I was looking for info on Soma bikes and came across this forum. I own a Soma Competiton that I bought in 1978/1979 or so for about $350. My recollection is that it was the third most expensive model made by Soma, an entry level race bike say on the order of a current Specialized Allez. I bought it to help me lose some weight. I wanted to drop a weight class (from 198 to 181) to compete in the Maryland/South Atlantic Association AAU weightlifting championships. The previous year I had gone on a crash diet to lose weight and didn't do very well, placing third in the meet. I used the bike to lose weight over a three month period and it worked like a charm. I've kept the bike and ride it to stay in shape and keep my weight down. I still lift weights, but not as heavy as I did when I was competing. (I should add that I only competed in that one meet each year just to give me an idea of how my training was going and to share experiences with the other lifters. None of us were top-level weightlifters, but we enjoyed the friendly annual competiton.)

Back to the bike. Mine looks like the one in the picture except I put black foam covers on the handle bars. The brake hoods are light colored (like gum rubber). The seat is black leather with copper rivets, but it is a Speedic Professional, not a Brooks. I just replaced it, as the leather has cracked with age and is not very comfortable. A few years ago I replaced the rear sprocket, chain, and chain rings due to wear. I now have a 12-speed.

The lugged frame is good quality aluminum with Shimano 600 running gear.

I'm a pack rat and (much to my wife's displeasure) never throw anything out, so I'm pretty sure that I have a brochure somewhere that describes the complete Soma line. I'll try to find it. If I can find it, I'll scan it and post it here. (I was looking for Soma info to spare myself the ordeal of looking for that brochure.)

As far as how much the bike is worth: I have an old cateye velo 1000 bike computer mounted on my Soma. A friend who knows these things tells me that I could get more for the computer than for the bike if I sold them on ebay.