armchaircyclist

I've seen different Viner framesets offered for sale on EBAY recently. Has anyone had any experience with them? Thanks for any information or opinions.
George
https://cgi.ebay.com/NOS-56cm-Viner-R...3A1%7C294%3A50 or
https://cgi.ebay.com/NOS-56cm-Viner-R...3A1%7C294%3A50

triplebutted

My first "real" racing bike was a Viner. Rode like any other Italian steel frame I guess of that same time. Those don't have the Viner sticker though. I don't remember what the cutouts on mine looked like. (oh, this was around 82 83'ish)

bassogap

The fork tips were nameless,something I've never seen on even medium quality frames...The tubing sticker is in the style of old Columbus stickers I've seen on frames from the early 70s....And where are the "Viner" decals?

I'd pass at any price unless i could see and hold the frame first....

It seems deals on Ebay often aren't...

unworthy1

smells fishy: that label imitates an old Columbus sticker, but it doesn't say Columbus so no reason to believe it is... plus it's a much-too-old style sticker (if it was legit) for a frame that has the braze-ons and bosses that this has. And tho he says it comes with a Titanium BB, none is shown...I'd steer clear of it, looks to be a middling frame sort of tarted up and "called" a *Viner* but with no documentation that proves it is one.
edit: BTW, a 26.4 seatpost? that says *NOT* SL tubing, maybe straight-gauge cro-moly but only if you're lucky...

cudak888 

I've never seen uglier front dropouts. That BB doesn't look too clean either, and the top headlug brazing looks positively pathetic.

-Kurt

Amani576

Agreed
-Gene-

Panthers007

Looks like a legit seller though. At least he didn't claim it's a Masi equipped with Campy SR everything - and post a picture of a mangled Huffy. Aside from a PayPal-thief, he has good ratings. Mostly bike parts.

bassogap

I've been amazed at the ebay/CL fraud uncovered here.....It's haed to understand why criminal types would mess with something as offbeat as bicycles...They should stick to dealing stolen car stereos!
I've seem more fake Colonagos here...

luker

Viner used a star cutout. Ask for a pic of the bottom bracket if you are tempted. I think that the sticker combined with the seatpost size pretty much sez "entry level".

JohnDThompson 

These don't look like any Viner I've seen, although I suppose it's possible they're a low-end model that wasn't widely distributed in North America. The brazing is pretty sloppy, and the tubing sticker looks kinda like a Columbus sticker but doesn't say "Columbus" anywhere (nor does the frame show any "Viner" markings, for that matter). The text of the tubing decal just means "special steel tubing." Yippee! Could be anything.

Be careful.

well biked

I wondered about the English threaded bb, too.

love2pedal.com

I sold Viners in the mid 80s. They were imported by a company in New Orleans called Gus Betat.

Now the one thing I did remember is that they did have English BBs which was unusual. The reason I remember is I tried to clean the BB threads before building up our first one and I couldn't figure out why the Italian BB tap wouldn't thread in.

Now the dropouts do look funky, but maybe it was a low end model with cheap tubing. I never saw them come in without decals either. Back in the day, this was probably built up with Suntour or mid range Shimano and sold for $400 to compete with the Japanese bikes of the day or a mid range Trek.
Dan

Panthers007

They certainly weren't popular. I remember the bicycles back then as I was fixing them in my shop. Never saw a single Viner roll in. In fact - I never even heard of anyone owning one. Cinelli? Yes. Colnago? Yes. Masi? Yuppers...Kleins, Puchs - but not one Viner.

unterhausen

The thing that makes me suspicious more than anything is the crown being chromed. Just doesn't seem like a Viner sort of thing to do. And I've never seen a Viner this cheaply made. But that really means nothing. I saw another auction talking about NOS Viners that seemed a lot more legit. High end tubing made in a very functional form.

I got mine from Gus Betat through the bike shop I worked at. Mine has all star cutouts. I like the paint job. Wish I could figure out how to replicate it. You can buy the decals for my frame on Ebay.

Viner was a cheaper brand -- I think that's always been the case. It was about half of the equivalent high end frame of the time, but it was Columbus SL, nice lugs, decent paint job. They are still around from what I hear. I'm still riding mine, it's a really good frame.

caterham

interesting.... i owned a Viner in the late 70's and built up about a dozen Viner framesets for customers in the early 80's (all Betat sourced) and don't have any recollection at all of english b-bkt threadings. I can't imagine my forgetting such an usual feature on an italian frameset.

these bikes just don't look right to me- not a single indicator of viner lineage on any of the lugwork, no manufacturer identification or decalling and that suspiciously deceptive columbus-like 'generic' tubing sticker. viner's were never first-string bikes but you could always see a certain company pride displayed in their products. these don't have it-even as a straight-guage, price-pointed, entry-level race frame.

unterhausen

It wouldn't surprise me that they would be one of the first Italian companies to dump Italian threads. I bought mine sometime around '81, and it has italian threads.

ultraman6970

That's a cheap arssss frame

armchaircyclist

Thanks for your views. Sorry about the duplication. What about
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...DLVI%26ps%3D54

unworthy1

this looks legit but "modern": he says built in the mid '90s and has Thron tubing. And I personally hate that fork. But AFAIK *this* seller is reputable and the description matches the goods...I just wouldn't buy it over a vintage, legitimate Viner.

unterhausen

that one looks a lot more legit. I don't know if I would call it NOS though, by their own admission they had it painted recently.