treebound 

I picked this up from a former now retired co-worker. He always bragged about The Falcon, but never rode it for the ten years I worked with him.

I’ve adjusted and corrected a couple things on the bike but the fit just doesn’t work for me so I’ve got it posted locally.

Has about a 60-61cm seat tube and about a 56 cm top tube. Bolt-on derailleur hanger.
27” steel rims with nice condition chrome on them.

Derailleirs are from the 1980’s and the former owner thinks he recalls having a shop replace the derailleurs for some reason or another. I believe he was the original owner of the bike. Current derailleurs are SunTour LePree.

Gearing is 3x5, half-step large and middle chainrings, and a smaller bailout 3rd chainring.

Frame is Reynolds 531 steel.

Some Falcon decals are good, some are bike-rack transport scraped up.

rides nice for what it is.

If it doesn’t sell locally then I might put a single freewheel cog on back, add a Singulator chain tensioner, and use the half-step gearing up front to use it as a two-speeder bike ( may or may not leave the smaller chainring depending if the tensioner can take up the slack. I don’t think the centerpull brakes can reach 700c rims.

Anyway, what s the general consensus on value as it sits, and as a bare frameset, and if I convert it to a 2x1 setup?

Thanks in advance for any comments.

treebound 

Do you think the top tube cable guides are incorrect or just out of position?

I recall having bikes back in the ‘70’s that had the flat bent cable guides like the ones on this bike, so I didn’t even think anything about them.

bikemig 

Tough to value because this is a clean, quality bike with good components and steel wheels. I'd value it at $125 +/- $25 as it sits. If you have alloy wheels that can work, I'd install those before selling the bike.

3alarmer 

.
...if you can keep and ride it, with the modifications you propose, I would do that.
These are nice riding frames, so much so that I restored one once. But right now they seem unable to attract an audience.

treebound 

Sort of in the category of: those that know can appreciate these, and those that don’t won’t.

I tried to explain half-step gearing to someone and they slowly wandered off muttering something about brifters and 1x12 or something.

it is nice to see that someone is keeping the Sheldon Brown pages alive.
https://sheldonbrown.com/gear-theory.html has a section called “Half-Step Plus Granny”

juvela

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WOW!

fabulous condition for a 50+ year old cycle

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frame:

the tubing transfer indicates construction with three-tube 531 plain gauge
this is certainly a plus but not a big one

lug pattern looks to be a Haden one, although do not have the name/number for it

fork crown is a Vagner model PL

bottom bracket shell, which is not clearly shown, may be an Agrati, the manufacturer used a good deal of Agrati shell around this period

ends set is Cyclo of England

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kitting:

the solid axle Normandy Sport hubs tell us that present wheels not original
originals would have been Normandy Sport hollow axle hubs with Weinmann alloy 27" wired-on rims
evidently someone grabbed the originals for another application and substituted these

the upgrades from OEM which have been performed are of good quality and most appropriate

presence of Campag Valentino shift levers tells us that this was the machine's ex-works gear ensemble

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the 24" frame size is a helpful one from a sales perspective

most manufacturers of production cycles went to a size regime of their exports to the US at this period of 19 1/2"/21"/23"/25"

so cyclists who needed a 22" or 24" frame and were not ready to spend the money for a top model bicycle could find it a challenge to locate an affordable machine in their size

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two adverts of 1972 -




catalogue page for a model 92 of 1973 -

​​​​​​

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valuation -

would tend to value it a bit more highly than the other posters

however, their market knowledge and timeliness much superior to mine


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SurferRosa

The latter.

It looks messy. With a bicycle, because my life is on the line, I want everything to look neat, in-line and perfect. When you're flying down a hill at 30mph with traffic, I don't want to be thinking that anything is kludged or even appears kludged.

Mr. 66

I have this at about $125 Craigslist listings. The steel rims are a bummer. The other changes are positive.

I had this bike in the robins egg blue back in 1982. For me it was an upgrade from the Schwinn Suburban my dad built up for me.

juvela

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wheels as so perfect and matched suspect they may have been changed out at the dealer level

the manufacturer's lowest drop bar "tenspeed" model at this time was the Black Diamond which came with wheels of this type

for all we know the buyer may have thought that aluminum rimmed wheels would be "flimsy" and so the dealer accommodated with this set...


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Trakhak

Yes. There are even people who post in C&V who sneer at half-step-gearing fans. I bought a modern cheap triple crank about three months ago and tried to get used to the big jumps between rings and to the gear gaps. Finally broke down and ordered a replacement ring for half-stepping, which arrived yesterday and will be installed today.

zukahn1 

+1 Have bikes that are working a half step with a Biopace steal granny bale out gear that work fine. I find the jump to the big ring in front is often awkward on a lot of the triggers or brifter's when running a triple front.

ramzilla

If it's spaced 120mm forget about it.

If it's spaced 126mm, then brand new wheels are available.

If it's spaced 130mm the skies are the limit.

Regardless, I think it's worth more than $100. Maybe $200.

​​​​​​​Good luck.

treebound 

Sometimes things work out.

I found a donor bike at a thrift shop with 27” 6-speed alloy wheels that spun true. So tonight I swapped the freewheels and put the 5-speed freewheel onto the alloy wheels, swapped the tires and tubes, and it only needed a minor limit screws adjustment.

I then removed the rear rack, and swapped the heavy sprung seat with a lighter saddle.

All told I dropped about 3 pounds from the bike, so now it is a feather-light 26 pounds. 🥸😬🤪

ramzilla

That's a really sweet bike. I'm very sentimental about Falcon bikes myself. It's worth way more than what most people would pay for it. Be good. Have fun.

treebound 

The Falcon is now in a new home with a taller owner who probably has put over 300 miles on it so far.