Performance bikes .... get no respect?
 

Performance brand bikes seem to get less love around here than generic cola at a party! Anyways I just bought this Performance Focus a few days ago:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c8cbb0acd.jpeg
Tange Prestige frame and Ultegra 600 Tri-Color groupset throughout including hubs, headset and clipless pedals. The only reference I could find online was this 1992 catalog page:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ac74840c0e.jpg
A decent deal! then and now. I just got the right shifter unstuck and it’s riding pretty well.

Questions:
1. Who made the frame for Performance? The head tube has a ‘made in Taiwan’ sticker and the BB has the serial number of 2988 on one side, and H1 stamped on the other.
2. The seat tube is 26.8mm. Shouldn’t It be 27.2 for Tange Prestige tubing?

Someone had a Performance here for sale. Tange Prestige, full 600 tricolor. $75. Still kicking myself over missing that one.


E) in fact, I'm almost positive it was the white bike on the top of that ad.

Really amusing to see Lance in an advertisement in 1992. He hadn't even won Worlds at that point...

Never had one but know they are good bikes.

My local Performance was the best LBS a chain store could be, great staff, smokin deals all the time, many regular consumables normally in stock and always on sale.

My rain bike is the first good bike I bought when I jumped back into this, a Fuji Nichibei Roubaix SRP $1495 purchased for $340 ordered an XL and that was not the only deal like that I got from them.

Man I miss them, especially since they were right down the street. :(

Arnie Nashbar was selling some good bikes as well.

I never owned one, but I remember some of the bikes/frames they sold were really nice at great prices. I occasionally see them for sale on ebay or c-list and would buy one if it was a type and size I was looking for.

Greab buy! Nice looking frame, I usually don't care for such an unusual paint job, but that one works! Also, is that a steel stem? Yes it was sad when our local Performance shop went out of business, but FYI it seems they still have on-line sales, and if you wanted to pick up a Performance branded water bottle or two to go with that, while still available, they are currently on sale: https://www.performancebike.com/elit...0194?v=1150193

Tange Prestige came with several tube options. I've seen four seat tube options for the 1990s, that used three different size seat posts. During this period, one of the seat tube options was a double butted 0.8-0.5-0.8 configuration, which would have a 27.0mm inner diameter and be appropriate for a 26.8mm seat post, which is what I believe you meant.

Sorry, I do not recognize the serial number format. It's similar to Hodaka but is missing the month indicator. Regardless, it would appear to indicate 1991 manufacture.

I got this Performance Parabola locally at a garage sale. In the dark corner where I first saw it, I thought the color was light gray, but when I got it out in the light it is actually light purple with a pearlescent metal flake. When it was built, I'm not sure what the intended market was. But now, when everybody is talking about converting their bikes to ride gravel, I look at this bike and think it's already done. It has dual pivot brakes with loads of clearance for wide tires and fenders. It currently wears 35mm tires with fenders. There's also a full complement of rack and bottle braze-ons. I swapped in the Bio-pace crank and taller stem. Now, if only I had some gravel roads closer to me.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...384f914938.jpg
1992 Performance Parabola
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...64ef40fbc9.jpg
The aforementioned brakes with 28 mm tires.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7f150b1ffa.jpg
Tange Infinity tubing

REI as well, through the Novara brand.

Wasn't the Infinity tubing actually the cheapest of the Tange tubesets? The name made you think it was the best!

Love that paint job.

The 1992 catalogue calls it, "the ultimate expression of a cross bike". I believe in this case "cross" is a reference to the function (i.e. cross purpose or hybrid) as opposed to cyclo-cross. However, it lacks the typical cantilever brakes of a hybrid, while the drop bars, lo-rider rack mounts and third set of bottle bosses under the down tube are more typical of a grand touring model. I think it just illustrates how hybrids were still evolving at his early stage. FYI, the colour was called "Ghost Silver" and the MSRP was $569 US.

In 1992, Performance also had a more traditional hybrid, the Transit, at $389 US, which they also categorized as "cross". It used a flat bar and cantilever brakes.

There was also the whole "Cross" series of dying-period Schwinns, some of which were actually kind of nice.

We still haven't figured out what to call them. Hybrids? Flat-bar road bikes? "Fitness bikes"?

I have the black one with the marble like the op's purchase. I think it rides great, the fork is not as forgiving as I would like. So I've had a little wrist issue, but I'd have a long stem installed that could be my problem.

Actually, it does have a third bottle mount under the down tube and low rider mounts on the fork. The rear rack mounts are not very useful with the side pull brake in the way. Maybe I have the year wrong. Serial is H1LO 1378, which I think denotes December 1991 manufacture.

Would it be possible to get a catalog scan? I've never been able to find one.

great info! Thanks! Yeah that makes sense. The thin wall tubing is probably meant for lugged frames - the seat lug would help reinforce the seat clamp area. A lugless frame would need more material there.

what does the month indicator look like? It’s seriously dusty and grimy all over so I could have missed it.

yeah it’s a crmo stem- I love these- they are lighter than the aluminum ones.
Ha! That’s a good idea! I can outfit this bike with all Performance branded accessories! It already comes with a period Performance computer thingie. I’ll see if I can revive it.

very pretty color!


pretty dang awesome- Performance was way ahead of its times in building for large tires!

Isn't that kind of finish caused by intentionally skipping a cleaning step during the painting process? I remember seeing a bunch of early 90s bikes with that type of finish

It does have an aluminum fork unfortunately. But having said that I thought the ride wasn’t too bad- I expected worse with the 23mm tires it’s rolling on.

[MENTION=175341]icemilkcoffee[/MENTION] , the components are great on that bike! 600 is widely regarded here and I personally am a fan of brifters. Those early 8 speed shifters are considered rebuildable by someone who knows what they are doing (Sheldon Brown's site mentions someone https://www.sheldonbrown.com/sti-repair.html) and yours look like they might be in good shape which is pretty rare!

I believe you misread my statement. Perhaps I worded it awkwardly but I did notice the lo-raider mounts and 3rd set of bottle bosses. My comment was that these features, in conjunction with the drop bars, were more typical of a grand touring bicycle, than a hybrid.

I would also interpret it as December 1991 manufacture, meaning it would be a 1992 model. With the exception of the space between the 4th and 5th characters (and assuming that the 4th character is a zero), the format is consistent with Hodaka of Taiwan.

Sorry, I don't have any means to obtain an image of the catalogue page. I'll try to remember to get my son to take a picture with his camera phone, if he comes home this weekend.

Bianchi used a similar variation, calling them cross-terrain bicycles but the most widely employed terminology was hybrid bicycles, as that is how Bicycling magazine categorized them. These days there are all kinds of sub-categories within the four general categories of road, track, ATB and hybrids. It's getting hard to keep up the increasing diversification of specialty models.

The month indicator could be in different forms and positions, depending on the manufacturer's format. However, given the H1 prefix, I would typically expect it to be in the form of a letter for the third character. So, I'd expect H1A through H1L.