Originally Posted by RookieOnTheSeat
The serial number on my bike is N4H5694. I want to say that one of Sheldon Brown's article stated the comp TA was made in the years of 84-86. "This bike was apparently sold under the Comp TA name only in 1984-86. WSI had to drop the Comp TA model name because Firestone Tires owned the name (a tire model). The Ironman model name replaced Comp TA". But, you have good hystory information thanks
p.s. What would you say the guess-ta-maded vaulue of this bike was new and if completely restored now?
Rookie
Well, you can't believe everything you read on the internet. I've done quite a bit of research on this brand and there a few errors in the article on Sheldon's site. For instance, the name conflict was with B.F. Goodrich, not Firestone. The author has been contacted and made of aware of this and several other errors.
As for the Comp TA being 1984-1986, that also appears to be incorrect. All the evidence points to the Comp TA being a one year model. For 1985, WSI contracted the use of the Dave Scott and Ironman names, introducing the Centurion Dave Scott Ironman model to replace the Comp TA. Sometimes it is refered to a the Centurion Ironman Dave Scott Signature model and various other permutations. The TA and Dave Scott Ironman were virtually identical, with the only significant difference being Tange#2 on the Comp TA and Tange #1 on the Dave Scott Ironman.
The Comp TA had an MSL of $465 US, while the 1985 Dave Scott Ironman sold for $479 US. Resale value will depend highly on the workmanship of the restoration, and market conditions, so it's almost impossible to predict. While it depends heavily on the amount of restoration required and how much of the work you can do yourself, my experience has been that it is very hard to recoup the investment in restoring a mid range bicycles, particularly Asian models with Asian components.