lsberrios1 

Hello! I am back two days after buying my first C&V bike . This time around I got some "for the fiancee". She bugs me because she thinks riding C&V is a hipster thing! I believe old roadies are just plain classy and nice. Unlike the Panasonic DX4000 that I recently got, this one needs a little bit of retouch to get it running good.

The bike is a 1984 Lotus Unique (thanks to another forum member for pointing it out). The gears, although in need of little cleaning and lubing, work great and smooth. It has a little bit of patina from storage but no big amounts of rust. The saddle is not great but I will get a brooks for it later. The biggest issue is the wheels. He said their are bent, I believe he meant completely out of true. I am going to give it a shot myself and try to get them to a point that they can actually rotate without touching the pads. That is the only real issue with the bike. It has all original Suntour BL FD, RD, Sugino Crank, Shimano SLR Levers and Dia Compe G500 brake calipers.

It was advertised for $225 and I got it down to $100. In all honesty, was this a good-ok deal? I don't wanna feel like I got ripped off. I know I did great with the panasonic but not sure about this. The bike is very nice looking and my fiancee loves. Between you and me, I am going to use it as a commuter once it is fixed up .

Some pics!

shoota 

Yeah dude you did fine for $100. That leaves a little room to get a decent set of wheels. In my experience once they get that out of true it's better to just get a new set. But then again I can't tell how bad they are from here..

lsberrios1 

Great! Thanks for that little piece of mind. I know there is always the "use the search button" thing but can you more or less give me pointers on how to go about wheels in this case? I'm afraid these wheels are kind of no-name... The do have brand new pana racers which look nice.

shoota 

Are they 27" or 700c?

mapleleafs-13 

i don't think hipster translates to buying C&V geared. They translate to more of the fixed single speed crowd.

either way $100 is pretty good.

lsberrios1 

They are 27. Weird enough they have absolutely no marking except for the hubs which say "sealed bearings" or something like that.

Not trying to offend anybody in the C&V community. I just have my fiancee bugging me because she thinks buying C&V is hipster .

shoota 

Well if the brakes can reach 700c wheels then I'd go that route. If the tires are really in good shape then finding a new set of 27" wheels is totally fine too. Don't let your fiancee influence you're thinking. Most of the C&Vers are anything but hipsters.

lsberrios1 

Good thanks! I have a set of RS80s in 700x23c that I can try on the front at least see if it sits.

shoota 

You can check the back too. Just pull open the dropouts to get the rear wheel in.

flash2070

There is a bike shop close to where I live that is run by hipsters! The owner has some really nice vintage bikes. Awhile back ago I took one of my bikes for tubular work. I was speaking with the owner and I happen to glance at his feet, and I almost busted out laughing as he was wearing a pair of boots that look like the ones worn back in the 1800's by women and skinny jeans! :-) I held it together and went about talking about bikes! :-)


Isberrios1, anything uder $100 is a good deal if the bike is in very good shape like yours, and has nice components. Additionally, I believe those tires run about $30-$40 each if I'm not mistaken! Very good score, as Lotus makes great bikes, and yours seems to be one of them.

Flash

KonAaron Snake 

The first sign of being a hipster is talking about hipsters, being worried about being a hipster and denying hipsterdom. I like vintage bikes, and I like other people into vintage bikes - skinny jeans or not. I dig both of your rides - my wife's DX-3000 is fantastic and I'm especially fond of Lotus.

You're into vintage bikes - and you bought smart, effective everyday use machines. You may be a hipster, but you're good with me. As far as price - I'd say you paid about the going rate for a solid Japanese bike in need of some TLC - actually about 25-50 under. You got a good project at a fair price that's going to make a great everyday rider. Are you and/or the wife going to get $100 of happiness from it? I'd bet the answer is yes. So...congrats and welcome!

lsberrios1 

Sweet! 3 of 3. I now have the BF C&V certificate of approval on the lotus . He told me tires themselves were brand new and I was pretty much paying for the tires when I gave him the bill. Nice guy, can't complain. He had it for 20+ years and said he put about 10k miles on it!

lsberrios1 

Thank you! Love them both. Good thing is the lotus fits her and me . Poor roubaix is sitting in the dark getting no attention .

So here they are all in their glory!

gerv 

You forgot the PBR. I'm not sure what it is about PBR, although I notice a lot of people fitting this description also drink craft beer... usually a hoppy IPA.

KonAaron Snake 

I do have a few check boxes marked...

Chicago Al 

Congrats on the Lotus and the Panasonic...glad that one worked out for you.

Spoke wrenches are pretty cheap, so you might buy a set (3), check very carefully which fit the spoke nipples on the Lotus' wheels, read up on technique (St Sheldon), then try the rough truing method of simply using the brake pads as a feelers and trying to get it in close. This takes time and patience, and you're sure to get things backwards at least once, but it might work for you, and it's an easy way to determine if the wheel has any chance at getting true. This really only works for lateral truing (side to side), not radial (in vs out from the hub) which is harder but perhaps less critical.

noglider 

Those are three outstanding bikes. Very tastefully chosen. The Lotuses were really nice. Both of you will love it.

WNG

You scored well on those Lotus and Panasonic bikes!

leicanthrope

Nah, you're fine. Trust me. I live amongst a veritable nest of hipsters down here. If it has at least one derailleur, and nothing about the bike is consciously intended to be ironic, then you have nothing to worry about.

Just remember, you were a retrogrouch ​before it was cool.

mapleleafs-13 

I think i scored a negative five

Lenton58 

YUMMY! That "Pana" is gorgeous!

Snydermann

That Unique is a quality bike and $100.00 was a great deal, even if it does have some issues.

Don't be so quick to ditch those wheels. The original rims were Ukai alloy 27 x 1 with Suntour sealed bearing hubs. The original Ukai rims were only marked with a small decal, which could be long gone. That bike was designed with a quality wheel set, it's one thing that made it one-step above the popular Lotus Excelle.

That Violet-Blue color looks particularly beautiful when it's clean and in the sun, I'm sure your girlfriend will be pleased. Lotus advertised the bike as, "A wise choice for the average adult recreational rider more inclined towards sport riding for fitness and fun."

The Excelle was Lotus' most popular bike, one reason for that is because it was designed to meet a specific price point ($300.00). The Unique is what the Excelle would have been if price didn't matter as much (hitting that under-$300.00 mark). The Unique got all the good features Lotus couldn't afford to put on the Excelle. I like to think of the Unique as the Excelle's prettier, sportier sister.

gregaz

I REALLY like the Lotus! Well done for $100!

Siu Blue Wind

I did a lot of clean up of posts that seemed to be intent on insulting the hipster culture. We have to remember that this is a place that accepts diversity and targeting a group will not be tolerated. Short of shutting this thread down or sending it to where most of our hipsters post, I decided to ask you all to be focused on the topic at hand rather than making fun of or insulting others.

ThermionicScott 

Great score, lsberrios1! I can't think of anything I'd change on that Lotus except perhaps the saddle if it doesn't agree with you.

Thanks for the clean-up, too, Siu. It's one thing for groups to poke good-natured fun at each other, but I don't get the outright hate for hipsters that some have.