Allegro club tour worth and value
 

Hi,

I'm on the way to buy a club tour with infinity tange tubing and sugino vt crank, not sure about other components but it looks all original, pristine! Pictures will be in my user gallery!

Asking price is 350$ Canadian firm!

Please let me know asap, I'm on the way!

Thanks.

I'll say it's worth CAD maybe $350.

Nice, just purchased it, I will update with close ups and a list of specs when I get home

So I updated the album with close ups, I also found an identical bike here bikeforums dot net/10601419-post4173.html

The specs:
Tange infinity tubing, sugino vt crank, SR seat post and stem, Araya Japan 27 1/8 rims (likely aluminum?) laced to sealed Suzue hubs, Dia Compe cantilever breaks, not sure about the pedals or fenders but I like them! the saddle is comfy but I think I will swap it just for looks

The deraileurs and levers say Shimano, but I have no idea what model and if they're any good. Another thing is the seat post clamp, is not similar to the bike posted in the link above, is it possible that the bike came with a Suntour clamp like that or did the owner install it?! I want to get rid of it because my seatpost and saddle will eventually be stolen!

I also noticed a weird pin in the seat stays at the drive train side (you will see it in the gallery), what does it do exactly?!

The pin on the seat stay is a chain hanger. You loop the chain over it before you remove the rear wheel. It keeps tension on the chain to help prevent scratching the chainstay and it also faciltates rear wheel removal and installation.

The seat post QR is likely original. They were fairly popular on ATB and grand touring bicycles of the era.

I'm a bit suprised to see the rear rack utilizing the brake bridge as a mount, rather than the dedicated eyelets. The latter provide a more rigid mounting.

The shift levers are Shimano Z-series SL-Z401, the front derailleur is Shimano Z-series FD-Z206-GS and the rear derailleur is Shimano Altus RD-AL11. All are upper entry level components. The brakes appear to be the Shimano 600 cantilevers. Shimano introduced cantilevers with more mechanical advatnge in 1986, so the bicycle is probably circa 1984-1985, maybe 1986 is they utilized leftover stock. The serial number of the frame may provide an exact manufacturing date and the identity of the manufacturer.

My overall impression is an entry level, grand touring bicycle from the mid-1980s. While it has a triple crank and cantilever brakes, the derailleurs are upper entry level. The tubeset is butted CrMo but is a seamed version and likely only being used for the three main tubes. There are other cost concessions to hit a lower price point, such as clamp style shift levers and only one set of bottle bosses.

These Allegro almost invariably turn up with the Cap's Bike Shop sticker, so they may have been a house brand for the shop. There are too many photos for an upload of the complete set, so I'm just attching the overall, drive side photo.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8022dc73aa.jpg

Thank you for your comment. For the frame, the sticker says infinity double butted and tapered tubing, I'm not sure how it compares to other tange champion tubing according to the tange catalogue here: The catalogs of Japanese vintage bicycle but I assumed it's as good as champion no.1, no? The breaks and break lever are actually diacompe, the sn is 5G5029, does it say anything else about the bike?!

No its not as good as Tange 1. Prior to Tange Prestige, Tange 1 was the top. Infinity is down from there. Look at the chart you attached and then look at tubing thicknesses. Its obviously not equivalent.

That being said, touring bikes were not made to be light weight, so a little heavier tubing was common as the point was to be able to handle a load, rider plus gear. Even the top of the line touring bikes were much heavier than racing bikes from the same brand.

As noted by wrk101 above, Infinity tubing is a few tiers below Champion No. 1 in the hierarchy, but that's not necessarily a bad thing for a touring bike. Many touring cyclists have found that frames with thicker-wall tubing are stiffer under load and therefore can handle better with self-supported touring loads.

In any event, for some reason people who buy racing bikes seem to be far more focused on quality levels of frames and components than touring riders. As a life-long racing bike guy, I've only fairly recently gotten off the gotta-be-the-latest-and-greatest treadmill, so I have a new-found appreciation for the pragmatism of the average touring cyclist.

Also, that bike looks to have been very well maintained, so you likely won't have to put much if any money into it. Maybe brake pads and tires, maybe some of the cables and housings.

Overall, I think that will probably turn out to have been a very good purchase. Wouldn't mind owning that model myself.

For what is it's a pretty good bike for a casual budget oriented tourer it's pretty good. Has all the stuff one needs for light touring at good price new or used, considering the nice condition a great paint I think 350 cad is a fair deal.