I have been truly inspired by the Vintage forum here and would love to purchase a vintage bike. I don't know what to look for or where to find a good bike. I know my frame size is around a 57-58. If anyone has some good recommendations let me know. My budget would be around $500.

Thanks

What kind of riding do you want to do?

Well, a bit of everything. I already commute of my Ibex Corrida, but I would like to get a second bike with drop bars for commuting, centuries, club rides, and just piddling around town. I want a strong all purpose bike. My Ibex bike is good for that too but I am so attracted to all these beautiful classics.

$500 will get you a lot of bike. How much work do you want to put in? You can go anywhare from redy to ride mint to a bare frame build up. The yard sale and mud auction season is starting and sometimes you can get bikes at give away prices. I just picked up a schwinn continental in very nice shape, just needs cleaning and a tune up, for $1 also a world sport and a world tourist for the same price. For $500 you could pick up a nice frame and build it up with real nice parts like campagnolo or shimano 600 or suntour superbe. For the frame you got the budget so go for something made of reynolds 531. You should get many more post with other opinions on best parts and frame material, thats one of the nice things about this forum.

So these are the components to look for? Also, does campagnolo have different levels of quality or is all their stuff top notch?

There are different levels of quality for the Campagnolo gruppos, but any kind of Campy is better than no Campy (at least for a fair number of the members of this forum ).

Tolfan is certainly correct about your budget--$500 will get you a LOT of bike. If you've been exploring this forum for any amount of time you should be getting used to seeing certain maker's names over and over again.

You might want to look at your local Craigslist and see what's available, then ask the opinion of the folks here as to whether or not it's a good deal. Or, look at the ongoing thread stickied at the top of the forum about eBay and CL finds.

Good luck and remember, pictures!

East Hill

Motobecane Grand Touring, circa 1976, 1977.

Gary Fisher reviewed this bike for Bicycling magazine, and he specifically mentioned fast club rides as being one particularly good use for this bike.

Really, any high-quality sport tourer from the 70s will probably fit the bill.

Here's an example of what looks to be a '77 Grand Touring,
all original except the bar tape: Motobecane Grand Touring

Gents... Somebody on here just might be "cubtime100". "cubtime100" Might just live somewhere in Ohio, and really like old french steel, and be a C&V forum member!

And "Cubtime100" might really be serious about spending part of his tax return...

I have no idea who "cubtime 100" might be....

But if somebody wants to spend more money on a top quality vintage ride, Gitane Super Corsa should do it. Or Peugeot PX 10. Or Motobecane Grand Record.

For Raleigh, ask Cudak888.

Blue Order,

lol...I was tryin to be subtle

I'm cubtime100


If I win it, I do, If I don't I don't. no worries

Your subtlety flew right over my head...

Oh, NOW I get it.

redneckwes,

I used to have a Motobecane just like the Ebay one, nice bike. But if you ride a 57, I think a 53 will be way too small for you.

You could go on ebay and buy the next peugeot px10 that comes by and still be way under your budget even with shiping. Or search reynolds 531 in title &descriptions to see what come up. Reynolds seems to be the standerd that other frame materials are judged against. If your not a purist about it being all original you can always switch around components.

Just beware, it seems like everybody who's selling a Peugeot thinks it's a PX 10.

Old Fat Guy,

I'm somewhat hard to fit, I'm 6'1" but only 30" inseam. So I have a really odd build. A 23" frame is dangerous, a 22" works in the top tube, but the standover is still a little high, so a 21" frame is as close as I can get. Hard as heck to find old steel around here in 22" anyhow.

I went through the whole, what size frame is right for me deal, (Still have never been properly fitted) The 23" Schwinn I was riding has to go, after a couple scares. I had to face the facts, I have short legs

You may want to look at some French frames. For example, my Gitane TdF has a 57cm top tube, but the ST is 57cm c/t, or only about 55.5cm c/c. As a generalization, Raleigh seemed to like much longer ST than TT, while many Italians frames are either square, or 1cm shorter TT than ST. Of course, all this varies by builder, and even within their lines.

Ebay had a lot of nice bikes on sale tonite. A vintage Fuji Club and a Trek 310 at less than $150 complete. Plenty of other vintage steel, too.

Ohh well, There's allways tomorrow! Thread Highjacking Ended!

Campagnolo has a whole range of gear. Most of it works quite well, and is rather durable. Shimano has an even greater range of equipment, and while their best stuff (Dura-Ace - aka 600 way back, and Ultegra) is quite good, some of their cheaper stuff is fit for slapping on a Murray. Don't overlook other very good component makers. SunTour equipment was mostly some very good stuff - their Superbe and Cyclone components are right up there with the best made by Campy and Shimano, but often can be had for much less. Sugino cranksets, OMAS, Ofmega, Gipiemme, Stronglight, Simplex/Spiedel, Sakae Ringyo, Sansin, Normandy - all made some good componentry (this is not a comprehensive list). Some of their offerings were not so great though too - so it's hard to make sweeping statements that will guide you through every situation.

If you have questions about whether or not a frame or specific componentry is worth laying hands on, this forum is a good place to ask. Not everyone will share the same opinions, but if you do get a consensus about whether something is worth it, or not, you can be relatively certain that you're getting good guidance.

You might not be too far from one of the C&V folks. I'm near Harrisburg PA, and I've met, and gotten some great assistance from jgedwa, and tolfan. (point being that even in a relative backwater, there are likely to be others not too far away who can lend a hand). Even at a distance, I've gotten help from numerous others on the forum - it really is like a big family.

If you hurry - https://cgi.ebay.com/RALEIGH-CARLTON-...QQcmdZViewItem

Shipping is kind of steep, but this would be a nice starting point.

This might be a slightly better candidate:

https://cgi.ebay.com/Raleigh-Carlton-...QQcmdZViewItem

This might be worth it just for the parts.



https://cgi.ebay.com/Raleigh-professi...QQcmdZViewItem

This one is tasty:

https://cgi.ebay.com/Medici-Gran-Turi...QQcmdZViewItem

This too - if you like the color:

https://cgi.ebay.com/Frejus-58-cm-Cam...QQcmdZViewItem

This could be a total steal. The photography is really poor, and he has zero feedback, but might be worth taking the chance on:

https://cgi.ebay.com/centurion-ironma...QQcmdZViewItem

>>(Dura-Ace - aka 666 way back<<

That must be the satanic version of the Shimano 600

Yeah - I had a senior moment. I took 333 and doubled it.

Interesting cable stop/ferrule on that Frejus.....

It works but it ain't pretty!

I'd advise you to spend a little time in the Catch of the Day thread. That should give you a good idea of what your $500 will get you. With a little patience, you might get almost anything for that, certainly anything short of a Rene Hearse.