Treasure at Goodwill
 

Long story short, got back into biking this February, bought a used 1978 schwinn traveler, rode 992 miles (yes, 8 miles short of 1,000, damnit!) and the rear axle broke. I was checking out all the Goodwill's around here as they had lots of used bikes for under $10. Planned on getting a new wheel to replace my current one. On somewhat of a whim I drove out to White Bear Lake, MN to check one of the last ones I had not been to. Saw another traveller, checked out the other stuff, and on my way out, like it had fallen from the sky, was this bike:

Link to picture

I picked it up, and it weighs absolutely nothing. Strapped that baby onto the back of my motorcycle and brought her home for the nice price of $9.99 (well, $10.54 with tax).
What can people tell me about this mysterious beast?

Here's the stuff I can read off:
Frame has a sticker saying "Mannesmann - bunch of german i can't read - 25 CrMo 4"
Mavic MA2 rims
Hutchinson Kevlar HP22 700 x 22 tires
Exage 500EX front and rear derail
52/42 biopace chainrings
rear cluster says hyperglide on the biggest sprocket
Rear hub says "Exage FH-HG 50"
Shimano 600 downtube shifters (which are attached straight to the frame?)
Shimano 600 brake levers
Exage motion brake calipers
Sachs "anatomic shape tech" bars
Procraft stem

All I can tell you is that you got the "deal of the Year"!!
Congrats! ;)

That beats my $60.00 Cannondale (yard sale). **** job, I'm jealous! Now go get a new couch too :D

Disassmble those wheels, polish up those MA2 rims, list them on Ebay, get at least $50 for them, guaranteed... Fixed geared people go nuts over those rims.....

It is a german frame,but I'm having trouble finding more info.
Give me some time.

I believe this company made the frame tubing.............

http://www.mannesmann.com/index2.html

There are quite a few manufacturers which offer (or have offered) a great many tubesets in varying alloys. The best known are Columbus and Reynolds, but there are quite a few more with Falck, Dedacciai, Oria, Mannesmann, Poppe & Pothoff (Stainless), Tange, Ishiwata, Vitus and True Temper etc. Usually you will find a sticker explaining what you have spent your money on, usually with a fancy name and sometimes the specification. Most manufacturers start with a tubeset from 25cromo4 with a 0.8 mm straight wall, followed by several series in butted 25cromo4, some higher end versions with modyfied cromo (up 20 %) and some high-end version of such strenght that the wallthickness can be reduced to 0.4 mm.
If the sticker says 25cromo4, it will decribe a steel tube (the 95% Iron content is so obvious it doesn't need mentioning) 2.5 % carbon (again carbon is always used, so we will leave out the C) 4/4=1% chromium and some molybdenum. But the alloying elements sound wonderfull (I love Oakley with Plutonite and (where did they get this) Unobtanium) so copywriters will make the most of it and then some.Titanium is used in stainless steels to improve the weldability, but ad-writers will let you believe that you're getting a Ti frame. I'm waiting for the day 'they' discover it is also an important ingredient in white paint!

I have seen frames with tube of this type many times in past. Is a good tube, but not best. Shimano Exage was also good but not best gruppo. It is a decent bike, but not valuable. Could you please post all German wording?

with that paint job, it looks stolen, quite frankly.

sd

Doubt it... they didn't paint over the tubing sticker, and the fade looks pretty good.

Mannesmann
Rahmenhauptrohre aus
nahtlosen Prazisrohren
Chrom - Molybdan - Stahl

forget the couch, he needs a coffee table.

a large piece of wood under a bucket doesnt work well with the ladies =]


anyways good fine!
i also bought a Peugeot Bike from 10$ and i found a perfectly working Free Spirit =]
life is good!

i actually had a coffe table that was built out of ply-wood - then my gf moved in and its now in the backyard for stacking flower pots on it. she quickly took care of that problem =]

Ha, well, actually none of that stuff is mine. I own... well no furnature other than the bed and desk in my room. Not sure if that's any better than having an ugly couch and ghetto coffee table or not.

Either way this bike is fantastic. Took it to work today, directly into 40mph gusts, and man are those bars nice (I had flat bars on the old bikemaking probably 2x the frontal area). Dont have shoes for the pedals, but you'd be suprised how easy riding look style pedals is without proper shoes. Pedals from the old bike are a different size, so much for standardization.

Translation: Main tubes of seamless Prazisrohren chrome-molybdenum steel.

Do not know about making into coffee table, not something I would do. But, maybe because I really, really can't stand coffee, especially when is with creme.

Mannesmann tubing, interesting. you don't see much of it around.
Giordana bikes used it. Masi 3V (volumetric) used it with Falke and Columbus
At one time Mannesmann GMBh owned Sachs which they sold to SRAM
(late 90's?).
Is there any marking on the fork crown? serial number on the BB?
It would help in identifying frame.
Nice find anyway you look at it.

Marty

Those pedals are the original Shimano clipless "PD" pedals. IIRC, they were "Look-compatible". I still have a pair buried somewhere.

I built up a bike about this level in the mid '80s. Trek all-CrMo US-made frame, 600EX (pre-ultegra, first of the SIS) components. Cost me about $500 in those dollars. Still have it, semi-disassembled. Brazed-on downtube shifter bosses were the "done thing" with mid-level road frames of the time. Dunno if I'd ever go back to downtubers now that I'm on STI, but still, it's a fun, light, fast bike. Ten bucks is a steal! Hey, if you haven't already, post it in the Vintage forum; someone might be able to ID the frame (I doubt it's stolen, if the original frame tubing decal is intact).

I'm definitely keeping the bike... but I'm not the least bit attached to the rims. Even if I got $50, would I be able to get another set of rims laced up for under that $50?

I can't tell you what make it is, but the frame is identical to my '88 Fuji Team Issue. The stickers rule that out, though. That is a beauty, though!

Mannesmann
P] German tubing company

Rahmenhauptrohre aus
P] I think it says "Frame made in Austria"

nahtlosen
P] It came back as "padded, smooth"?

Prazisrohren
P] ???

Chrom - Molybdan - Stahl
P] Chrome-Moly frame, Stahl tubing


P] Other stuff-
It could be a Sachs?

My Austria-made Puch has all it's badges in English, could yours have been brought over by a student, perhaps?

Please see translation by myself. I speak German, Italian and Spanish as well as some English. Your translation is bad. Mine is correct.

You DAWG! :D

And your point is what?
How about the rest of it?
So I don't speak German, but tell me this, where is Tange mentioned in your translation?
And what does "Rahmenhauptrohre aus" mean???
And "nahtlosen"?
Back yer bragging up, translate it ALL for us. :D
And did Mannesmann make Prazisrohren tubing? Is Prazisrohren a special tempering of Tange tubing?
Details, man!