what is this bike?!?!

newguy

Retro Newbie
hey all,

so i just got this frame from the local bikesmiff who lives down road from me (in thailand) i mentioned to him that i was interested in building a road bike, then he ushered me downt he back of the work shop and pointed out a frame to me.
it looked pretty cool and kinda retro and wasnt too heavey. so i took it.
he told me it was a famous brand and it was rare, from what i could gather (im still beginner level speaker).

so what i know already:
its black , under that was blue.
it was made in taiwan (yet to be confirmed)
head badge on it says 'foremost' - after googling this i got all kinds of crazy conflicting results
it's roughly 25 years old. thats all i know- if any one can give me any more info on this brand its history- and its quality or value ( if any) that'd be swell.
id love a picture of an original complete so i know what the hell it is im rebuilding. he did mention he had forks for it too, im not sure if they're the originals or not, i hope so.
cheers folks!
 

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JC Penny sold bikes named Foremost they were mainly utility/cruiser Schwinn style bikes and built in Jackson, Mississippi......possibly the same company?
 
Never heard of Foremost, not that that means anything.

Things that can give an idea of the quality of a bike:
- rear brake bridge: the "tube with a hole" that you have is typical of lower end bikes.
- dropouts: pressed (stamped from sheet steel, with "sharp" edges) being lower end and forged being higher. Are they named?
- seat tube/post diameter: 27.2mm/27.0mm being top end; being smaller doesn't necessarily mean it's low-grade steel as, for example, 531 came in many different flavours and seat tube sizes.
- lugs: they don't look to have been finished with any particular care.

Mudguard mounts won't be found on a thoroughbred race machine, but there are also plenty of good bikes which have mudguards.

The rear derailleur cablestop is on top of the chainstay which is the "old" position; but it has braze-ons for downtube shifters and toptube cable guides which were "later" features. Different manufacturers were using these features at different times and there is no precise cut-off date, but I'd hazard a guess at late Seventies/early Eighties.
 
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