Marc R
I have an old bike that I am interested in selling. I would appreciate hearing from a few gurus what it might theoretically 'be worth' before I consider offers. I've looked on Ebay a bit but most of their 'vintage' bikes aren't of very high quality so it's hard to compare. Of course I'd rather sell locally. The bike is a:
Peter Mooney (frameset)
#304. Seat tube (C-C) about 56.75 cm, top tube (C-C) about 56.5. Handmade in about 1987.
In a nutshell, a vintage high-end steel (Columbus SL) handmade bike with Campy Super Record group. 6 spd. rear cogs. Downtube shifters. It's all in mint or almost mint condition except for, ummm... the toe-clip straps?
The bike is complete and ready to ride except for the saddle question (see below). But I have a saddle on it now if you want to test ride it.
Except for the few newer parts (see below), it dates from about 1987, and I am the original and only owner. It was bought at Belmont Wheelworks in the Boston area; this is the store where the frame maker, Peter Mooney, still works. See http://www.peter-mooney.com/ for what Peter is up to now. I bought the bike because, though I am no expert, the workmanship, including bottom bracket milling, seemed perfect, and better to some higher-priced Italian frames that were popular at the time. I recall the whole bike costing me about $1100-1200, which was at the high end of the price spectrum back in the day of course unless you went perhaps to Guerciotti, De Rosa etc. or titanium. The bike probably has less than 5000 miles on it, perhaps quite a bit less since I rode it some for a few years than rode intermittently until 3-4 years ago, when I moved to Portland and quickly got a more modern, lighter bike after my first ride up Thompson to Skyline Drive. As far as I can tell, it has a new-bike feel, and with the steel frame/rim/tire setup has a far more comfortable ride than modern alum. and carbon. But at my highly advanced age, I prefer the lightness etc. of modern carbon, and the bike does not fit me very well either, so I'm selling.
If you have any questions as a possibly buyer or as the owner that I can't answer, you could try emailing Peter at peter@wheelworks.com.
Colors: medium blue frame, new white Cinelli cork tape, rims nice light blue complementing frame.
Frame - handmade, Columbus SL tubing, beautiful lug work.
Derailleurs, crankset (175 mm), pedals (titanium spindle I think), hubs, bottom bracket, seatpost - all Campy SR except possibly seatpost (not sure) and bottom bracket (can't see).
Brake calipers and levers - Modolo Equipe (black; the levers are really cool looking, drilled and with MODOLO in white). I couldn't find exact replacements pads/holders (original pads still looked good but age made them dangerous), but found Kool Stop gray blocks which fit fine and seem to stop the bike smoothly (do some testing though before screaming down a mountain).
Headset - Specialized (threaded).
Stem and bar - Cinelli.
Rims - Mavic Open Pro SUP.
Tires - Michelin Axial Select Kevlar, 700 x 23c, 90-110 psi.
Toeclips - Campy, with 'Toutan' French toe straps.
IT'S ALL ORIGINAL EXCEPT FOR, TO THE BEST OF MY MEMORY :
1) Tape (just put on).
2) Stem - 'New old stock.' The top tube/stem combo was too short for me so I replaced the original 90 mm stem with a 125 mm or so virtually identical stem.
Sorry, I sold the original stem.
3) Rims and probably spokes - Much newer than bike. Somewhere along the line I abandoned the original Mavics and had new ones built up using the original hubs.
4) Brake pads (see above).
5) Saddle - the original saddle is unfortunately missing in action. I really don't have one to offer unless you want a 3-4 year old Trek Racing Team embossed silver/blue saddle in fair condition, or a Selle Italia Gel Flow in very good condition. Perhaps if I get the price I want I'll give you your choice if you want one.
I can throw in with this:
1) The special injector for getting grease in the hubs.
2) A Suntour 6-speed spare freewheel which I think is lightly used.
3) The tool that looks a bit like what you blow bubbles with. It has Maillard stamped on it. Not being highly mechanical, my best guess it that it's for dealing with a Maillard freewheel (which I had on the bike at some point, though perhaps not now), perhaps a 'lock ring remover' or something like that.
4) A Velox sewup repair kit (I know, the bike has clinchers).
5) Some Pedro's SUN grease I think I used for the hubs.
6) A Park FR-2 freeewheel remover that 'fits Sun Tour 2-notch freewheels,' so maybe it will fit the spare and/or the original.
7) 3 rolls of Velox rim tape that appear in new condition and that presumably will fit the rims if you need it.
8) A bag of spoke nipples (hmmm, reminds me of a Monty Python crack...)
9) The original Modolo pads/holders in case you can do anything with them. But beware - the compound might have broken down some with age and they might not be dependable for solid stopping.
(I was going down a mountain in southern Utah with them three years ago and almost couldn't stop the bike - the brakes seemed ineffective, then the bike started to shimmy (and I didn't know the trick of pressing the top tube with your knees, though I don't know if I could have pulled it off), then luckily perhaps the banking of the curve got us under control).
10) A lifetime pass to the Tram.
Yah, just kidding on the last one.
Anyway, if a few people who know about such things could email me with a ballpark guess as to value, it would be much appreciated. I know I can ride it over to Sellwood Cycle and they'd take a look at it, but I seem to be lazy. Of course, you might say, hey, what can anyone say until they see it? And of course you're welcome to come take a look if you're interested in buying.
Sorry if it's too much detail - I'm a detail guy ;)
Thanks,
Marc
503-227-0644
marcrspace-2@yahoo.com