Possible 80's Serotta w/ aero tubing? Has anyone seen one before?

[happycampyer]

It occurred to me that I had saved some photos of a Serotta pursuit bike that was for sale on eBay years ago. It could be the same bike posted above.





There's also this bike, but I can't find a side-view photo of it:


And finally, here are some other examples of Serotta pursuit bikes:

http://lopro.blogspot.com/2011/09/se...-new-york.html
https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=183777

The seatpost cluster on the purple bike doesn't look anything like any of these bikes. I agree that the top bolt looks like a hack, regardless who made the frame.

[habes78023]

Originally Posted by happycampyer

It occurred to me that I had saved some photos of a Serotta pursuit bike that was for sale on eBay years ago. It could be the same bike posted above.

And finally, here are some other examples of Serotta pursuit bikes:

The seatpost cluster on the purple bike doesn't look anything like any of these bikes. I agree that the top bolt looks like a hack, regardless who made the frame.

Thanks for sharing these! With there being multiple bikes out there with that styling, it would seem that it is the true Aero Pursuit model.

That 'T' bike from the user Remko is something else too, Super cool.

I think the only way I'll know for sure what this is, is if someone from Serotta in the early 80's can identify it, or a previous owner who knows the history happens to find it on here.

[bob_in_pa]

I don't think it's an Aero Pursuit. They all seem to have track drop outs as would be appropriate for the pursuit. It would seem to be a road time trial bike. I'd say a high quality frame by the details but I don't know enough about Serotta to say for sure.

Good luck with the search.

-Bob

[Michael Maddox]

This is a strange bike. It's almost like someone built a Huffy Aerowind out of top-quality tubes and parts. I mean, it's clearly NOT a piece of junk.

[merckxman]

Aspects of it look like a Lotus Super Pro, or used that tube set that was then manipulated. My observation has to do with the downtube: what is that bolt doing there? Could this bike have started out as a derailleured bike with aero shifters there, that would seem to be where they would be, and then converted to track ends?

[habes78023]

Originally Posted by merckxman

Aspects of it look like a Lotus Super Pro, or used that tube set that was then manipulated. My observation has to do with the downtube: what is that bolt doing there? Could this bike have started out as a derailleured bike with aero shifters there, that would seem to be where they would be, and then converted to track ends?

I think you are referring to the purple bike, and it definitely would have been derailleured. I'm going to need to source an appropriate AX set of shifters to get it back into shape for riding around here, 56/20 isn't going to make it up the hills for me.

In the pictures of the underside of the bottom bracket, it has some guides, they are worse for wear, one broken off and filed, then another is crushed, only one appears in good condition. And there's also a guide right before the rear dropout in the traditional location on the chainstay, which I believe is unusual for a Shimano AX bike, because those had guides built into the derailleur. I guess I didn't take any close pictures of the dropouts, but they are normal front entry dropouts you would expect on a road bike, no track ends.

[merckxman]

Yes, referring to purple bike. So, if converted it would had to have been painted

[habes78023]

Originally Posted by merckxman

Yes, referring to purple bike. So, if converted it would had to have been painted

I may have worded my response in a weird way, I'll try to clarify:

As it sits, it has

• horizontal dropouts (front entry) with a derailleur hanger.
• Drilled for recessed brakes
• Mount on downtube for AX aero mounted shifters
• Water bottle cage mounts on downtube and seattube
• Cable guides on the top tube
• Cable guides on the bottom bracket and driveside chainstay

So the current single speed conversion was a simple flip the axle in the rear and toss on a single speed freewheel.

I don't think a whole lot of work went into converting it in any direction or making modifications to the frame that require a repaint.

[happycampyer]

I meant to ask if the brake bridge is pantographed with an “S.” It would be unusual for a Serotta not to have it.

[habes78023]

Originally Posted by happycampyer

I meant to ask if the brake bridge is pantographed with an “S.” It would be unusual for a Serotta not to have it.

It doesn't have any pantographing on it, you can just barely see in a few of the pictures of the seatpost in the photo album, None of those are very clear pictures.

I do believe you are right that it would make this even more unusual.

It's kind of like I joked either here or on BikeForums, that I at least have a Serotta fork if nothing else. haha But the frame doesn't look to be poorly done either.

[merckxman]

OP: thanks for clarifications. My monitor isn't the greatest but this looks like your frame, the SHIMANO bike. It appears to have your seat cluster and I think I spot the seatpost bolt on down tube. The fork is different, perhaps your frame got separated from original and someone put a Serotta on there?

[Monsieur Toast]

[ Edit: I'm dum, please ignore me ]

[merckxman]

The Shogun construction is very different from the SHIMANO. I'm suggesting the OP's purple frame is like the SHIMANO.

Originally Posted by Monsieur Toast

Hrmmm ... here's a link to the Shimano AX / Shogun Aero bike and I'm not seeing any similarities.

http://theflyingwheel.blogspot.com/2...ogun-aero.html

( Edit: My mistake – you were referencing the first picture only, and not the actual Shimano model .... )

[Monsieur Toast]

Originally Posted by merckxman

The Shogun construction is very different from the SHIMANO. I'm suggesting the OP's purple frame is like the SHIMANO.

Yep! I'm an idiot and was trying to delete my post before you saw it, apologies for my complete misreading of your original post.

[habes78023]

Originally Posted by merckxman

The Shogun construction is very different from the SHIMANO. I'm suggesting the OP's purple frame is like the SHIMANO.

I did see that Shimano bike, and I think I even linked to that catalog in the Bikeforums thread. The seat cluster looks very close, if not the same design. But then in the second picture, below, you can see the shifters are in a different spot. One other difference, and I know the pictures aren't great quality, but I don't see any cable stops on the chainstay, which would definitely make sense since that was a selling point for the AX group, and the derailleur having it's own cable guide. Which now that I think about it, would mean that the cables should run over the BB... These clearly run under on the purple bike and I don't see any signs of modification, but of course a skilled builder would be able to make all these modifications easily and a repaint would hide all.

It would be very interesting for this bike to have been for the shimano catalog, then somewhere along the line, someone decided to put a Serotta fork on it and paint it purple. But they also might have had to add the chainstay cable stop too... and change the location of the shifters.

Maybe Shimano made more than one?
Maybe a frame builder saw the catalog and decided they wanted to build that bike themselves to try?
Maybe a customer saw the catalog and commissioned one for themselves?

I wish I could answer these questions!