80's UNIVEGA

[sandman]

Picked this one up from my local flipper . He has several out building's filled with bike's and parts , more Walmart bikes then anything else . I stop there and talk to the 80+ year old man about bikes at least once a week since he's located on my way to the bike path . He lets me dig thru his 5 gal buckets of bike parts freely , yesterday I asked him what was in the building that was always locked . There was nothing special in there , then I noticed the Made in USA sticker on this UNIVGA cruiser . We both kicked the tires around until we settled-on a price . After bringing it home I cleaned it up , repacked the bearings and thru on these cheap whitewalls . After doing some research I thank it is rare one ? Now I need to go back and see if I can find the chain-guard in one of his 5 gal. buckets ?

 

[RustyGold]

Its twin is currently on one of my local craigslists.

 

[sandman]

Can I ask what they have based the value at ?

 

[RustyGold]

I'm having trouble finding it now...it didn't have Univega in the listing, but I can't remember what search terms brought it to my attention. I would guess that it was under $133 because that's the upper limit of my generic cheap bike search, and probably over $50...because I would have bookmark'd it if it was $50 or under .

Jason

 

[sandman]

Most of the Islanders I can find are from the 90's . I thought Univega started importing bikes in the late 80's much like
Schwinn ?

 

[RustyGold]

Univega wasn't a manufacturer, they contracted all their bikes... initially from Japan, but as Japanese manufacturing became more expensive in the 80s they shifted to Taiwan built bikes.

I assume the Made in the USA indicates they either contracted these from Murray or Roadmaster...or more likely, Taiwan frame assembled in the USA.

 

[RustyGold]

The welds should give you a good idea of where the frame was made...if they look like toothpaste, US...if they actually look like weld beads, Taiwan.

 

[sandman]

Kinda like Jamis then ? Looks like the original 70's Univega's were made in Italy by Italvega , before moving to Japan . That's what Wiki tells me anyhow ?

 

[Dizzle Problems]

Cool cruiser. My bet is early 90's based on the unicrown fork, and the stem. Im betting the stem insert is 22.2. As opposed to 21.1 which it remained mostly through the 80's

 

[sandman]

I'm in it for $80 with the tires . More then I want invested in another toy , but I should be able to sell it for that at any time if needed . Just going to enjoy it for now .

 

[Dizzle Problems]

I'm in it for $80 with the tires . More then I want invested in another toy , but I should be able to sell it for that at any time if needed . Just going to enjoy it for now .

Heck yea. Looks like a comfy rider!!