#frugalcyclist

[univega-appreciation-blog]

Heading out before sunrise.

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Artsy shots at Mt. Diablo

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Other than ride my Univega,  I also hike with my family.  I am first and foremost a father and husband.

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Lamplight's Univega. Possibly the King Cool of all bikes. http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/374185-unofficial-univega-appreciation-thread.html

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Squeazel's 1984 Gran Turismo. Virtually identical to the Miyata 610. This is a great touring bike. http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/374185-unofficial-univega-appreciation-thread.html

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What’s So Great About A Univega

Oh, man there is so much it’s hard to know where to begin.  Triple-butted Tange steel, Miyata-made in Japan, Full chromoly frame. If you don’t know what any of this means there will doubtless be more blogs where I expand on this info but here’s some key points. 1) Miyata built some of the best bikes EVER. The great Sheldon Brown ranks the Miyata 1000 the best touring bike to come out at it’s time and the 610 right behind it. (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/japan.html). Well, the Univega Gran Turismo is the virtual identical bike to the 610. 2) Steel is the strongest, most useful and comfortable material for a bike. Chromoly is the best type of steel and triple-butted is the most advanced type of design, where it is thinner in the middle of the tubes where less weight is carried and thicker on the ends. Lugged means it’s the best looking where the tubes meet. External butting is another name for lugged. 3) Tange is Miyata’s patented tubing and one of the best brands of steel ever made. Columbus and Reynolds are more well-known and much costlier. Tange is the best buy per dollar for sure. And now to my specific model the Gran Sprint. Univega absolutely had some top of the line stuff because they were built by Miyata in the 80’s. Univega was more a group of salesmen then a bike company and they essentially sold Miyata’s with more Suntour components vs. the Shimano ones Miyata favored. Both components are solid and I’ve actually heard more preference for Suntour than Shimano until after the mid 80’s. The Gran Sprint is a mid-range road bike. It ranks solidly in the enthusiast, not professional, category which is essentially appropriate for everyone. This bike is not particularly light but it is bulletproof as shown by the Lifetime guarantee in the picture. For these reasons it is the ideal trainer. Tough, comfortable, fast, reliable and also not bad to look at. Isn’t it heavy? By current carbon standards it weighs more but it is useful weight which provides strength. Does that make it slow? Up mountains it takes a bit longer but it is by no means slow. Isn’t steel too flexible to be fast? You mean to provide the ideal balance of comfort and speed. If I can only outpace myself by 6 minutes up a 2,000 ft climb over the course of 45 minutes on a stiff aluminum bike that is 16 years newer and 7 lbs lighter I don’t think “flex” is slowing me down. I wouldn’t enter a race with this bike but I have held more than my own on upper level intermediate club rides with elite clubs. The difference between my 2002 Cannondale and my 1986 Univega was only noticeable on the steepest climbs. The Univega Gran Sprint is the perfect trainer. Meaning for the pure joy of riding, when you’re not trying to beat someone else, it is the perfect bike. An extremely comfortable , smooth, great handling, beautifully lugged road bike that is still racy enough to go on really fast club rides. All for about $150. One small-ish note: I did inherit Mavic wheels, STI Sora shifters and a Tiagra rear derailer, all from the late 90’s that probably help increase pace nicely.  These items probably increase the worth of my bike to $300-$400 range.

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Summit of Mt. Diablo

I’m proud to say I rode my Univega to the top of my local 3,842 foot mountain.  All 26.5 lbs, (fully loaded with water bottles and seat bag [not pictured])of beautiful classic 80′s lugged steel! It may have taken around 20 minutes more than my aliminum Cannondale, which weighs about 7 lbs less, but the ride down was well worth it. Like riding on a cloud!

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Rockin the New Balance AND a Univega!Is it the 80’s again!? Only in my mind. Only in my mind.

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The Unofficial Univega Appreciation Thread

Just a quick shout-out to the thread that inspired this blog and increased my appreciation.  Lots of great Univegas on this thread.

http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/374185-unofficial-univega-appreciation-thread.html