Univega Alpina. Any ideas what year it is?

Just picked up a Univega Alpina Comp frame off the bay.
Although it was listed as being from 1993 I suspect it could be slightly earlier.

Here are a couple of pictures from the original listing:




Any ideas please?

A friend of mine had a 1994 (bought new), and it was pretty much identical barring the paint and decals - had the weird stays etc. Could be 1993.

I also would say 93 - similar one was shown in RetroMTB.pl's forum

skolioza":38qkomot said:

I also would say 93 - similar one was shown in RetroMTB.pl's forum

Click to expand...

Thanks Marcin. Do you have a link to the one on RetroMTB please?

The reason I think it could be earlier than 93 is due mainly to the decals.
As far as I know, the 'chromoly UNIVEGA' decal was simplified to just 'Univega' on the 1993 bikes, and the model names began to include numbers too. Such a 'Alpina 5.3' for example.
I also think that the seat-stay/seat-tube arrangement is different on 93 frames, in that the seat-stays join the seat-tube above the level of the top tube, rather than slightly below as in the photos.

Although it's not clear from the photos, this one has an 'Alpina Comp' decal with no numbers, and the down tube decal is the 'chromoly UNIVEGA' one, hence my query over the model year.

I suppose a look at the Univega catalogues would help but I can't find anything online.

I remember the top tube being below the seat stays on my friends 1994, but that was a 16 inch bike, yours looks bigger so maybe that`s why.

Did the front derailleur come with the frame - maybe a clue there.

mechagouki":cfxi9o0o said:

I remember the top tube being below the seat stays on my friends 1994, but that was a 16 inch bike, yours looks bigger so maybe that`s why.

Did the front derailleur come with the frame - maybe a clue there.

Click to expand...

Good point.
The frame will hopefully arrive next week, but the front mech is included and listed as a DX. So assuming it's original, this again places it between 1990 and 1993. Being a top pull I'm guessing that more likely places it as 91 or onwards as I don't think a top pull DX mech was available in 1990.

I think the key is in the decals. They are similar to the ones on clockworkgazz's 1991 Univega Alpina Pro as seen below, albeit in blue rather than pink obviously:


It'll more than likely be built up using my spare DX groupset, so it will be consistent with the dates suggested. I'm just really keen to pinpoint the date more accurately.

Here's how I built mine:

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=53557

Quick update on this now that the frame has arrived.






A good inspection of the frame has given me a pretty good idea as to what year it is. The clues are in the remaining components which are undoubtedly the originals.
The front mech is a DX M651 version with a QJ production code, ie October 1992. The BB has a QG code which makes it July 1992.
So based on the fact that the components will have been manufactured at about the same time as the frame, this gives a 1993 model year to the bike.
This is further evidenced by the fact that the frame also had a damaged and unusable Tioga Alchemy Aheadset included. These were first seen in the 93 production year.

The original ebay listing was correct, so well done '12-28', whoever you are...

I'll start a build thread up soon.