My girlfriends friend asked me a while ago to help her find a bicycle, her Ironman expert had been stolen recently...

After searching craigslist for a month or two I came across what seemed to be a barely ridden 50cm Lotus Elite 600 completely original at a great price. We drove 2 hours to go look at it, she ended up loving it and bought it.

The kicker is being my impulsive self, bought a bicycle as well... I could not resist. The guy was extremely cool and really excited that some young kids were interested in his collection / passion for vintage bicycles. He had a room with 45 boxes stacked to the ceiling with NOS never assembled road bikes of all shapes years and sizes. I was blown away.

What I ended up leaving with was not in this room, it was sitting in the living room and he told me was one of his first bikes that he bought new from the shop when he was 19 years old. After a tiny bit of research and previously attained knowledge of ALAN's I know that it is a aluminum bonded frame, they started production of these in 1972 and that is about all I know. What I'd like to know is the exact year of this one, and it being without a seatpost, what size diameter this frame will accept comfortably... What style threading is the frame? Also any other information or feedback regarding these frames is greatly appreciated. I put the wheelset on this as well, but everything else is how it left his house.



Here are some photos:








Random build, some shimano RD, Cyclone FD, Suntour shifter, 3t bars, AVA stem (death stem?), Campagnolo headset, 600 arabesque cranks, Universal Super 68 brakes, Gipiemme pedals and I put Mavic Gp4 clinchers with Phil hubs.

If you guys want or need close ups or any other photos let me know and I will add more. Thanks a lot.