jsigone

Got mine for $150, just added bar tape & chain lube. Very nice ride and love the geo

Schwinn Circuit by jsigone, on Flickr

Sixty Fiver

These were made by Kuwahara... the Mk5 has an insanely nice and almost superlight frame.

gomango

Zullo

Deserves closer attention and admiration.

Sirrus Rider

My vote is for the 1987 to 1990 Specialized Sirrus which are rarely apreiciated as they are and are nutered to Fixies. This is my 47cm 1988.

Sixty Fiver

One of my favourite bicycles of all time and one that I was searching for when I found it in a friend's shop... when new the 1987 Cascade was over $800.00 Cdn and as it was the top of the line ATB and hand built I believe the production numbers are fairly low. I have seen more of the Shasta (also hand built) which was the model down and was originally fitted with Exage components whereas the Cascade was equipped with Shimano Deore drive components and top of the line Sansin hub laced to Araya RM25 rims.

The Shasta was a $700.00 bicycle in 1988... a friend of mine bought his new and still has it and this was the bike that started me searching.

It is still wearing it's original Deore cold forged crank and has new chain rings, I wore out the stock wheels many years ago and they have been replaced with custom wheels (Arvon hubs laced to CR18 rims)... it is a fabulous all rounder with the set up being specialized for touring.

Drillium Dude 

We were just discussing Olympia a week ago



Surely under the radar (and thus underrated) as very, very few were brought into the states via normal distribution due to Olympia's domestic market priorities.

DD

Citoyen du Monde

I am very happy to still see Tiziano building frames and wish him continued business success. I can however remember seeing his frames at NAHBS in Richmond a few years back and being terribly underwhelmed, just like I had been back in the day when he supplied the TVM team. Good bikes without doubt but nothing special and without imagination. Back in the day (as well as today), there were plenty of more skilled builders, as well as ones with valid innovations and new ideas that nobody has ever heard of. Tiziano is not one of them, he was content to continue to build his competent bikes as before with the minimum required work. Belatedly he has been coming out with some newer models fashioned after notable builders' models.

KonAaron Snake 

Cambridge Merlins...they ride beautifully and are a LOT of bang for the buck.

Miyata 9xx series...they can range from sports tourer to roadie. The ones I've touched were good value with nice paint.

Lemond Zurich, Poprad (probably others)- they have minimal collector appeal, sell for less than older golden moldies and have a lot of fun in them.

There are hundreds of smaller name Italians and US builders that can be had at attractive pricing.

gomango

Don't agree, but that's ok.

Had the opportunity to meet him at NAHBS in Austin several years ago and enjoyed the occasion immensely.

I've owned five of these at this point and one is still here.

I thoroughly enjoy the ride of the Sprint I own and your opinion changes nothing!

A very nice occasional rider.

Barrettscv 

Nice looking! I was drawn to the model by the long top-tube and the overall geometry. I have to pass on almost all Japanese made bikes and most Italians due to top-tubes shorter than 585mm. The American-produced bikes with Columbus tubing fit me well and can be found at really good prices.

Citoyen du Monde

Perhaps I can better explain my comment. By their simple nature, all bicycle frames and bicycles are compromises. There is no one bike that is the best at everything. This is simply not possible. A bike that is good for one application will not necessarily be equally as good for another application, indeed many performance metrics are countervailing meaning that you can't possibly combine them in the same bike. So as a starting point, I accept that all bikes will have their weaker points. There are furthermore indeed some bikes that are simply bad with virtually no positive attributes, but their number is very limited. There are likewise others where the manufacturer, whether a boutique builder or a large industry have simply looked at certain attributes that do not necessarily favor the overall performance of the bike.

So, once you have ruled out the small percentage of bikes that are simply born badly, one should then go to look at the real bones and structure of the bikes. What separates them from the others. I look at features that differentiate them from other builders and things that can be measured or felt objectively. There is no hocus-pocus here with mythical attributes given to things. Zullo simply does not offer things that set his frames apart. He uses as best as I can tell, standard lugs, fork crown and tubing exactly as it is delivered to him. Apart from the engraving of the fork crown and seat lug (which do not in any way modify any dimensional attributes of these parts), all the parts are identical to those supplied to all other builders using standard products. There are no novel parts which were special made for Tiziano, nor was there any innovation proposed by him. The lugs are also not modified nor do they show any particular handicraft. None of this is necessarily indicative of poor ride characteristics or even intrinsic quality of the frame. It does however shout out that the frame has not received the same injection of craftsmanship and thought that you might find in another frame where the builder has specced and paid for the production of personalized tubing or lugs or whatever you might have. By this, think of the patented chainstays used by Masi and De Rosa, or the first investment cast lugs of Colnago or others, or specially drawn tubing of Colnago, Pegoretti, Cinelli or others, or personalized lugs of Grandis... Or even the added embellishment of lugs or "bikini" lugs used by others. There is nothing to be found of this type on Zullo bikes. They use bog standard mix and match components out of the box. They could just as well be built by some Japanese robot, in many ways it would have been better had they been built by a Japanese robot. Tiziano can thereby produce a frame requiring less input of manpower and flair. As a rule this allowed him to often undercut others prices in the past, so people were able to benefit for this approach. This price then gets carried forward into the vintage world. As a rule this will not have a major affect (if any whatsoever) on the rideability or constructive quality, but you cannot be sure. Just think of Peugeot PX10 or Raleigh Team Pro bikes, neither are to be considered the paragon of "quality" production but they have untold number of admirers because of their ride characteristics and neither is known to fall apart notwithstanding the oft-noted brazing voids and sloppy workmanship. I would rate Tiziano's frames as being among the best of the second tier frames but no more and as such their prices seem to reflect this.

I know that you are familiar with Aaron's Marnati built with Max tubeset. I take that you are also familiar with Zullo's recent production series of Max-tubed bikes. Both builders started with the same lugset but Marnati massaged every lug before using it, cutting it back and adding personal flair to the final result. Zullo on the other hand used the lugs straight as they came out of the box and to my eye they look overly heavy and clunky. The same process also holds true to other frames that he has built.

Geovanny

I just got it love this bike super light and fast

that_guy_zach

I dont think anything with drop bars is under the radar anymore.

richpool

Vintage Cannondales! Aesthetically some hate the fat tubes, but if you find any 1985 Cannondale SR for a good price (under $250) buy it. I can promise, you wont be disappointed. They are stiff, light, and fast. Not to mention the steel forks do a good job and dampening the "rough ride." I feel like people take these bikes down a gravel road and swear them off forever because the "ride is too harsh." Yes certain models are far from underrated like Black Lightning's but I often see these bikes go for much lower then they should.

balindamood

I do not see that Faggin has bee mm mentioned yet, but rhwy are as good as anything else coming out of northern Italy.

RaleighSport

In the area I live there's no way you can call any Cannondale's under the radar.

CardiacKid

I picked up this RB-2 for $200. All I did was put on the Brooks saddle and some new bar tape. It is the bike I ride the most.

richpool

RaleighSport
I guess that is the benefit of living in a very wealthy suburb of Kansas City. All I see on the roads around here are modern Cervelos and Specialized. I guess to expand on what I was trying to say for $200 its hard to find something of the same quality. Im not saying that all cannondales are underrated, just the ones from 1985-1992. I feel they are underrated for the value not the amount on the road. Though, I hardly see anything made before 2001 on the roads around here.

KonAaron Snake 

I rode a 1989 Cannondale - I can't disagree with you more. They're worth component value and what ever you can get recycling the aluminum.

sykerocker 

Definitely consider the upper level Lotus' in the under-appreciated category. Then again, can't *****, as if it had the proper appreciations, I wouldn't have picked up my Elite 600 for $10.00:



Somebody mentioned Dutch bikes? I've been agreeing with that opinion for over 40 years now (and will add Belgian to it), since I worked at that hobby shop that decided to cash in on the bike boom and took on the Batavus and Flandria lie. Mainly because they got to the states late and their distributor was desperate for anyone to start selling the lines. Case in point is my Magneet. Folded in to the Batavus line by 1970, nothing but ordinary gas pipe, but was wonderful enough riding frame to outfit it with components way beyond its original starting point (cottered steel crank, Campy Valentino, and Mavic Racer):



Big agreement regarding the Gitane Interclub, probably one of the better $150.00 bargains (new) out there. And an almost forgotten bike nowadays.

RaleighSport

Actually I'm in a fairly wealthy area myself, and despite how fast the vintage bikes get snapped up you hardly ever see any on the road here.

Shp4man

I think SR is an "under the radar" brand with a regional distribution only. But the build quality was second to none. Like someone else mentioned, the Japanese bikes of the '80's are under-rated.

richpool

WHAT?!?! please explain and give me more then "they are aluminum." I dont understand this. Ive rode everything besides titanium and I always come back to these bikes.

randyjawa 

Few under the radar bikes have impressed me as much as the Canadian made Peugeot Course. Carbolite 103, forged drops and nothing fancy in the component department, but what a lovely ride quality..!

b dub 

You beat me to it. I totally agree!