grolby

This past weekend I picked up this bike from a fellow who was selling it on Craigslist. It appears to be a very nice Univega Gran Record road racing bike. It's equipped with a full 6-speed Shimano 105 group,with Biopace chainrings (42/52). It looks to be an entry-level racing bike, given the equipment and lack of fender or rack eyelets. Can anyone confirm that? I also noticed that, while it is lighter than my other bikes, it's still pretty porky for a racing bike - it weighs 24 lbs. 6.6 lbs of that is in the wheels! I might be looking to upgrade it with a nicer wheelset at some point, but for now I've been riding it mostly as-is, except for the clipless pedals I installed. It's a very nice ride, definitely twitchier than I am accustomed to, but also more maneuverable and sporty, and the 20mm tires are going to have to be replaced by 23mm or 25mm at some point. They give a very harsh ride! I will also need to service or replace the bottom bracket soon; it's pretty rough right now, high friction.

A few other things about this bike: it is made of triple-butted tubing with a Mangalight fork, so it's got to be a Miyata-built frame. This greatly pleases me, since my Miyata was tragically tweaked in a collision and is now sitting bare and forlorn in my basement. I liked that bike a lot, so it's nice to have something from the same builder. Also, given the group and the date codes on the components, I've dated the bike as a 1987 model. Hopefully T-Mar or someone else with knowledge on this subject can back this up. The serial # is PE70857. Curiously, the bike is equipped with a freewheel hub, not a freehub and cassette.

Anyway, that's enough out of me - here are some pictures for your enjoyment!


Red bikes are faster.


See? It looks fast standing still!


Biopace forever! Seriously, I really like these things. They don't feel weird, and I can push big gears without knee pain on them (long as I'm careful and don't overdo it).

Questions? Comments?

clayface

Beautiful. Looks to be in pretty good condition. Good thing about the rear hub is that 6sp freewheels are still possible to find, whereas 6sp cassettes have proved to me unobtainable.

peripatetic

Can't you just replace 6sp cassettes with 7sp ones? I love both my Univegas, and I love the Shimano SLR brakes. If I still lived in California, I'd tell you your insurance rates would be going up.

Nice score.

Um, not to be a downer, but I find the non-black alloy seatpost a little anomalous with the black stem and anodized rims, but that's just me...

clayface

Old 6sp cassette cogs have all the tabs with the same width. In order to improve shifting, Shimano introduced ramps and different tooth heights with the 7sp cassettes and the cogs can only take a specific position in relation to the next one, so one of the tabs is wider. This tab could be cut or filed to fit into the 6sp freehub body, but the problem lies in the "lockring" of the 6sp cassettes, which was the threaded smallest cog.
I have some old 6sp XT hubs and I searched for a cassette or a locking cog for a long time until I gave up and decided to replace the freehub body with a 7sp one.

blickblocks

Awesome catch!

Maybe we should start an 80's Univega club?

jcm

I would love to have a BioPace road bike. Nice ride!

grolby

I'm glad you all like it! I'm rather fond of it, myself. There do seem to be enough 80's Univega riders to start a club, eh?

As for the Biopace, the more I ride this bike, the more I am amazed by the negative reception of these chainrings. I really, really like them a lot. It's difficult for me to even detect any difference between them and round chainrings... except that I can get away with lower cadences and higher gears than on my bikes with round chainrings without hurting. I still try to keep my cadence up, but it's nice to not have to be so anal about it.

jbs

Boy, I've been waiting months to see another bike just like mine. I have Serial# is PE 70890 ! It was white with red labeling, but I have since had it painted Bianchi Green.

To my inquiry T-mar wrote the following:
"The serial number format matches Miyata and would indicate circa 1987. The 56 should be the frame size, in centimters. The Mangalight forks indicates that the main tubes should be triple butted CrMo. At this point in time, this configuration was typically used on the upper entry level and lower mid range models. The stays may be hi-tensile, Mangalight or CrMo, depending on the model. I may be able to identify the equivalent Miyata frame model ... "
As soon as I figure out how to use my camera, I'll post a photo.

grolby

Wow, jbs! Seems like our bikes were probably built within just a few weeks of each other! There really are a lot of old Univegas floating around here on the boards. I wonder, did T-Mar ever happen to get back to you on the equivalent Miyata frame and the construction of those stays? It's a ~24 lb bike, so I'm assuming that they're cromo (my wheels are >6 lbs, so the frame can't be THAT heavy). But who knows, maybe not! I look forward to seeing your Gran Record.

jbs

[IMG][/IMG]
Boy, I've been waiting months to see another bike just like mine. I have Serial# is PE 70890 ! It was white with red labeling, but I have since had it painted Bianchi Green.

To my inquiry T-mar wrote the following:
"The serial number format matches Miyata and would indicate circa 1987. The 56 should be the frame size, in centimters. The Mangalight forks indicates that the main tubes should be triple butted CrMo. At this point in time, this configuration was typically used on the upper entry level and lower mid range models. The stays may be hi-tensile, Mangalight or CrMo, depending on the model. I may be able to identify the equivalent Miyata frame model ... "
As soon as I figure out how to use my camera, I'll post a photo.I have not seen any univega models that seem higher end than this. Note no Eye holes at all. Was there a fancier frame made at this time for univega?

John E

Concur.

Chacun a son gout!

cudak888 

For the record, though, one could concevably use spacers from an 8-speed cassette with the cogs of a 6-speed UG thread-on freewheel. I dare say that you'll have space for just one more cog. Of course, you'd probably have to use friction shifters due to the uneven spacing (wide for the first cog, narrow for the remainder).

Take care,

-Kurt

Evoracer

You may consider a single speed or fg conversion. They're pretty fun around town and perfect for an older frame. Here my Univega

spry

Ah,but how many of you Uni-groupies are still riding original 86 Univega tires?

grolby

Sure, but why? This is a perfectly good bike as it was intended, as a nice road bike. That's not to say that turning good road bikes into fixed gear or singlespeed machines is a bad idea, but I don't have another nice road bike, and I'd like to have one.

This machine is currently sitting in my basement patiently awaiting the funds to complete the upgrade to 7-speed. I still need a new freewheel, new chain and new BB. The saddle in the photos has been replaced by a nicer road saddle that (hopefully) won't cut off the blood flow to important parts of my anatomy . I also need to replace the sketchy OEM brake pads and tires. Maybe there'll be more pictures in the spring when I finish!