rubiconazoid

rubiconazoid

Picked this up from CL for a very good price. Catch was that I had to get 3 bikes because seller was cleaning out his storage shed. Other two bikes were a Motobecane Super Mirage and a Centurion Lemans II, both in silver. Not sure what I will do with the other two.

This appears to be needing a new seat, some touch up paint, and some moderate cleaning. Hope to start on it in a couple of weeks.

T-Mar

It looks like it has bent fork but photos can sometimes be deceiving.

cdmurphy

That should be a nice bike when you clean it up -- I really like that color scheme. Just make sure the seatpost isn't stuck - those fluted posts are famous for trapping water, and leading to seriously stuck posts.

markwesti

Nice score , have fun fixing it up . Love that kandy red .

FBOATSB

Downtube buckled as well. Maybe the other two will pan out.

jetboy 

yes, sadly looks like its been wrecked and front end all messed up. you may have to switch your dream to one of the other bikes. this one can provide parts for the other two!

rubiconazoid

Thank you for each reply. To say I'm disappointed that the dent at the bottom tube appears to be serious is an understatement. I feared that might be the case - that it might be from a crash. I did see the dent, but not being all that knowledgeable, well, you live and learn. The fork, I'm certain, is okay. Comparing it to the other Centurion, in which the frame is unblemished, indicates they are both okay. The seat post moves easily - I adjusted it to my height and rode it about 3 times for a total of about 2 miles.

Not sure what I might do at this point. I still will clean it up, but not spend any money on it for any parts. I only have 50 bucks and gas money in all 3 at this point. Unfortunately the other 2 frames are not in my size, so they will not be any use to me.

It was difficult to find even this bike in my area - sellers on CL here may or may not respond quickly to a listing, and even if I respond quickly they take their time getting back to you, don't list things like the size, provide minimal pictures, and so on. Frustrated at this point.

Thanks all.

Hailstorm_7

Bummer. Hopefully you can part out what you can to maybe get the other two in shape. Love those handlebars, by the way. Those Sakaes are so comfortable.

jetboy 

get some close ups of that damage to the tube - its not like you cannot ride it (though some may disagree). its steel so it can bend pretty good and still be safe to ride though the intended geometry of the bike will be thrown off. but who knows right? To me the damage means dont throw a bunch of money and time at the bike, but you could still tool around on it.

the fork might be ok like you say, it may only look bent in the picture because the tube of the frame is bent. or if it did take damage, at least it was symmetrical so its not a huge deal.

and if not, you can make your money back on parts I am sure - and shipping on frames is cheap.

how about this plan: buy a frame your size from ebay/ or from bikeforums- and then use the parts from those bikes to build it up. then sell whatever is left over- you might be bale to do all that and have spent around 100$ and have a pretty nice bike.

rustystrings61 

You could try this - though let me hasten to add that you are on your own in so doing. On the other hand, I rode the result for more than 100 km with no ill-effect, and I suspect that if I just mounted some decent pedals I could easily ride it for thousands of kilometers more ....

EddyR

When I was flipping bikes I took a couple of very high end biked in that had front end crash damage. I was able to straightened two out of three so they looked correct and measured very close.. I did not think of the tree method but i did use a strong pipe thought the headtube and bolted it to my heavy outside workbench and jacked the frame straight. The hardest was making a clamp for the jack head to mount against the BB. I pretty much copied the Campy frame straightening tool.
Ed