fadlinaya

Hi anyone can help to identify my frame, it's a serial number FB411566 on top headtube, I.S Rib End engraved on fork DO, have kind of ring on top chainstay, using Fuji BB cup, equipped with winpista dropbar, nitto young 2 stem, suntour trimec ld 2700 shifter, sun wheel hub, dia compe u brake, btw 3 post to go so I can post picture. Thanks 🙏🙏🙏

fadlinaya

T-Mar

My leading candidate would be a 1984 Fuji. The serial number format is consistent with Fuji and a BB fixed cup is the component least likely to be replaced, due to the difficulty to remove without proper tools. Assuming Fuji, the serial number indicates February 1984, which would be era appropriate for a Trimec and Ishiwata Rib End dropouts but not a Dia-Compe U-brake. I'm not familiar with any Fuji mdel from this period that used the loop style chainstay protector or the Trimec derailleur, though theses could be specific to markets outside America.

fadlinaya

Thanks T Mark for response, I'm from Indonesia, actually this morning my friend on vintage bik community told me, that is fuji compo feather, because it's similar with his bike but different head tube lug I think.

fadlinaya

actually i found this page today ƒtƒFƒU�[ƒRƒ“ƒ| FEATHER COMPO�F“ú•Ä•x�m�©“]�Ô‚̀’Ê�M”̀”„�@‚¢‚킽ƒTƒCƒNƒ‹�@�ä•v‚Å’·��‚¿“ú–{�»�I�V�Ô�@’†ŒĂ�Ô

Raemoe

I have an unidentified Miyata frame that I recently purchased in Sweden.

The frame looks like the Miyata Century, minus the gold plating. Main triangle is a beautiful raw carbon finish, and the rear triangle is black steel. There's a sticker that says "100 / Miyata, 100 års inbyggt cykelkunnande" on the chainstay that suggests it's a 1990 model, same year as the Century. There's also a Made in Japan sticker on the seat tube and the head tube. Unfortunately, the acrylic protective layer has worn off almost everywhere, leaving the clear coated carbon bare and taking the model name with it. Fork has a CrMo sticker on each side. The similarity to the Miyata Century suggests it is a Koga-Miyata Skyrunner Carbolite. However, all the Skyrunners I have seen have a raw finish on all of the aluminium lugs and rear triangle, whereas my frame has black steel stays (original, given the 100 year sticker is on top of the paint) as well as a classic 'M I Y A T A' label on the downtube.

The serial number on the front of the headtube reads UB00704. The U would indicate 1992, but they had already abandoned the bolted seatstay by then. I saw a note that "See also Dodsun and U(1) for some late 1980s contract manufactured models", where Dodsun is a dud and U(1) states "U(1) (?): Uymmxxxxx Manufacturer unknown", which doesn't conform with the UB on my model. A hypothetical UBymmxx number would suggest July 1990, but leaving only 2 numbers for the actual frame number, which seems odd.

Anyone able to identify my frame model and year? Was there a Miyata-branded version of the Skyrunner Carbolite? I've looked at the 1988-1993 catalogues from Miyata without a clear match.

T-Mar

The serial number indicates a frame manufactured during weeks 3-4 of 1992 by Miyata and I believe it to be correct. There is one salient feature supporting this fact. Your frame has been specifically designed for use with a top pull front derailleur, something that Shimano didn't introduce until the 1992 model year. Prior to that, if you routed the front derailleur cable along the top tube, you'd have to employ some tricks with the cable routing to make it work with the front derailleur. If you start to check the date codes on the Shimano parts, you should find that they are all from late 1991 or early 1992, which would support a 1992 model year.

Unfortunately, I don't know the model name. The Swedish Miyata importer was independent of Koga-Miayata and Miyata America, so the models do not necessarily align with anything elsewhere in Europe or the USA. Basically, the Swedish importer designed the bicycles to suit local (or his personal) preferences. This would account for differences you are seeing in comparison to non-Swedish 1992 models, such as the finish of the lugs and tubes. To get an exact match, you'd probably have to find a 1992 Swedish market catalogue.

Raemoe

Whoa, that's really helpful! I don't know what witchcraft allowed you to post the photo I wasn't allowed to post due to my post count, but yeah, that's my bike! Apologies for the non-drivetrain side. I did some digging in Swedish bike forums and actually tracked down the model - it's a Miyata Skyrunner for the Swedish market. The thread ("Miyata Skyrunner Carbon - bromsar fungerar kasst..." on happyride.se) has a black version of the Skyrunner with intact model name sticker. My bike shares the other stickers (the triple flag on toptube, Miyata logo on downtube, and stripes on the seattube). Thanks a lot!

tpadul 

Hi T-mar
I’m so sorry to ask again but do you know of any Asian brand of frame that has a T in the beginning of their serial number? I’m still very fascinated with my cheap vintage bike find and I would love to get some thoughts from you on the maker of this frame as it’s still a mystery since it has obviously been repainted and has no headbadge or stickers.

entire serial number is
T850345281

3speedslow

T-Mar

i have now a Caloi 1998 (I believe ) Team bike with mostly original Shimano 6500 Ultegra components. Some stuff like handle bars and stem are not original. Made in Brazil or at least a Brazilian marque.

Serial # if you need it. FD002295 on the non drive side rear drop out.

T-Mar

Thank-you. Yes, Caloi was a Brazilian marque, though it's been Canadian since 2013, having been acquired by Dorel, who also owns Cannondale, GT, Mongoose, Schwinn, etc. The frame could be Asian but given my understanding of the Brazilian industry at the time, it is likely domestic. If I had to make a guess on the serial number, I'd say 1995 or 1996 but that's too early for Ultegra 6500 which made it's debut for the 1998 model year. It's a really nice group, having competed on it in duathlons during the very early 2000s.

Caloi had tried to break into the USA market during the the early 1970s bicycle boom via a distribution deal with WCCS (West Coast Cycle Supply) but there seems to have been little impact. WCCS had much more success with their Nishiki brand. Caloi made another concerted effort to break into the USA market in the late 1990s, including taking over as the bicycle supplier to the Motorola team for the last couple of years before they folded. They had ousted Eddy Merckx as the official sponsor but Merckx was still building the frames under contract. If you look closely at the down tube in the attached photo, you can just make out Caloi by Eddy Merckx. Other team frames clearly exhibited the EM logo on the stay caps and fork crown. So, there is a pretty interesting history for those late 1990s Caloi. Enjoy your new acquisition.

T-Mar

The only other time that I have seen this particular format is on some very early 1990s Nishiki. However, your serial number would appear to pre-date that by about 1/2 decade. Despite having collected hundreds of Nishiki serial number, I have not seen any from your apparent era with that format. Consequently, it's unlikely to be Nishiki.

tpadul 

Thank you so much for responding,

tpadul 

Hi T-Mar
well just after I responded back to you Thanking you I literally came across a FB marketplace ad for a woman’s 26” Murray bike and low and behold the frame looks identical to my mystery bike. We had already figured out the fork was a Murray but now after seeing the photos of the bike for sale the frame seems to be identical to my bike. So it looks like the the frame and fork are just a Murray and nothing too exciting but I wanted to Thank you very much for your time!!

himespau 

I'm still kicking myself for missing out on a Merckx-built lugged MXL Caloi team frame quite a few years back when I thought I'd be smart and lowball the seller (who was already selling it below market - neither of us knew what he had until someone more knowledgeable informed him and paid full freight).

3speedslow

T-Mar

Thanks for the info. Reread what I had written now seems to confuse the actual bike. It is definetly not a TEAM bike but a Caloi bike with the model name of Team. It still was a high end 6500 Ultegra model at the time, going for 1,300$ or so. Plans to have a short thread on it are in the works. It’s a total surprise acquisition!

Thanks again for the feedback.

T-Mar

I don't like to be the one to deflate the balloon after your long search but that is a very common frame style and I see several differences in the frames. They're definitely not identical. First the rear dropouts have very different shapes. On the Murray, the rear dropouts appear to be attached by crimping the stays, whereas yours are brazed. The upper of the two down tubes on the Murray appears to be welded to the seat tube, whereas yours employs a lug. The Murray head tube does not appear to use lugs. while your frame does. Ironically, the Murray does not use the dual plate Murray for crown. In short, with the exception of the fork, the pictured Murray exhibits the cost concessions that are typical of their bicycles. Your frame appears to be a level (or two) higher than the typical Murryay grade. While it could still be a Murray, it's not a match for the pictured model other than in general frame style.

tpadul 

LOL Thank you!! It's totally OK if you deflate my balloon You are the expert so I totally believe your assessment. I'll just continue my attempt to figure it out, Even if i never do it is fun trying to and it is very nice to ride.

SAUPY

here is the serial number s91070052 could you help me identify it? and in the middle of the head tubing there is TG2 or TMG2 number idk which one is the number.
im sorry i try to attached the picture but it doesn't allow me to do so. much appreciated if you could help me thank you.

T-Mar

Welcome to the forums. Given that you are located Malaysia, I probably can't help with the identification. It is likely some local, contract manufactured marketing brand that was never offered in North America. However, the serial number format is fairly common and suggests it is from July 1991. I saw your photographs but will need more than close-ups of the frame stampings to corroborate the date. Please post an overall photo along with close-ups of the rear derailleur, crankset and brake calipers.

coromanz

Hi T-Mar, thanks for your amazing works,
Could you please help me identifying mya bike frame, it has 700c, the SN is WAK32070J ,it was repaint several times i guess, the seller sell the frameset plus crank and rd (dont know it was its original component or the replacement too )

Im from indonesia btw, before this post i've write my question with the pics, but i dont allowed to do that

Thank you

T-Mar

I don't know how it got to Indonesia but that number is consistent with the Danish bicycle VIN system. The WAK prefix indicates a model imported by Age Kroll who was the Centurion distributor. Given the lugless construction and 'J' suffix it was imported in 1993, so it should be a 1993-1994 model. Most of the European market Centurion from this period were built by Merida of Taiwan. You may find another serial number, somewhere else on the frame. The Nishiki decals are perplexing. Typically the Danish Nishiki from the mid-1990s have a WN prefix, for Nordisk Cykelfrabrik

tpadul 

Hi 👋 T-Mar,
So I picked this Sekai racing bike up yesterday for $80 from a lady on Facebook that bought it at an Auction and it was too small for her husband so they sold it and had no knowledge about the bike.

I’m trying to figure out what model of Sekai it is and what year it was built if possible from the Serial number.

The serial number is M4B02087

I have attached some photos here to see if that helps.

There are no stickers as to exact model except for a Sticker saying “Racing series”

madpogue 

EEEK, lower that stem! Do you see the Minimum Insertion indicator?

@T-Mar will know for sure, but that serial number appears to match a Miki build, second fortnight (late January) 1984.

tpadul 

Yes!! I saw the stem was way too high! Definitely going to move it down. I just picked it up last night so I still have not done anything but give it a quick look over and take some photos.