Total Knacker. Can you tell what it is yet?

Sure it isn't a Universal?

UNIVEGA. it was a little quiz. I left it as a challenge but with too many clues as it wasn't much of one.

chrisv40":1gsy5net said:

Pretty sure it s a 1995 Univega Alpina 501, very basic parts but a nice frame so well worth giving to someone that wants to repaint it.

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Good shout stripped it this evening and had a little scrape.

Max mudroom chainstays and bi-oval tubing on a model as low as the 501...? I cant remember now, I remember the Ti paint finish on the 5.3 and 5.4 had it, Christ im getting old.

The Concept handlebar stem that was on it suggests it went back to the Uk wholesaler at the time for a recall of some type Inc Headset. Concept being the low end stem/brand supplied by E.Reece alongside Univega at the time, But not the stem that came with the bike O/E fitment. (with that said Concept was the marketed brand for Univega and did label the lovely Cro-mo Amp fork as Concept too)

Mate why are you messing around with this Tat when you have that lovely Alves frame to crack on with.....?

have you found a Donor bike for the Alves yet...?

Don't worry, be patient. It's coming.

This was just given back by a mate who's finished with it. Thought I'd bin it as tat but others are suggesting I offer the frame as karma so I've stripped it of parts in case I get a taker.

The History Man":36aoaut4 said:

Don't worry, be patient. It's coming.

This was just given back by a mate who's finished with it. Thought I'd bin it as tat but others are suggesting I offer the frame as karma so I've stripped it of parts in case I get a taker.

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If its ends up a 5.4 its a tidy capable frame to be fair, they sold very well, and was full cromo with some nice touches, the lesser model less cromo and more hi-ten, but even then it would still be nice karma for someone.

Univega did a lovely Boralyn Model that whilst hard to shift here in the UK was a cool bike to be fair.

sadly E-Reece were the problem with this brand here, in the end I was buying a container at a time of odd frame sizes (mainly smalls and XL) and each unit had a purchase cost of £134.00+ Vat.

With that sort of reduction customers were buying them at £299 for a full Cro-mo frame with a quality groupset. I broke a lot for the O/E shimano and components too, this was a customer saving of well over £200 per bike. It was ridiculous, E-reece needed shooting for making them available from day one in this way. The only people that benifitted was the dealer and the customer, A quality bike and Cheap Shimano to go with it.

Whilst they were sold Cheaply here in the UK in there 1000s, its not really a reflection of there quality, Brand Snobbery aside, it compared like for like with an equivalent brand from the far east, price point for price point. It was only the Importers Volume greed that buggered the brand up.

So how to I.d. It ?

The History Man":3fwfaur7 said:

So how to I.d. It ?

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Ok I am only going form really old memories here, and in truth I always left the 501 in favour of the Ti finish 5.4 and the blue and black and the green and black 5.3, 5.4s, purely based on purchase cost per container. The 501 was never available in the large numbers when the better models were selling at vastly reduced prices. At one point dealers were retailing the better models at less money than the cheaper bikes. (crazy dayz)

Does the bike have an 1/18th headset or 1".

Failing this, take all the paint back to see if there is an additional decals at all.

That is the O/E fork by the looks of it, and I don't remember the 5.3 and 5.4 having a threaded fork and headset, im sure they only came Ahead supplied. If this was the case then you do have a 501 as suggested. Im buggered if I can be any more than 99% on this though, as I say im more familiar with the 5.4 and 5.3 of this time.

There you go, Alpina 501 in ti finish with headset and part hi ten and part cromo with maxmudroom chainstays.

Search Over.