67tony 

...and what would be a rough wholesale/retail value?

Berylbite

Well, the value of your bike depends on many thinks, things that don't depend on the quality of the bike.
If the market is flooded in your area you may have a hard time.
Around here (southern Alabama) that bike would sell anywhere from $120 to $200.

I have no idea what kind of lotus it is, look like a "middle/high end" bike to me. you should take a picture of the other side so people can see the drive train.

Snydermann

It looks like a 1984 Lotus Unique, second-generation for that model.

The Unique was one model above the best selling Lotus Excelle and added upgraded components and trim to make the bike more sporty. The Excelle seems to have been designed to sell in the under $300.00 price point, I think Lotus added all of the things they actually wanted on the Excelle model (but couldn't afford to do so and still make the Excelle a $300.00 bike) on the Unique. The 1984 Unique was the first year for Lotus engraved seat stay caps and engraved chromed fork crown on that model. I believe the rear of the saddle was also branded Lotus, but was made by Kashimax. Approximate retail in 1984 was about $350.00.

That bike looks very original, it might have spent most of it's life as a garage wall hanger. Approximately $150.00 to $300.00.

zukahn1 

Some more detailed pictures including the drive side would be helpfull in pricing this bike. During the mid 80's Lotuses quality and components varied greatly even on the same or similar models. Without further details the price range is $100-300 maybe even a little more or less depending on condition.

Snydermann

That statement may apply to a very few of their entry-level and/or Taiwanese models, but even in that case, it's not really true. The bike in question is a 1984 Unique and all 1984 Uniques are consistent. Any model including and above the Excelle are very standard from year to year with every year showing improvements.

Lotus models were relatively consistent through their changes and showed the same or similar progression of improvements and component substitutions that many of the Japanese manufacturers followed. If anything, the second-generation 1983-1985 models were some of their finest-quality bikes. It's obvious that Lotus learned a lot from their introductory models in the early 1980's and by 1983 they really fine tuned their models across the board. The early bikes from 1980-82 show some minor variations but that can be explained as a young company getting their feet off of the ground. The final years of Lotus in the late 1980's, especially 1988 to 1990 the company seemed to be winding down and appears to have sold the Lotus name to be used by other importers, such as Sears.

The only major variations I have seen between original components on the same model and year Lotus bikes seems to be the freewheels and some rim selections.

It's my opinion that Lotus never made a bad bike. Some of the early Taiwanese bikes had variable quality and were inexpensive bikes, but they were still good for the price. All of the Japanese Lotus bikes were very high quality for their price level.

pcb 

It is very unusual to find frequent parts substitutions and non-catalog shipping spec from any Japanese production builder in the '70s-'80s. Catalog spec was the gospel in the Japanese home market, and non-catalog substitutions were only done for emergencies, for specifically affected production runs. Anybody specing a bike in Japan for another market got that benefit. Japanese retailers are unimaginably tiny, a dealer selling 500+ bikes a year may only have enough floor space for 10 bikes. And he carries 15 brands, that each have 12 models. Do the math, you'll see that most bikes were sold out of the catalog, sight unseen by the buyer. So the catalog photo/spec had to match the actual bike. I had dealers complain about upspec'd parts! "The catalog says 105 rear derailleur, the customer won't accept a 600."

Also '70s-'85ish bikes built in Japan pretty much used 100% Japanese components, from stem to stern. The Japanese part mfrs made sure they filled their orders, so there were few reasons for a factory to need to sub a part to keep the production line moving. Once product managers started mixing asian/Euro componetry, and once currency made Taiwanese/Chinese parts necessary, production scheduling became much more difficult.

Originally Posted by zukahn1
During the mid 80's Lotuses quality and components varied greatly even on the same or similar models.