robertj298 

Just picked this up yesterday. Beautiful bike and nice ride. Everything is original except for the handlebar tape.

Soylent 

Wow! That is in great shape. I love the color and the contrast of the head tube. I remember seeing a black Lotus for sale here and really liked the Lotus. Good for you!

bikemig 

+ 1, beautiful bike in fabulous shape. The OP should overhaul the bike and ride the heck out of it.

tyler_fred

robertj298 

I'm wondering what I would overhaul? The bike rides very well as it is now except for the fact that I've never used friction down tube shifters
and need to get used to them.

bikemig 

No, you really need to overhaul the hubs, the bottom bracket, and the headset at a minimum plus grease up a lot of the contact points (pedals, freewheel threads, seatpost, bar and stem).

(1) That bike has been sitting a long time and probably has seen few miles so that grease may not be contaminated. Still grease doesn't get better with age and needs to be replaced. Personally I'd replace all the ball bearings as well with new grade 25 bearings.
(2) You don't want the parts on the bike to freeze up on you. Greasing the contact points is important and a lot of bike shops frankly did a crummy job on this. I've worked on a lot of bikes where the seatpost and bar were as dry as a bone.

gugie 

I'd change that from "need" to "should". It's quite possible that all you mention is well greased, lubed, and adjusted.

But unless you know who you bought it from and trust that it's been kept care of, it's a damn good idea to do so yourself. The list that @bikemig gave you is something you should know how to do if you're getting into vintage bikes. I'd add brake and cable housing replacement if those are dry as well. If you've got the wallet, you can pay for a shop to do it. If you don't and need to learn how, seek out a bike co-op, they'll loan you the tools for a very small fee. If you're really into it, buy your own tools.

Seatpost, bar and stem are simple to remove, regrease, and replace, just takes an allen wrench. Your pedals take a 15mm open end wrench. An adjustable wrench will probably work for you as well. Freewheels need special tools to remove, as do the main bearings - headset and bottom bracket.

I wouldn't necessarily stop you from riding it as-is, but plan for it, soon.

Nothing on that bike screams "top shelf", but all in all it screams "high value". The performance difference between our Lotus and a much more expensive bike from the same time period approaches the law of diminishing returns.

You got a nice one there!

devinfan

apurane

Cool bike!

Andy_K 

Very, very nice!

Regarding overhaul, I might even tone the advice down a step beyond what gugie said because I hate to scary people away from vintage bikes. Spin everything that bikemig suggested overhauling. If it feels smooth, it's pretty much OK to ride it like that (for as long as it continues to feel smooth). The worst case scenario, if you don't overhaul, is that contamination in the grease or lack of grease will cause damage to the bearing races. Usually it will feel rough before that happens. Often the consequences of not overhauling are just that the bike won't perform as well as it would if you overhauled. Most of the parts that you could damage by not overhauling are cheaply replaceable if you misjudge it. The hubs are the likely exception to that, so that's where I'd prioritize. If your wheels have cartridge bearings (a distinct possibility on that bike), you can even skip the overhaul there.

On the other hand, being able to strip everything down and build it back up again is one of the great joys of vintage bikes. You should consider giving it a go at some point. A co-op, as gugie suggested, is a great place to start. Even if you decide to have someone else do the work, the mechanics at a co-op are more likely to know how to do the work that the young shop rats at many retail stores. Of course, many established bike stores (usually not named Performance Bike or REI) have a gray-haired wizard on staff who will know exactly how to treat your Lotus right.

ptempel

This practically looks like it was rolled off of the showroom floor. What year is it? Enjoy and let us know how it rides.

Grand Bois

I'd like it much better with the brake cables routed behind the handlebars.

ollo_ollo

Nice find. The metal head badge means 1982 or earlier, after that they went with decals.

Some riding is probably fine, especially if the hubs were lubed within the last 10 years or so. But, often on really good looking bikes, they were sitting a long time and grease does dry out & harden. If it dried out, but hub is undamaged, the wheel can spin freely. For a while at least, but can wear if not lubed before any long term riding.

All my vintage bikes get regular maintenance, but recently I realized my one "bought new" bike is approaching 18 years without re-lubing the headset. I always think of it as my "new" bike. Don

The Golden Boy 

That thing is beautiful and it's in amazing shape!

The Mangalloy frame/fork is good stuff. I had a Trek 420 with a Mangalloy frame and hi-ten fork and stays- that bike rode nicely.

veganbikes

It's a cool old bike. I like the Lotus headbadges from back in the day.

I had a friend who worked at that shop back in the 80s and in true 80s fashion the owner would use his and others paychecks for coke (not the soda).

merziac

Hold on a minute, Mall 205 Performance has at least 3 very C+V capable employees. Matt is good personal friend of and I believe worked with/for Mitch Pryor, one of the techs has framebuilder chops and a third sales guy fits in the gray haired category. Seth the Manager has plenty of knowledge as well. Great bunch, good guys and great deals.

Andy_K 

Well, OK, maybe I unfairly extrapolated from my experiences at the Beaverton Performance Bike. There might even be good mechanics there, but I've had a couple of experiences that made me not trust them.

veganbikes

I have known a bunch of folks who have worked for Performance and REI and have heard horror stories and I have been in Performances and seen things that a professional bike shop wouldn't do.

I am sure there are some folks who work there that are fine folks but most seem to leave to find better shops rather quickly or have been there so long that Performance is actually willing to pay them to keep them but some will still get complacent.

robertj298 

Everything I've read clearly point to it being a 1984.

merziac

I think in general you're probably right but I think that goes for most places these days. I was on a campaign a few years ago and went to all the shops I could find and asked who the historian/ vintage guy was in each, got a lot of blank looks and the few that thought they had one brought me a 45 yr old who didn't really work on the stuff.

ramzilla

Be still my beating heart. The Empire of Japan lives on.

ollo_ollo

I stand corrected then. I read that about the brass head badge somewhere on the vintage Lotus site when researching my Classique.

Your bike has many features of an 84, the block letter model name on TT vs earlier script, engraved chrome fork crown and black anodized Ukai rims vs the earlier all silver.

Lotus used Tsunoda, Pacific Cycles and Maruishi to make their bikes and phased in changes, so features of earlier models could carry over, and I've seen 83 models with brass HB.

Here's a link to their site if you haven't already been there: Vintage Lotus Bicycles Home Page Don

ollo_ollo

Your Lotus is "Showroom" compared to my 1982 Classique from the fragile decal era. Don

brent4583

Looks like it was never used!

noglider 

We must also give credit to the American importer, RIP, who had a big hand in designing Lotus bikes.