nlerner

Here's one for the bike sleuths: no manufacturer markings on this frame, and first digit of the serial # is somewhat rubbed out, so hard to get a read on that. Fork is marked "Akisu 83," and the internet tells me that was a fairly common fork manufacturer back in the day. It's too rainy for decent pics of the whole frame, but here's BB/serial # and fork. Otherwise, it takes a 26.2 seat post and is English-threaded. Seems fairly generic, but surprising features are braze-on downtube mounts and under BB cable routing. If it's a repaint, it's a decent one as no evidence of prior color on the fork steerer. Any guesses?

fender1

Zebrakanko?

Post #17 in this thread looks kinda like it:

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ebrakenko.html

nlerner

Hmm, that's pretty close! A bit of a different fork crown, but otherwise . . . I'll add some pics of the whole frame when it finally stops raining tomorrow.

Hummer

My guess: Raleigh Marathon. Possibly from when Huffy first began distribution of the Raleigh brand in the USA.

nlerner

Here are a bunch more photos. I'm fairly sure it's a repaint, given that it looks rattle can-ish.

nlerner

Bueller?

bboy314

Reminds me of the Japanese Schwinn Super Sport, Prelude, etc. but I don’t know if they ever had those seat stay caps.

dfritz95

I have the same frame, but mine has decals indicating it was sold as a Lotus. Model is unclear as the model decal is almost entirely rubbed off - there’s some Lotus information out there, and it seems like our frames most closely resemble the Lotus Elite, but (among other inconsistencies) in your case the frame is missing logos, and in my case the frame has blue banding not seen on the one photo I can find of a champagne and blue Lotus Elite. I am too new to share photos so sorry


I have the same fork, with “Akisu 83” on it, and a 26.2mm Kalloy seatpost. Also, the serial number on the bottom bracket shell does not conform to any Lotus serial number conventions.

My feeling was originally that the frame was made for Lotus by Pacific Cycles, in Taiwan, but there is no “P” preceding the serial number.

The saddle (might be original) is a Kashima, which is a commonly used saddle on Lotus models at the time. FD is Dura Ace, while RD is Suntour VX. Pretty sure at least one is not original. Shifters are Suntour (not sure of the series).

Stem is Kalloy (with a stamp indicating it was made in 1980). Rear hub is Jou Yu (1982) Front hub is unlabeled. Rear brake and levers are Chang Star. Front brake is Dia Compe.

The head tube has an engraving/stamp with the logo of Eisho Seisakusho, which was a Japanese lug manufacturer.

The serial number on my frame is 331431

T-Mar, any insight on these frames?

Hummer

Hello dfritz95 and welcome to the forum.

Thank-you for posting the information about your Lotus bicycle.

I have not seen a thread that you have created for this bicycle so I will comment about your bicycle on member @nlerner thread.

You have a good eye for the details as I think you have correctly identified the OP's bicycle as a Lotus from Pacific Cycles in Taiwan.
I guessed that it was a Raleigh USA from the Huffy era.

I have taken a look at the pictures of your bicycle, found here:

https://www.bikeforums.net/g/user/569427

I have rotated one image of the serial number.



I would suggest that your serial number begins with a "2". The "2" is slightly elevated like the second "3" in the serial number. This would make your Lotus serial number 2331431. This is similar to the OP's serial number. Note the uneven elevation of character stamping on both frame serial numbers.

There is no "P" prefix on the OP's bicycle serial number or on your Lotus.

It appears from my data that the "P" prefix for Pacific Cycles did not begin use until sometime in 1982 or 1983,
or there was an overlap period where both "P" prefix and non-""P" prefix serial numbers occurred during both 1982 and 1983.

The best examples of early 1980s Pacific Cycles serial numbers are the brand names Cierra and Firenze, made in Taiwan for Diversified Investments Corporation Madison, Wisconsin.

The Firenze bicycle are infamous for being given away for free with purchases from furniture and appliance stores in some cities in the USA.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...llectable.html

Diversified Investments Corp. transformed into or was part of Pacific Cycle of Madison, Wisconsin. Note that the name is not plural and the name of the Taiwan company is plural.

It seems odd that the Lotus brand name, which had a reputation for quality, was getting bicycle frames, at the same time, from the same frame manufacturer for the brand name, Firenze, which was sued for faulty bicycles. Maybe appliance and stereo stores should not give bicycles away because their customers may not be safe on a bicycle.

dfritz95

Hummer , thank you very much. Members like you are what make the forum such a wealth of information.