Condor Road Bike

IrishStu

So as I mentioned in another thread I've just began cycling and I'm currently using my neighbors road bike pictured below. While this will do me for a while Im planning on investing in a new bike through the Cycle2Work scheme however, he has offer me the bike for £100. I'm completely clueless about this kind of thing and if it's a bargain and I can turn a penny or two flogging it on it's worth a punt. Advice?



Cheers,

Stu

ugo.santalucia

It's a reasonable price for an old bike with Campagnolo gears... get it!

BTW: this type ofthreads are not allowed on Bike Radar

IrishStu

Ohh my apologies I thought I seen a similar thread and thought I'd try my luck. Thanks for the advice though!

Having never been on any kind of modern road bike would there be a significant difference going from this? My only niggle with it is that it can sometimes take a while for the gears to change but as I recall my mountain bike did the same thing when I was a kid so I'm not sure if it's something I'm doing wrong.

Thanks,

Stu

ugo.santalucia

IrishStu wrote:

Ohh my apologies I thought I seen a similar thread and thought I'd try my luck. Thanks for the advice though!

Having never been on any kind of modern road bike would there be a significant difference going from this? My only niggle with it is that it can sometimes take a while for the gears to change but as I recall my mountain bike did the same thing when I was a kid so I'm not sure if it's something I'm doing wrong.

Thanks,

Stu

Gears can be sorted.
Yes, a modern bike will be a bit better, but you need to spend 10 times more at least to see a difference. If you spend 300 on a new bike it will be worse than that one.

PS: your left brake lever need to be closed, there is a pivot at the side to press.

IrishStu

I was wondering why I couldn't reach it from the hooks. Cheers!

I've been looking towards a Pinnacle Dolomite 2 2016 or a B'TWIN TRIBAN 540 however I'm going to wait and see what advice I get from other members here on the site. Planning a century ride hopefully in the next 2 months and want something reliable enough that I'm not worried about a wheel flying off or something. Rough declines on the Condor are a little butt clenching to say the least!

g00se

Turning this into a Condor thread, rather than "what's it worth" - Condors are decent bikes, this will be a bottom of the range 'Italia' from the late 90s at a guess. (Condor 'bottom of the range' isn't bad though). I have an 80s Italia I use now as a single speed.

It'll be great to see you through until next spring - then you'll know exactly what you do and don't like if you want to get something new. Then you could use this as a winter bike or sell on for what you paid for it.

The drivetrain is Campagnolo - but what group-set is it? If it hasn't rubbed off, it'll say on the levers and the mechs.

If it feels a bit rough in the road, folks would say you could get a cheap carbon seatpost - but as the frame is quite old school and you don't have much seat post showing, I doubt it would help that much. Padded shorts?

drlodge

Seems to be an aluminium frame by the look of those welds, I didn't think Condor made aluminium frames. The Italia range in the 80s were made from Reynolds 531 tubing which that clearly isn't. I'm wondering if its had some Condor decals put on? Is there a frame number underneath the bottom bracket shell?

g00se

They outsourced a lot of the Italia frames in the 80s apparently - mine is a Nigel Dean rebadged.

Their current base Italia is Aluminium I think.

drlodge

g00se wrote:

They outsourced a lot of the Italia frames in the 80s apparently - mine is a Nigel Dean rebadged.

Their current base Italia is Aluminium I think.

You're right, so this is likely an Italia frame made once they stopped making the Italia in 531 and moved to Aluminium. Late 90s sounds about right then. My Italia Pro in 531 Professional was made in 1987 (4 digit frame number).

menthel

Condor deffo do aluminium- my Italia was (RIP) as are the new standard and race Italias. In fact JLT Condor are using the new race tuned Italia at present!

I would snap that up for £100.

g00se

drlodge wrote:

g00se wrote:

They outsourced a lot of the Italia frames in the 80s apparently - mine is a Nigel Dean rebadged.

Their current base Italia is Aluminium I think.

You're right, so this is likely an Italia frame made once they stopped making the Italia in 531 and moved to Aluminium. Late 90s sounds about right then. My Italia Pro in 531 Professional was made in 1987 (4 digit frame number).

Yup - the Italia is their budget range, I don't think they have been made by Condor directly for a while. When I got my old frame I couldn't find any real reference to it. But I contacted Condor and they told me it was basically a re-badged Nigel Dean - even to the point it had the Nigel Dean two-tone faded paint-job. Not that that's a bad thing, the Dean frames were good.

drlodge

I had a Nigel Dean with pink 2 tone faded paint job...sold it with the 600EX group set I bought in 1986.

g00se

I'm afraid mine's a bit of a rat-bike these days:

ugo.santalucia

As I understand they are made in Veneto, Italy. There are workshops where they churn them out at a "Chinese" rate, Vetta, for example.
Interestingly, if you speak to someone who owns a Vetta, or a Condor for what that matters, he will tell you they are as good as any frame out there, which goes to show you don't need to wait 18 months to get a quality hand crafted steel frame and you don't need to spend 2 grand either.

http://www.vetta.it/

homers_double

:roll: