Found this CILO bike at the junkyard for free 🙂
I was on a trip to throw away stuff at the junkyard as usual. We have a section where you can give away items of interest (the people in charge are the judge of that) and I had some LEGO DUPLO that I had gotten for free somewhere else. In exchange we are allowed to take one item of choice with us. I was very lucky to find this bike, at least I think.
Full disclosure, I am a noob when it comes to bicycles, I only know how to ride them. However as my childhood bike was recently stolen, I am on the market to purchase a new one. The bicycle immediately caught my eye and despite its age as well as the sorry state of the wheels I could not not go for it. To me it seems quite salvageable as only the bikes tires and brakes need obvious replacing that being said after some after some research, I'm left with some questions:
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I cannot for the life of me discern the model of this bike. I have come to the point where I believe that bikes don't even have a specific model but rather are composed of several key parts that each have their own model. Whether or not this is correct, I would hope that some someone could help identify this particular bicycle. (Frame: Vitus, The rest: Shimano 600)
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Next I am genuinely curious if this was a lucky or good find and I am wondering if it is economical to refurbish it or if I would be better off buying a used but fully working bike?
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Finally, I am very interested in learning more about how (and when) to repair, upgrade & maintain bicycles and if anyone has good resources, they would be much appreciated 🙂
Thank you very much!
by l-PORU-l
5 Comments
Short answer – easier, cheaper and better to buy a new or used bike that is in good condition.
If you would like an expensive hobby that isn’t riding a bike then by all means make this your life’s work. I would imagine a bike shop would say the same, or at least lay out the cost for you and why it’s more than the bike is worth
Amazing find clean it up well and get it running. 600 is basically early 80s Ultegra. It should ride really nice
Nice!
That’s actually a really sick score, this would have been a pretty nice bike back in the mid-80s. It’s dated of course, with old downtube friction shifters, but this is still a really nice bike.
General info: As far as model goes, I’m not familiar with Cilo’s lineup. Most bikes were a specific model, although many manufacturers also just sold bare frames which could be specced as the customer wished. This was not very common, though. I’d guess this is probably a bike from 1983-85 or so.
It’s pretty clearly a nice, higher-end frame. It has lug cutouts, which was more typically found in higher- end bikes, and the lugs appear pretty thin, possibly hand-filled on their edges. Likely built of Vitus chromoly tubing based on the bottom bracketshell. “Shot-in” style seat stays are uncommon and classy. That style of “lugless” (but NOT welded) fork crown was also usually found on nicer bikes. The parts are all Shimano 600, which was Shimano’s second-best group of parts. So not quite top-of- the-line, but still upper end.
Cilo is a Swiss brand, so there may be some funky parts standards… but then, it was also built with Japanese parts, so perhaps not. The headset might be French threaded, which is difficult to find replacements for, AFAIK only Velo Orange has them. If the headset is French, that means the stem may also be a different dimension than was common at the time. The Bottom Bracket could be Swiss, or French, or maybe the more common Emglish threading. French and Swiss bottom brackets are difficult to find.
Overall that’s a sick bike though, as a vintage bike fan I’d be ecstatic to find something like this for free.
amazing. That stem alone easily sells for $100, the hidden bolt design is very sought after.