, such as "Araya." And true quick-release wheels have a hollow axle for the QR skewer. Wing nuts don't count. Finally, the low-end quality fo the wheels can be deciphered from (1) the 5-speed cog (instead of 6-speed), and (2) the huge "pie plate" chain protector. Therefore, these are likely low-end. But I could be wrong.

And stem-shifter bikes DO OFTEN HAVE BRAZE-ON CABLE STOPS on the under side of the downtube. A pair near the top where the cables go from the shift levers to the frame, and a pair at the bottom where the cables pick back up to run to the front derailer and to the chainstay. There's also probably one or two braze-ons on the chain stay and maybe some along the top tube for the brake cable. Finally, some bikes have welded-on cable guides on the bottom bracket. So make sure you inspect for those before representing that it has no brazeons. The picture is much too small for me to tell.

The other thing that singlespeeders like (aside from horizontal dropouts) is good-quality tubing. Is there any sticker on the frame that says "Columbus" "Reynolds" "4130" "1020" "Cro-Moly" or anything like that? What about "Made in ____"?

I think that you won't have troble selling the frame on eBay--it looks like a great, clean frame. And since its NOS, there's no question about whether its true. Plus, the color is awesome. Most SURLYS I see are in a brownish color, so its definitely popular. In short, the frame probably has a lot of value for a singlespeeder, and you don't need to invest in putting parts on it.

Now, if you want to do a singlespeed yourself using this frame, go to Sheldon Brown's website on it (readily available via Google) for all the details. You don't want to use the 5-speed freewheel. But you can get the tool to remove it from your local bike store. See Park Tool's website for which tools are for which brand of freewheels. Then, you can spin on a BMX freewheel, which will have only one cog on it. Now you have a singlespeed rear wheel.

Then, for the front, you have to find a crankset/chainring that you can take apart. Most low-end ones are riveted, which is no good. eBay or a local bike shop is a source for that as well. Take it apart and reassemble (maybe with new bolts or spacers) so that you have only one chainring attached to the spider. Now you have a singlespeed front Chainring.

That's all there is to it.

PTB

PTB

Oh, and by "rear brake posts" it appears you're referring to cantilevers. Cantilevers would use "posts" (aka "bosses") welded to the seat stays. But since this is a vintage roadie, it is probably set up for calipers. Is there a hole in the center of a bridge that spans the seat stays? That's were you would thread through a mounting bolt for caliper breaks.

DavidARayJaxNC

How would I list this to make it easier to sell to the fix gear crowd, what does it mean to have a "lugged" frame? I dont know much about them. It does indeed have a hole where caliper brakes would stay. It is a smooth frame with no cable guides. I really dont see how they intended for cables to be ran on this frame.
It is BMA/6 Certified. Does that mean anything?
It is missing some paint on the left side and there is a small amount of rust, but I think it i sall just surface rust. I imagine this would drop a lot in the value.
What do you guys think? I have the one peice crank that I beleive was intended to go on this frame.

DavidARayJaxNC

What does it mean to have a Lugged Frame?

PTB

Lugged frame has what appears to be collars where the tubing joins. Yours appears to be lugged.

Non-lugged frames would have a welding bead around the joints, or be completely smooth (unlikely as the bead gets sanded down only on very high-end bikes). The absence of braze-ons and the horizontal drops make it an ideal singlespeed frame. It probably does not have them because it used clamps to hold the cables to the frame.

I don't know what BMA/6 means. Weigh it so you can put the weight on your eBay listing.

A single-piece crank would be an unlikely candidate, unless this was a very low-end bike. Most decent vintage bikes have tapered-square cranks, and entry level vintage bikes had cottered cranks.

Again, I love the color.

sonatageek

Well here is the one I am going to look at on Sat. Looks like lugged frame, one piece junk crank and otherwise decent shape.

McDave

I like it! Tell ya what, go ahead and buy it and I'll give you $25 for the shorty fenders. I always wanted some of those.

sonatageek

You know they caught my eye too. I have decided that I am going to buy it -- if you want the fenders send me a private message with your info.
Ben

McDave

PM sent. Thanks!

coleadam

they did make a pretty nice looking frame the Ross Signature. good lugs and engraved seat stays. i'm trying to sell the frame and fork for $50

DavidARayJaxNC

Is 8 pounds good for a lugged steel frame?

Mooo

That's one of those "if you have to ask, well then..." kind of questions.
Look, the Eurosport is a perfectly reasonable bike. As I mentioned in another thread, I rode one from Boston to DC one summer when I was a kid.
It isn't a pure racing bike, it isn't a super touring bike. It is the kind of bike that you'll have fun with if you let yourself. The steel rims it came with don't brake all that well in wet weather (so I didn't let myself go fast in the rain). The one piece crank is perfectly functional, and to tell the truth, my current commuter has one and I kind of like it. The shimano FF stuff, if it still has it, is probably OK, but if it breaks, you can replace it

It'll never be anything other than what it is, and what it is ain't bad.