RubeRad

Hi all,

I'm trying to help my dad dispose of his vintage Falcon. He bought new in 1970, and put less than 1000 miles on it. He's now in his 60s and after two back surgeries, isn't up for a road bike. Myself, I have a road bike already, and can't do much with the Falcon on the hills around here.

At some point my dad changed to less aggressive chainrings (52/39) along with new cranks, as well as more convenient clincher wheels (the original were sewups -- I remember what he had to go through to fix a flat!). The original cranks, chainrings, and sewup wheels are gone. As the pictures show, most of the original components remain; campy FD/RD, rear cogs (did they call it a cassette back then?) and downtube-mounted friction shifters, Weinmann center-pulls, and of course the frame which is Reynolds 531 DB. I think that's even original bar-tape! (The left hood is in pretty bad shape, the right one long since turned to dust). Under the BB is stamped A63712, if that helps determine anything.

I show it here without a saddle; the last pic shows the Ideale leather saddle, installed on my bike (on its original post), I am trying it out to see whether I want to keep it. Part of my mission in this thread is to determine whether I would be better off selling the bike whole (with or without saddle) or just try to break it up and sell in pieces.

OK, here's the pics:

spats

I have always made more money parting them out. A lot more work, but the reward is better.

FastJake

3 options:

- Sell it as-is. IMO this is the worst cause it looks like a total wreck. It won't fetch much now.
- Part it out. This will almost certainly get you the most money, but will probably be the most effort too.
- Clean it up and get it tuned up again. This would be my choice, but I like those sorts of projects. By sticking $25 into it for new cables and bar tape you could probably get $50-$75 more for it.

jeepr

It's in pretty rough shape, but 531 frames can still bring a decent price. That bike has great lugs. In my opinion, you can get the most $ by parting it out.

I'm sorry I can't give you a firm price on the frame. They just are not common around me. To me, it appears to be a high end frame. I believe Falcon made the mid-70s Merckx frames. It does say "Designed by Ernie Clements" on the chain stay, right? Google his name, that may help you.

RubeRad

Thx for advice guys. Yes, it is "Designed by Ernie Clements", and the frame is 531 DB. Do you think the frame would be of interest to a fixie-builder?

The RD is Campy Gran Sport, which I haven't heard of before. How does it compare to (Nuovo) Record?

For the longest time, I thought the saddle was Brooks just because it is leather. But looking closer, it is obviously badged "Ideale" (made in France). How does that stack up against a vintage Brooks?

Are those Weinmann Centerpulls in demand at all? Or is there a reason you never see centerpulls anymore?

Are the replacements parts (Ambrosia wheels, cyclone hubs, 600 chainring/cranks) of interest at all?

Oh and BTW I'm in San Diego, which I think is a higher-than usual market for bicycles, but I don't know how much of that is particularly for vintage. We do seem to have more than our share of hipsters riding fixie steel.

FastJake

Now that I see your components listed out, I think you might be better off selling it. Not just because the components aren't all original, but because you have such a smattering of brands (Shimano, Campy, Suntour, etc...)

The following are just guesses, so take them (and any other estimates) with a grain of salt. The San Diego market is probably better than where I live.

- A DB 531 frame will always bring money. I'd love to have it, as would plenty of other people. I'd say $150-$200, more if you leave the stem/bars/BB on there.
- The 600 crankset is nice. Probably worth $40 cleaned up.
- The wheelset is also worth a decent amount. Maybe $100 if you're lucky and you leave the tires on there.
- The brakes probably aren't worth much. Weinmann centerpulls came on a LOT of bikes, and even if these are special ones I doubt you'll find a buyer for more than $20. There's nothing wrong with them, they just fell out of fashion to sidepulls around 1980. They are more of a pain to setup.
- Can't help you with the old Campy stuff. I've never dealt with it before.

RubeRad

Yes. All original except the 600 crankset and the wheelset. I didn't realize, but you are right, I looked close, and the Cyclone sealed-bearing hubs are indeed made by Suntour.

Great! Can anybody tell me what that "CB" (or is it "GB") on the stem is? Any way to know the brand of the bars? I can't see any pantographing or engraving, maybe should I just rip all that old bar tape off and see if there's some info underneath?

Nice. I was actually considering keeping those myself, since they're 36h and I'm a Clyde (I'm running 24h on my road bike, and I'm continually worried about all the ticking and pinging I hear from the spokes! BUT probably it is not trivial to switch a campy-fitted rear wheel onto my shimano-equipped Trek). Also, you're right, the Contis are brand new. Me and a LBS helped my dad get the bike ridable, and he put probably 200 yards of wear on the tires before he knew this bike is not right for his body.

Also, I'm still curious about the saddle. The leather on this one seems a bit cracky, but I've ridden a few miles on it and it's plenty comfy. Does anybody know how Ideale compares to Brooks?

Veloh

The stem is "GB" which stands for Gerry Burgess, the founder. It's a British company that still makes components today I believe. Saw it a lot on Raleigh bikes.

The rear derailleur is a pre-Nuovo Record. It was Gran Sport>Record>Nuovo Record as the top models as years went by. The Gran Sport should be chromed brass. Worth a bit based off of eBay results. (~$50+/- condition)

Saddle is the French Brooks. There are some models that are extremely valuable and collectible (I think they have aluminum frames) but in general I would guess they're comparable to a Brooks. Just French. You can revive the saddle with a few products. Use the search function of the forums as there's a lot of information about that.

There probably won't be more engravings under the tape nor any manufacturer codes, etc. Usually the designs stop as the bartape begins.

Wheels are nice. Cyclone was 2nd from the top depending on year. It's not really "sealed' per se, just cups and rubber rings that try to keep dirt out.

Looks like a nice bike. Shame to turn it into a fixie. That aside I find that parting out generates the most money.

randyjawa 

The OP's Falcon is close to entry level quality. I recently sold a near identical Falcon to a fellow in California for roughly $155.00 USD plust $150.00 for shipping. But my bike was in much better condition than the one presented here.

Parting the bike out is absolutely the best way to go if money is the goal. That said, not everything on the bicycle will sell, but the frame, rear derailleur, saddle, and steering stem are worth something. The rest is not worth all that much and will be tough to get rid of.

marley mission

see - i like em dirty - i'd ride that falcon in my stable as is

FastJake

The Cyclone wheelset has a thread on freewheel, and won't work on your Trek (9 or 10 speed rear I'm guessing?) To make it work, you'd have to lace the rim to a newer Shimano hub with the 8/9/10S freehub. For the cost of a new hub and spokes this can be worthwhile if it's a good wheelset you'd like to keep.

Compared to what? You're forgetting about the billions of cheap bikes made during that time. All steel, 1 piece cranks, etc. Reynolds 531 with Campy is nothing to bat an eye at. OP could sell the bike as pictured for about $200 around here. If it's really only worth $150 where do I send the check?

MichaelW

Ive seen Falcons much better and much worse. Nearly all of them carry the Ernie Clements badge and ride nicely.
To me the indicator of less than top quality is at the dropouts, they are steel plate, not cast. The 531 tubing puts it higher than my Majorca which is plain chromoly.
Top end Falcons are clearly superior frames with better quality, hand worked lugs and cast dropouts.

RubeRad

Thanks for the feedback. How can you tell stamped from cast? I guess it'd be hard to describe. Anybody know of any links with side-by-side pics demonstrating the different look?