A while back I purchased 3 bikes from a neighbor who was moving – a 80s Lotus Excelle which i ride daily, a yellow classic Schwinn ladies crusier, and this 63cm Lotus Unique.
My roomate was riding it for a bit with the promise of purchasing it, but unfortunately that ended up as a free-loading situation. I don’t have any friends who are 6’2 or taller needing a bike, so I’d like to sell it but am unsure of exact model year and fair price.
Here’s the specs I’ve gathered:
• 63cm frame measured at the seat tube
• relatively new Panaracer pasela 27-1 1/4″ tires
• good rear tube and popped front tube
• SunTour sealed bearing hubs
• SunTour BL derailleur 3200
• SunTour power shifter stem shifter
• original seat, handle bar wrap, and pedals
• Sakae super custom double crank set
• fresh brake pads
• 1982-1984
• DR07548 serial number
Any help is appreciated, thanks!!
by jtb98
6 Comments
Maybe worth $200. You have a limited number of tall buyers interested in a vintage Japanese bike. Look on Craigslist and/or Facebook marketplace in your area and see what similar bikes go for.
Tall rider and lover of vintage Japanese bikes. Lover, not an expert. Clean it up. Dawn power wash and a denture brush, and a can of brake parts cleaner. Replace or upgrade as you ride. Those bars alone OMG a little mothers polish… very nice. I just refreshed an 84 FUJI Touring series IV. Clean it and do the 3 T’s. Tubes, tires, and truing and it will be worth it. Cheers
Cheap parts but decent frame. The dropouts indicate a decent tube set. About $150.
Keep in mind the used bike market is softer than Elon musk’s dick right now.
$200
Unremarkable specs, nice basic transportation. You’re right – not a large segment of the population is tall enough to ride a frame that size. I happen to be one but I have enough bikes. (Does anybody really?!)
Loads of info here, it looks like it may be a 1983 example based on the cursive script. Although it looks like someone moved the shifters to the stem.
Looks like it was made from a Tange mangalloy frame.
https://web.archive.org/web/20200221202220/http://vintagelotusbicycles.com/Unique.html
Also looking at their serial number chart, I don’t think it tells us anything. There are three bikes on there that start with “Dr” and they are all completely different models.