Frame tubing?

Wilfred Kazoks said:

I salvaged a bike from the hard rubbish because it looked better than the
usual stuff you find.

Is there a way to identify the quality of the frame tubing?
It has no lairy markings, just a label that says "Repco Bicycle Company
Huntingdale Victoria" below the front deraileur.

It probably dates from the mid 80's. It has 27inch wheels, 6speed shimano
freewheel, suntour downtube shifters and DiaCompe sidepull single pivot
brakes. It has UKI rims, not sure if they are alloy, probably not and the
front is not QR. If that is original then that probably is a clue that it
was a lowish end model.

The frame is lugged as was probably typical of the era.
The seatpost is 25.8mm
The seat tube is 28.8mm
The downtube is 28.8mm
The top tube is 25.5mm

Can you deduce anything from that?
I expect if it was a flash frame there would be some kind of label to say
so.

It had a working Cateye led front light so it wasn't a total loss if it is
just a heap of [censored].

How would you make a single speed out of it? Not into fixies i want to be
able to stop pedaling.

WIlfred

My guess is that it will probably be one or other of the Tange tubings

The last Repco I pulled apart was a 'superlight' it might have been Tange 6.

It also had 'Giant Bicycle Co' somewhere on it. Presumably Repco were buying the frames in out of Taiwan.

It also had a 110 BDC Sakae crankset (double) you may have just scored a part of the new craze if your one is the same.

Best of luck with it

RoryW

Wilfred Kazoks said:

The frame is lugged as was probably typical of the era.
The seatpost is 25.8mm
The seat tube is 28.8mm
The downtube is 28.8mm
The top tube is 25.5mm

Quoted message said:

Can you deduce anything from that?

I can deduce that it's a waterpipe(tm) frame. Repco were a pretty low-end bike. The seattube and downtube OD will actually be 28.6mm (1.125"😉. From the seatpost diameter of 25.8, the seattube walls are 1.4mm, which is really impressively thick.

Contrast that with most better quality tube sets, which use 26.8 to 27.2mm seat posts, and seat tube walls of 0.6-1mm.

Another way to gauge the quality is to weigh it. A good quality frame from that era would be 1.8-2.2kg.

The tubing is likely either low-end Tange, or else simple straight gauge 4130.

Cheers,

Suzy

Wilfred Kazoks said:

The frame is lugged as was probably typical of the era.
The seatpost is 25.8mm
The seat tube is 28.8mm
The downtube is 28.8mm
The top tube is 25.5mm

Quoted message said:

Can you deduce anything from that?

I can deduce that it's a waterpipe(tm) frame. Repco were a pretty low-end bike. The seattube and downtube OD will actually be 28.6mm (1.125"😉. From the seatpost diameter of 25.8, the seattube walls are 1.4mm, which is really impressively thick.

Contrast that with most better quality tube sets, which use 26.8 to 27.2mm seat posts, and seat tube walls of 0.6-1mm.

Another way to gauge the quality is to weigh it. A good quality frame from that era would be 1.8-2.2kg.

The tubing is likely either low-end Tange, or else simple straight gauge 4130.

Cheers,

Suzy

suzyj said:

I can deduce that it's a waterpipe(tm) frame. Repco were a pretty low-end bike. The seattube and downtube OD will actually be 28.6mm (1.125"😉. From the seatpost diameter of 25.8, the seattube walls are 1.4mm, which is really impressively thick.

Contrast that with most better quality tube sets, which use 26.8 to 27.2mm seat posts, and seat tube walls of 0.6-1mm.

Another way to gauge the quality is to weigh it. A good quality frame from that era would be 1.8-2.2kg.

The tubing is likely either low-end Tange, or else simple straight gauge 4130.

Cheers,

Suzy

'Low-end' Ohhhhhhhhh! :eek:

I'm guessing the 4130. The Tange infinity was OK(ish) from my distant memory. then again, that wa swhen i was clueless. Now I'm just less-cluey 😄

surely we're beating around the bush, or at least being polite -- it's JUNK!! 😄

You can get a 2nd hand Columbus SLX Cecil Walker/Paconi frame or a 531 Abici (fully chromed under the paint) for about $140 at Bicycle Recycle at the moment. I was gunna get the SLX myself, but it's a touch too small.

There's also a red Paconi Columbus Max frame down there, but I don't know what it's worth. Hmmm.......what else....a couple of 853 Perkins frames, but they're very heavy and a bit pricey.

There's heaps of old frames down there that could be made into fixies, if you don't mind having a derailleur hanger.

I went nuts when I found that shop a few years ago, and I now have 10 frames (got rid of a few) -- six of them built up with 90% 2nd hand parts! :p

531Aussie said:

Abini (fully chromed under the paint) for about $140 at Bicycle Recycle at the moment.

Correction: $85 for a fully chromed 531 Abeni (under the old celeste paint), including the sexy "[FONT=Times New Roman]A B E N I[/FONT]" embossing on the seat stay 🙂