iab

That is a great bike. Definately 1950's and I am inclined to say more mid 50s.

First, you will never get a date from the frame itself, the serial numbers are meaningless. The "ears" on the headset cluster say 1960 and earlier. The Gran Sport RD has an adjustment screw, that says 1957 or earlier. It looks like a gen 3 RD so it can't be earlier than 1953. The brakes and the earlier Universal 51s where the spring wraps around the caliper arm instead of posts on the back of the caliper arms. I think they made that change in about 1957. I don't know why there is a Girardengo crank, it is period correct but possibly not orginal. The stem/bars/brake levers are likely not original. The decals and fork crown treatment say mid 50s to me at least. Here is a near copy of your bike, https://www.43bikes.com/fortythree/sc...-B_japan-1.jpg .

You may be able to get a date stamp off of the hubs or the saddle. If the hubs are campagnolo or FB, there will be a date stamp on either the inside of the lock nut or on the bearing cone. The saddle may have a date stamp on the frame, flip it over and take a look. If there is something stamped, it will have a letter and a 2-digit number. The letter is the month and the number is the year.

iab

I just noticed we are in the appraisel section. In that case, my guess is that it would bring $2500-$3500 on ebay with excellent photos, a good seller's reputation and a willingness to ship to Japan. It looks like a 54, the Japanese collectors would be very interested.

JunkYardBike

Would he do better parting it out given the changes that have been made to it component wise?

iab

The only thing I think that is definately not original is the bars/stem/brake levers. Also, as indivdual components, only the saddle is valuable. The rest of the stuff is in fair condition and not rare, it won't get much money. I'd keep it all to together to get the best bang for the buck.

JonRinehart

Sorry for not having pictures of the wheels today. It should be sale on classicrendezv email list shortly. I will take more detailed pictures with a nicer camera asap.

wearyourtruth

did you sell it? what happened?

JonRinehart

It's sitting in my basement. I'm getting someone with good feedback and is familiar with ebay to sell it for me. I'm in no rush though.