Panasonic Sport-LX
 

Greetings, C&Vers.
A friend of mine asked me to sell this bike for him some time back. I was thinking that it's pretty low - end, but someone might like it as a SS/FG frame & fork, or maybe for a vintage CX setup. Here are some pictures - it's pretty dirty and the cables & housing are thoroughly shot.
I'm sort of looking for advice, also. I'd sort of like to harvest the stem (even though its got the panasonic stamp on it), bars, wheels (27" Araya alloy), and maybe even the cranks. (The cranks are Sugino Proto - I don't think I've ever seen them before, but look sort of low end to me. But I might be able to polish them up.) Otherwise, the derailleurs, shifters, and saddle are quite crappy.
So, the big question, for me is, would I be better off trying to sell the frame, or complete bike? I know, USUALLY a complete bike is worth more, but in this case?
Oh, yeah - this bike is TALL! Not sure of frame size, but standover is 36.5" and the the TT, center of head tube to center of seat tube is 24". It appears to be nothing special, but I have this feeling it probably has a very nice ride...
TIA for any and all helpful advice. :)

Yes, it's low-end, in marketing terms of the time (stem shifters, RD claw, turkey levers, stamped dropouts, no QRs).

On the plus side, it's CrMo, and has some nice details (pin-striped outlining of the lugs). Also, it's a large frame (27", I think), which is desirable for someone, I bet.

On the minus side, it's a little rough (rust on the frame).

As it is, it's one of the following:

(a) a solid piece of transportation for someone who's no longer allowed to drive

OR

(b) a perfect fixie conversion, for someone who lives in an urban area where a flashy paint job would attract too much attention from thieves.

If you sell it as-is, you'll get potential buyers from (a) and (b). On the other hand, a lot of the potential buyers in group (a) are only shopping at yard sales and goodwills for their next ride. So maybe you lose little buy selling it as a frame.

Yes +1, the Panasonic sport series is a low end model - but fine for a beater, around town bike.
For re-sale they go for $80-$120, so it's not worth a ton of time/investment.

On the plus side - the large frame, in my opinion, helps. I've kept around a 44cm panasonic sport for my wife and upgraded parts. Rationale is that small frames are a pain to find and sell at a premium. An extra large frame may have a appeal for someone in need of a large size and not so large funds.

There is indeed a market for extra-tall frames, and they don't have to be the ultimate in quality either. One of my son's teachers last year is a big (6' 10") guy who loves cycling, and I helped him find at least one bike. There were a very few bikes made especially for the larger rider (Fuji had one model) but they're usually just the same strength steel sized up. Naturally a 250+ lb rider on such a bike hitting a pothole is going to stress the steel more than someone at 170lb like me. So my son's teacher has a small stockpile of bikes, which are more or less disposable---he figures that sooner or later they'll all break.

You might try cleaning this one up and selling it on CL with an appeal to the extra-large rider.

Thanks for the replies.
I'm leaning towards harvesting the parts I need for other projects, and trying to sell the frame for whatever - with an emphasis on SS/FG benefits. Mostly because I'm unemployed, broke, and really want that stem & bars!
Of course, I'll clean it up, and it's actually (strangely) not all that rusty - the paint has taken a severe beating, but there doesn't seem to be much rust. Agreed that either way, it isn't worth any further investment - I figure I get what I get for it, and give it up to my buddy for the "privilege" of taking care of it for him. :-)

I just got one of these. I was driving down the street 2 days ago and saw a bike with a "Free" sign out by the curb. Stopped and saw it was a Panasonic LX. It seems to be 54cm or maybe 56cm, no rust, looks all original; maybe even the tires! Everything seems perfect on it, but the rear wheel needs truing. I may do it myself (need practice) or take to the LBS.

I would say that it is in better shape than iTod's find. I can post some pics, but it is a twin to iTod's. Not sure exactly what I will do with it. It is slightly small for me, but okay for my son.

Anyone know what years they were made or how to date the serial numbers, etc.?

Easiest way to date almost any bike is to check the component codes.