Hey guys! behold my latest project. As usual I have no clue what it is.

no serial number got painted over.


[IMG][/IMG]

https://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...26070821_n.jpg

almost positive the fork was a replacement and the frame probably had centerpull brakes.

pretty nice frame. maybe a later model supercourse?

Very interesting and it looks like a well made frame, I'm subscribing to this one...

Those head tube lugs looks Frenchy/Englishy. Those top tube guides look mighty Raleigh'ish, too.

I’m not sure I would consider that a touring bike. Older frame, mid-late ‘70s?..that someone had the sense to upgrade to mid-‘80s Shimano? My first thought of the frame was British, but something about that seat tube lug and the components, if original, says Miyata-ish.

I feel it is a touring frame for two reasons. It has three different bottle holder mounts, on the seat tube, and two on the bottom tube. and the geometry seems tourish, large rake, it's about 5 inches longer than my other roadbike.

Nice-ish!

Find the serial number under the 10lb of paint. Ralleigh is pretty well known format.


The seat tube cluster looks similar to some of the Miyata's I have seen. Miyata spec built for a LOT of different companies ans well as house brand bikes but that seat stay flute was used by other companies as well.

The top tube cable routing was common on Raleigh and some were built in Japan.

Lack of rack braze on's on the the seat tubes and the single eye for fender on the rear drop I suspect this is a mid to late 70's very early 80's Sport frame and not a touring frame. It would still have longer chain stays and three sets of bottle Brazeons were not uncommon center mount Center pull Weimnans and DiaCompe were pretty popular back then explaining the cable bridge.

Once that 10lb of paint is off it it will be easier to tell what it is. I'd recomend a slow paint stripper on the seat and down tube and wipe it off frequently to try to strip in layers and you might get lucky and find some decal outlines.

It doesn't seem to me that Miyata made bikes with semi-wrap seat stay caps. It's possible that the Tange fork is a replacement.I think that the places to start are the usual: what's the seatpost diameter; what's the BB threading. Were it my frame, I'd definitely remove layers of paint, sandblast and refinish it, because it appears to have rust, and has been overcoated -- always a bad combination.

yeah the paint job is awful. It's like it was dipped a vat ugly paint for a couple go-rounds, they even painted in the BB. I'm going to get running well and ride it for a while before I opt to blast the paint off. I'll get to work on finding the serial number.

Those top tube cable guides are too nice to be Raleigh. So is the lug filing and seat lug/seat stay treatment. Could be an old Nishiki. What seatpost diameter? Scratch the paint off the dropout faces and see if that reveals anything.

I usually attack the below circled areas first. Light sanding through the layers of paint.

seat tube diameter looks to be about 30mm
BB width it about 44.45mm
BB Diameter is about 35mm

I've done a bit of paint scraping

it says "SHIMANO ST" the ST might be a 5T or something

and more excitingly is says "D.L. SMITH" on the bottom bracket!

I've realized that I posted this thread in the wrong forum I meant to put it in the appraisals and Inquiries should an admin move it over for me? Does it matter? (shrug)

Why do you need an appraisal? It's a decent bike. That's all you need to know unless you bought it to resell it. This is not recommended with the bike in its current state. To make any kind of profit, you'll have to sink more money into it. You'll only to be able to convince someone it's worth a considerable/specific amount if you can identify what it is. Fork is not original either, seeing as it has no fender eyelets to match the rear. It's most likely Japanese still, but you never know. Could be a custom build but those are near impossible to ID sometimes.

What is the exact inside diameter of the seat tube? What size post did it come with?

That is always on my mind when seeing a mystery frame. Also, keep looking for a serial number. Smith might have been the builder... or possibly a proud owner, or even a bottom bracket maker.

no plans to sell, no need of appraisal. I just figured that the big identification was to be done on that forum but I guess not!

what the best way to measure these things? what units should I present the sizes in? the best I've got is an average joe ruler and a pair of eyeballs.

on a side note, I noticed that the frame seemed to have something rattling in the tubes. turns out to be, egg shells?!?

You can suffice with a ruler but need to try to be as accurate as possible. Look like reptilian eggs (snake or lizard). What size is the frame?

This is the right forum for the most ID-helpful eyes. I don't even go to the appraisal section. I forget it's there. Lol.

Seat tube diameter is exactly 1 and 1/16th inches. that computes to 26.9875mm I mistook a 6 for a 9... and I'm a math major..... sad.

seat tube length is 56cm

those are shimano SF dropouts.

there are mother ****ing snakes in your mother ****ing frame

Quote of the day!

With the acuracy of a ruler, it could be 26.8 or 27.0. Lol. I'm betting a 26.8 seatpost is correct.

That's a pretty interesting treatment of the stay ends, not everybody does that.

With that replacement fork you should check the top- and down-tubes for front-end damage.

Let’s see; it’s an unresolved mystery that spans continents form Europe to Asia, someone has obviously intentionally tampered with the evidence, and there are signs that lizard-like creatures have gotten jiggy with it. Duh! Speilberg next movie. ...(I'll have my people contact your people)

those little lizards are everywhere.