It's simply a UE-8 with one of AVA's worst aluminum stem variants on it.

Wouldn't pay two bits for one - in fact, I did pass up a decent mixte frame UO-8 for free at the LBS once.

These things look like they were manufactured from a cookie-cutter mold. The combined appearance of the Mafac Racer brakes, sheet steel pump pegs, horribly rust-prone serrated steel rim sidewalls and Simplex derailer system is laughable.

The UO-8 is a French Raleigh Record, if you ask me...and that's still giving the UO-8 all the best of it - in fact, it's an insult to compare these UO-8s to a Record - even the bottom-of-the-barrel Record is superior, IMHO.

-Kurt

P.S.: Never in this bike's wildest dreams would it wear a Reynolds 531 sticker. 20-30 High Carbon is more like it.