Another recent pick-up to go along with the Centurion Semi-Pro. This is a Novara frame that was full Campy except the brakes when I picked it up, however, the frame is a quite the mystery.
I've searched all archives for this model as well as emailed REI Corporate for info and as of yet info is not to be found on the model.

It's a cool frame and looks to be very well built. It's obviously built to tour as it has 3 sets of bottle bosse, plenty of fender room along with bosses for racks attachment. One cool thing is the fact it looks to be 100% chromed under the paint! The seat lug cluster is very nicely done. The only downside is the shifter boss on top of the downtube. It was built to use the Suntour syncro shift thing that automatically aligned your front derail.

Anyway, here's some pics, if you know anything about it let me know.












Thanks

KRhea

I didn't think REI made road bikes, especailly nice ones like that one with Campy.

were Campi shifters attached to that DT boss?

I had a Novara Super Strada come through that was Tange 1 and well made. I have also seen another late 80's Novara that was all Tange 1 with steep angles and no eyelets. Both made in Japan and on par with most other Japanese bikes that I have seen. Yours looks much more interesting though. Nice find! Gipiemme makes an Aero adaptor that will allow you to attach regular shifters. They pop up on ebay from time to time.

Jake

REI branded some really nice bikes over the years. They are under appreciated IMHO. And they are the only seller anymore with a lifetime guarantee. Of course, I don't buy new bikes, so it doesn't help me.

+1 The high end Novara road and touring bikes were very nice.

did it come with a fork? If you have the serial number, it could be another call for T-Mar's expertise. I have a pair of top-mount Shimano shifters that might work on that boss, let me know if you're interested enough for me to check.
Really nice looking frame, sort of in the Lotus style: maybe Tsunoda (sp?) built it? Just a guess...