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Royce Union road bike

Old 09-18-22, 07:44 AM
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XxHaimBondxX
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Royce Union road bike

Got this bike in great condition, looks very low end, however, there's 0 info about it on the net, makes me think it was rebadged.


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Old 09-18-22, 09:06 AM
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Fairly low end bike and yes it is rebadged bike likely made in Japan or Taiwan early 80's vintage so if you give us the serial number of the BB someone here can likely tell you the actual maker date it was made. . As for value it looks to be in great shape accept for the small dent in the top tube so I would say $125 or so.
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Old 09-18-22, 10:07 AM
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Originally Posted by zukahn1
Fairly low end bike and yes it is rebadged bike likely made in Japan or Taiwan early 80's vintage so if you give us the serial number of the BB someone here can likely tell you the actual maker date it was made. . As for value it looks to be in great shape accept for the small dent in the top tube so I would say $125 or so.
Serial looks like A89C100858

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Old 09-18-22, 10:40 AM
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What do you mean rebadged? Like a previous owner put those stickers on it?

I suspect theses were just a lowend offering from some distributor. I think it was a company call C-Tel or something that sold a cheap line called Signal.

I think it closer to late ‘80s judging by the index shifting, alloy triple crank, and what looks like alloy wheels with a QR front.

this probably something similar to a Raleigh Capri or a Schwinn Calentie of the late ‘80s.

definitely nothing like the Royce Unions we had in the Boom Days of the ‘70s
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Old 09-18-22, 10:52 AM
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I don't know ho manufactured it, but the serial number would appear to indicate a 1989 model. The format was common among Taiwanese manufacturers. There appears to be a Country of Origin label on the front of the lower head lug, though I can't read it from the photo. The graphics are reminiscent of the Centurion models from this period , while the model name is one used by Fiori. However, I don't think there is any connection and it's simply a case of appropriating attractive graphics and an intertesting model name.

Royce Union is a very old brand that originated in 1904. Over the years, the bicycles have been manufactured in various countries including the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Japan and Taiwan. I suspect the brand has changed ownership several times over the years. Since at least the early 1960s it appears to have been owned by marketing firms who have had the bicycles contract manufactured to a price point. As such, they are likely the contract manufacturer's standard frame design, with options from their standard component packages and colour range. About the only thing specific to the brand would be the decals and head badge.

It's definitely bottom of the barrel for the era, with a hi-tensile frameset, steel rims, nutted rear axle, steel chairings swaged to aluminum crankarms, stem mounted shift levers and brake safety levers. Royce Union typically didn't stray from the entry level market.
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Old 12-22-22, 08:48 PM
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The Royce Union brand was started or bought by the owner of a regional department store called times Square Stores based in Brooklyn, NY. He also sold bikes to other small regional department stores around the US. They are all bikes made by third parties with Royce Union badges. I have a 1957 Royce Union made in Birmingham, England with a Sturmy Archer 3 speed. My dad bought a new Royce union made in Japan in the early '70s from Times Square Stores in Levittown, NY. they tried to have a broad range of bikes so some of the higher end ones were made in Europe and finally in Taiwan.
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