tpadul 

Someone in my town just listed this Sekai for $90, I don’t know anything about these racing bikes other than hearing the name before. The lady said she doesn’t know much about the bike so I’m assuming she is not the original owner. Have no idea the year of the bike either.
Is this worth $90 I’m thinking it’s probably worth more and would be a good deal?

brian3069

Tange no. 1 tubing, possibly Suntour Superbe components. I'd jump on that fast!

TugaDude

Yep, what he said

randyjawa 

Hurry!!! Strike when the iron is hot and the iron is HOT!

tpadul 

I got it!! She took $80 for it. Bought it on an online auction from some super rich family down the road from us. She didn’t realize it was too small of a frame for her husband. So it sat in their garage for a while. The tires still hold air and I’m going to look it over a little more. I put it up on my stand and took a few more photos, got the serial number too. Now I have to figure out what year it is and exactly what model?

tpadul 

They are Suntour Supurbe components

plonz 

First time I’ve ever seen a Sekai that wasn’t cheap low-end. This is a very nice bike and the chrome rear triangle should clean up great. Nice find!

ramzilla

Very nice. It's a Japanese masterpiece. I would try very hard to leave it all original. Be good. Have fun.

tpadul 

Hi there SurferRosa so how would I know if this is a 4000 model? Should I post the serial number for T-Mar to help me with? I still don't understand it all how some of these Asian Serial numbers go, I don't see a sticker on the bike that shows what kind of model it is. I know it is super light, it weighs about 20-22 maybe 23 pounds.

xiaoman1 

Great Buy, early Surpebe!....Enjoy!
Best, Ben

SurferRosa

They didn't really have another model at this level. They offered a 5000 with super lightweight tubing, but I've never seen one.

T-Mar

The subject bicycle is a 1984 Sekai 5000 Superbe. This was right after Norco took control of the brand. Top of the line model. I don't have 1984 pricing but 1983 was $925 US MSRP, so 1984 was likely in the $950-$999 US range.

tpadul 

So the other day I saw on EBay this bike store in Madison WI trying to sell a Vintage Sekai 2400 for $897 at least that is what they first listed it for and then they sent me an “Offer” for half price because I had put the item on my watchlist but I had also messaged them and asked them what they thought the value of my 1984 Sekai 5000 Superbe was, I was just curious what they would say since the one they were advertising was several models lower than the one I happened to pick up the other day. So they finally responded back to me today and I laughed when they wanted a $75 fee to research and provide a valuation.

i noticed they had already cut the price of the Sekai 2400 they have in half now and it still has not sold.

I am thrilled with my Sekai 5000 find for $80 but I am a bit curious what it’s value is in today’s market. I am definitely keeping this bike but was curious what it’s worth might be.

This was their response
This is the seller

This is the bike they were first trying to sell for $897 when I first saw it a few days ago

TugaDude

It is a very nice bike and definitely a steal at $80 bucks. Lower the handlebar stem though. It isn't terribly far past the minimum insertion line, but still...

If that bike were my size I'd be proud to ride it. There's a fair amount of wear on the rims. Everything else looks good. Make sure to service all of the greasy stuff before riding it too much.

tpadul 

Yep I did move the stem down to the correct level. I think I'm actually going to pay my LBS to do a tune up on this and check it out. My repair skills are paltry right now as I am newly learning how to do everything myself, but I am working on fixing up a $10 Schwinn World Sport so I don't mind making mistakes on the Schwinn, but I'm afraid to mess anything up with this Sekai so I'll let the bike shop help me check everything out.

jdawginsc 

that...was...a...steal!

tpadul 

Yes I think so!! So do you have any idea what the real value is? I’ve cleaned it up just a little bit and it’s in really good shape

Trsnrtr

My son raced one of those back in the late 80s. I bought it as a frame and built it up with Superbe Pro components.

Worth $90? Absolutely.

Jrich8

Great bike! Get it quick

ramzilla

If those are the original 1984 tires then, they're 36 years old by now. (Way past my rule of thumb to throw out any bike tires over 20 years old). 36 year old tires are going to fail. Please put some new tires on it before you go on any serious rides.

tpadul 

oh I already ordered new tires, the ones on it now are thread bare. I actually found out who owned the bike from 1998-2019. It happens to be my neighbors boss, she is a pediatric surgeon here in Chicago at one of the Children’s hospitals, she rode the bike quite a bit and did many bike marathons on it. So I’m sure the tires have been replaced several times. She added the Aerobars and the clipless pedals too but I won’t be using those as long distance riding and racing are not something I’ll be doing.

The Dr had a huge auction at her house and the bike was sold last summer to the lady I bought it from but they never rode the bike as it was too short for her husband.

It was really quite odd how I came to find out who had it for the past 20 years as her name was on the areobars and when I googled her name I saw she was a surgeon at the hospital my neighbor is a nurse at so I asked her if she knew the Dr and low and behold it is her boss!! Small world..

I ordered Continental tires and I should have them early next week.

bikemike73 

GREAT PURCHASE !!!!!!!

BIKE and tires !!

I have the Continental tires !!!

I love them !!!!

Just be patient when installing. I got the folded ones in the box.

VERY NICE !!!