Hello!
I have this vintage bike, but no idea how to identify it. Would you all help, and if I need to provide more info, I’ll do so!
by biswitchstem
Hello!
I have this vintage bike, but no idea how to identify it. Would you all help, and if I need to provide more info, I’ll do so!
by biswitchstem
8 Comments
It was repainted/powder coated.
So, who knows!
— he headbadge would have said.
Something from the ’70s and pretty low end, probably Japanese. Really next-to-impossible to tell with the repaint, as many bike companies made tens of millions bikes exactly like this one to sell to a US market that was incredibly hungry for “10 speeds”.
Are those Normandy hubs?
Sun Tour didn’t make bikes. They only made parts. Dating the parts will probably give you an era/decade of the bike.
I had a Sears Free Spirit that looked very similar to this. 60’s or 70’s was mine.
Looks like a low-end bike shop bike (not a dept store bike) from 70s / early 80’s. Cottered cranks, steel rims, nutted hubs (not quick release), stamped drop outs (not forged). Probably heavy, high-tensile steel frame. Those quill pedals were designed to be used with toe clips – probably an upgrade from the bike’s original pedals.
With new tires and maybe cables / housings, this would make a decent around-town beater bike for a tall / very tall person.
Looks like Japanese, good quality steed. I say it is a rattle-can paint job of a Fuji (late ’70’s) starter bike like the “sports 12″ or similar. The seat stay end tips, lugs and fork crown are what gave me the clue. I have a sports 12 and the best I can say about it is the build is solid. I swapped the cottered-cranks for Sugino cotterless triple chainring; steel 27″ wheels for Araya 27” alloy wheels (hard to find!) Now, I can go up a 10% faster than I can walk it. Heavy bike still. One thing, they are really built to last.
Assuming the parts are original, it’s early an 70s low end bike of Japanese origin. The brakes and stem are both halfway decent pieces worth salvaging. The Compe stem specifically indicates early 70’s. The stamped drop outs and cottered crank are indicators of its lowly status.