nimchimpsky82

Apologies in advance for this encyclopedia-length post...








... Well, I *think* this is a Racing Feather, late 80s, but not completely sure...

As far as I know Van Tuyl mainly bought his stuff from elsewhere (especially Andrea Pesenti) then sold it under his name.

The seller describes it as having Columbus SLX tubing, which is obviously nice. In addition, Shimano 600 (2x7 indexed; a bit less nice), Mavic wheels (type?) and a Rolls saddle (might be original, but I'm not bothered). Curiously, the seller describes the bike as a Koga Miyata -- perhaps to attract buyers (as more people will have heard of Koga), or maybe because there's evidence that they built this one?

Bearing in mind these uncertainties (I will ask the seller for more info) I would be curious to know what sort of value this bike might have. They want around $400 for it. Condition is described as good though not perfect, with a few small blemishes in the paint (visible especially in the two last pics) and some small pits in the chrome that a good polish would sort out; no actual dents or scratches.

I've been looking for a (very!) large framed steel bike for some time, and this one is up for sale, along with a Pinarello (Montello??) I'm investigating as well at the moment:



The Pinarello is a good bit more expensive than the Van Tuyl by the way...

thinktubes 

Deal. Buy it.

himespau 

Looks sweet to me.

16Victor

In a heartbeat. Esp. with the large frame requirement you have.

rhm

+1. Van Tuyl is much more interesting than Pinarello. Indexed 2 x 7 is hard to beat. My only concern would be, is SLX the right material for such a large frame? You'll have to ride it to know. Which I recommend doing ASAP.

As for what it's worth, wel, this is not the place to ask that (there is a separate forum for such questions) but you can edit your post.

Zieleman

Well, if you're tall and looking for a nice vintage bike, I'd have a look at this one:
https://link.marktplaats.nl/713232600

nimchimpsky82

Thanks Zieleman. That looks very tempting as well...

Would you happen to know more about this Reus (year, type, ...)? I'll ask the vendor for a bit more information, for example about the tubing.

bikemig 

This is a very solid deal. The seller may not be right on the frame tubing. Manufacturers often used a little thicker gauge tubing esp. on the down tubes, forks, and seat stays of large bike. I'd buy it regardless of the tubing but everything else being equal, I'd prefer a little thicker gauge tubing in that size.

nimchimpsky82

Thanks bikemig, but are you referring to the VT or the Reus?

And a quick update on the VT: the seller did indeed use the name "Koga Miyata" to get more people to view the advert.

bikemig 

The VT is a very solid deal at $400. I know Koga Miyatas are big in the Netherlands but it's weird that the S would put the name in the advert.

nimchimpsky82

Thanks again bikemig. What you say may go some way to explaining why the VT appears to have been for a sale for a while... well, that and its massive size I suppose!

Zieleman

Well, the Dutch are known to be the tallest folks on the planet, so even tall bikes get attention (last week I saw a black Champion Mondial size 70, it's sold)

On the De Reus: I don't know about the tubing, but Jan de Reus used a lot of Reynolds. Local framebuilders, like DeReus or Ko Zieleman, were known though to use different tubing. My blue Zieleman has 531 decals, but the steerer tube has a Columbus dove stamped on it

Anyways, I stil vote for the De Reus. It's vintage, paint looks good, garanteed made by a great (Dutch)framebuilder, Campy equiped and a lot cheaper.

I like Van Tuyl in general as well. They were always thinking ahead, getting into new materials, experimenting on paintjobs and sold a lot of high-end stuff. One day I'll be the ptroud owner of a steel Van Tuyl CX. There was one for sale couple of weeks ago for way cheap, but I simply have no more room for N+1...

cyclotoine

The reus is smaller than the VT with inferior components from a performance standpoint. The VT also appear to have a pista stem, which you can flip at a profit and replace with a cinelli 1A.

Edit: to the point --> buy the VT.

nimchimpsky82

Thanks both -- leave it to old bikes to divide people's opinions

I have just found out that the tubing of the Reus is Aelle, which AFAIK is towards (at?) the lower end of the Columbus hierarchy at the time, so probably strong but not very light.





I have also learnt that the current owner is about 4" shorter than I am, with a 4" shorter inseam length as well. (Zieleman, you can probably guess what country I'm from ) I'd prefer not to end up with an overly aggressive/uncomfortable saddle to bar drop, so the larger Van Tuyl (and Pinarello!) are looking like better options now...

non-fixie 

The De Reus looks nice, but a buyer might want to make sure it's actually a frame built by De Reus. Quite a few were sold with Belgian-made frames. Still very decent bikes BTW, and at € 200, not such a bad deal either.

nimchimpsky82

Thanks non-fixie -- will bear that in mind if I end up looking at it. Alas, the the next few days I'm too busy to go anywhere...