Lotus Classique road Bike frameset 57cm vintage 1984

1984 Lotus Classique frameset Tange Champion No. 2 tubeset, hand built in the Tsunoda factory in Nagoya Japan. This was a product during the Golden Era of Japanese frame building, both in craft and art. It's hard to beat the value from any year or era of handbuilt lugged steel road frames. Lotus had a fairly broad lineup. The Classique was marketed as a sport-triathlon bike.

57cm square (seat tube and top tube are both 57cm center to center. 

The frame features Suntour GT-III (model EF-200) semi horizontal dropouts with rack/fender eyelets, reminiscent of the Campagnolo 1010 dropouts, but with a longer derailleur hanger drop of 29mm. Front fork ends are Tange-T with fender eyelets at the tail. 

126mm rear frame spacing

26.8mm ID seat tube

English BB threading 

1" headset

Easily fits 28-30mm tires with enough room for fenders. Without fenders, the safe range of tire clearance is 32-35mm. Super versatile! This frame weight is 7.08lb or 3.2Kg with seatpost, headset installed. 

Selling with Shimano 26.8mm 600 seatpost and Shimano 600 scalloped 1" headset.

Decals are pretty beat up. Replacement decals for this model are widely available for $50. The paint finish is still the bright electric blue but has scratches typical of a well loved frameset on pavement and in garages since 1984. See photos for conditions.

Source for further info: http://www.vintagelotusbicycles.com/