es1bkacsur

Ross 292S cleaned up & gone thru (fresh grease in bearings, etc.). Rides good but looks rough. Tire, handlebar wrap, seat post & seat not original - although seat is a Fi'zi:k wing flex - not sure about the pedals. My finger in the pedal pic is holding it because they rest upside-down. Best I can tell all else is original. Brakes look & work good, shifters & derailers work very good but look a bit rough. I have more pics but it only lets me post 10. Any help with value & what year it is greatly appreciated.
Serial# RA(or H) 8411(next digit looks like backwards C guessing 0) 0193, see pic.

hazetguy 

'84-'85 for the year. The 292S was the "middle" level of the three imported Signature models.
Yours looks decent, but I have to say that last year there was a very clean, same year/color as yours, about 95% original 292S that sat, and sat, and sat in a closeby-to-me CL ad for $175. I guess it eventually sold, but it took quite a while.

Velo Mule

As a buyer a Ross Signature series bike can be a bargain because it doesn't have that recognition that people are seeking. It is not a Fuji, Miyata, Panasonic, Peugeot, Trek, etc. Ross made rather mundane bikes for decades before their move to Allentown, PA and an associative move to get more serious about adult bicycles. They did a good job, but had trouble overcoming their old reputation.

You, as a seller, are on the flip side of that coin. You have a bike that is nicely made, likely rides and works well, yet is under appreciated and therefore under-valued in the market. I won't guess on the price, but it will be less than a comparable bike by a better known brand. It is a shame. One good thing is that you are in Florida so the riding season is pretty much all year round, except for right now, with a Hurricane on top of you.

By the way, a dumb comment. That Sturmey Archer spoke protector can't be original, could it? I'm guessing it had a clear plastic spoke protector that were in common usage at that time and it got yellow and hard and cracked and someone replaced it with the S-A. Interesting.

marius.suiram 

I had a Ross 292 earlier this year and have a hard time to sell it for around 200$, I was thinking.
So I kept the Golden Arrow group and replaced with regular Shimano parts I had on a junk bike, made everything to work properly and sold it for 130$.
Later i sold the group and got on it more than on the bike.

juvela

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one low cost thing to improve appearance would be one of the adhesive chainstay protectors for drive side chainstay - cover all of those paint chips

headset is Tange model Falcon


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Hummer

Based on serial numbers from other Ross Signature, I would suggest that the serial number is RA841100193. Frame manufactured in 1984 November and likely a 1985 model year. Usually Ishiwata EX tube set.

plonz 

Feels like $150-$175 to me. Great idea above on a black chain stay protector.

macstuff 

Depending on how much golden arrow there is on it, that's the value.
Previous to this bike was the "professional" equipped with half a group of Arabesque, about $120 if the parts are in real good shape. Golden arrow should get $175-ish

es1bkacsur

Thanks for the replies. Parting out & rebuilding bike with basic parts isn't a bad idea except in my case the Golden Arrow stuff is probably only worth $50 & bike $100 - $120 netting $150 to $170 'bout the same as what the bike sells for so I'm selling the way it is & moving on to next build. 2 pieces of black electrical tape make a great chain stay protector.

brewerkz 

$100-125 in my area...the group is worth more than bike itself.

Angrybk

Argh!!!

I had a 292s for about four years (2008-2012) and frickin' loved it. I thought it was beautiful and rode the hell out of it around NYC until I moved to SF when of course it got stolen in short order. I especially loved the anti-cool factor, it's "just a Ross" when actually it was a pretty mid/high-end bike designed by frickin' Tom Kellogg and built in Pennsylvania (or I guess a lot of them were?) I paid $400 for it and never regretted it.

I've been trolling ebay/craigslist for years trying to find one, so if anybody on this thread has one in size 58-60, please hit me up, I'll pay real good and pay for shipping if it's still moderately original. Big sentimental value.

One surprising thing from the pics is the 4130 sticker -- they were Ishiwata tubing, right? (Mine had an Ishiwata sticker and all my research says they were all Ishiwata, please correct me if I'm wrong).

Apologize for rant, it's just great to see one again.

plonz 

This one has been on the local CL for a good while and is your size. Nice bike just needs to be priced further south IMO. The seller has several listings so may be willing to ship.

https://southbend.craigslist.org/bik...646187822.html

hazetguy 

For information's sake, the 292S in the original post is not comparable to the 508/Triad in the CL link.
While they both are Ross bikes, and have "Signature" on them, they are very different beasts. It's kinda like saying "I drive a Vette", and then not clarifying whether you are talking about a CHEvette or a CORvette.
The 292S is a more mass produced, Taiwan made bike. The 508/Triad is a handbuilt frame (Allentown, PA), made out of Columbus tubing.

An example of price differences (and lots of other Ross info) can be seen here:
Anybody know the history of Ross bikes?