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Decided that my road bike is too big for me and causing me a few back problems. My road bike is fairly worthless and will be replaced with something expensive next year, so the strategy decided upon was to buy something cheap and smaller, swap all the bits over, then sell my frame and forks with the aim of making the transaction as close to revenue neutral as possible.
So this was bought:
Complete impulse purchase, but worth the gamble I think. But I don't know what it is! I've done a google and Principia did a REX in 2001, 2002 and 2003, but they were aluminium. The advert lists this as aluminium, but the pictures are clearly carbon. Principia do a carbon REX now, but it's not one of those.
Hopefully everything will swap over and I can sell my frame and that Royce BB to recoup the outlay anyway, but what have I bought?
Over to you....
Clearly carbon why?
It might just be alu with smoothed out welds and a nice paint job...
Looks like a Kosher Princ. frame. Isaac fork was standard issue.
Weird though .. pretty old - maybe 1999-2001 ?
...although it does look very very very much like a Trek OCLV frame with different stickers on...
I say it's clearly Carbon as the Principia's all appear to have been aluminium with clear welds and no hydroforming, so the bottom bracket area doesn't fit at all.
If you think it's a Trek OCLV, that wouldn't be a disaster, so long as it was the one Lance road!
I did actually think the bonded dropouts looked exactly like those on my 1998 Trek OCLV carbon MTB frame when I first looked at it.
is it legit??
Odd language usage in the text and why no BB tool if you still have that BB in that frame you have fully stripped?
Not a troll serious question
First time ebayer saying it will be posted- ie no face to face meet
Does look a lot like this:
If it's not legit the transaction is covered through PayPal so I've nothing to lose I don't think. It does look more like someone that hasn't used eBay before rather than someone that doesn't know their bikes I think.
I think you've linked to the same thing..
There is a curve from the BB to the seat tube which is not like the Trek...
I wonder if this was used by a principia racer 'back in the day' but was really a re-painted TREK.
Same as what they did for the early Kona/Turner DH bike
Looks absolutely nothing like my old Rex (maybe 2000) which was very round profiled tubed with very obvious welds - one of Principia selling points was engineering excellence and much scorn on the filing of welds fad at the time.
Company had a murky last few years before going under so this could have been from then - or one of the rbs boys (importers then owners of principia) spraying up their old oclv winter bike to fit the team look (they had to ride principia).
Yeah, sorry, not sure how I got that link wrong! I found a better match though:
Looks identical to me?
you done it again!
I think it's an OCLV frame with an Isaac fork. Bargain!
If it's not legit the transaction is covered through PayPal so I've nothing to lose I don't think
I meant how did the bike come in to their hands rather than whether you would be ok
Sorry:
http://www.lfgss.com/thread38369.html
I've got two keyboards on the desk and keep using the wrong one!
Yep, looks like it; I've got an OCLV and it's a good solid carbon frame.
If there is one bike brand that I know inside out it's Principia - and that ain't one.
But £78.00 for a Trek OCLV isn't bad either
If there's one brand I know nothing about it's Principia. Actually, the same applies to a lot of road brands. How come they often have Italian sounding names but are from different countries? Principia must be Italian right?
Like I said, it's a short-term swap that will become a winter bike in due course, so not really bothered what it is, so long as I can get that bottom bracket out and make a few quid selling my old frame it'll cost me next to nothing.
Seller is happy for me to collect, but it's too far away, so have paid for postage.
Odd language usage in the text and why no BB tool if you still have that BB in that frame you have fully stripped?
Royce BBs require a special tool and a degree of mechanical dexterity to remove safely
And the BB is worth more than the price i reckon
send it back to Cliff for a service and it'll last a good 10 years at least
How come they often have Italian sounding names but are from different countries? Principia must be Italian right?
Google Newton's law of gravity and all will be revealed about the name of the bike (well the name on the sticker on the frame!) and connection to the company that made the forks.
It's a square taper BB isn't it? I'm 98% sure my cranks are octalink and I don't want to change the cranks if I can help it. Would Retro Bike be a good place to sell the BB rather than eBay?
it's not really a retro product.
sell on here i'd have thought.
seems they go for £30-£40 on ebay
Clearly carbon why?It might just be alu with smoothed out welds and a nice paint job.
Of course it's carbon. You can't make a BB junction like that out of alu.
Well, it's arrived!
Had a good look at it and it looks like a fantastic buy at £78. Paint work isn't perfect, but the frame isn't damaged, weighs next to nothing and looks really good. Absolute bargain!
What is it though I hear you ask? I still don't know. It looks genuine, it doesn't look like a respray at all. All the stickers look like they've been done at the factory. I'd say it is a Principia-sourced frame. BUT, the sticker with the frame details/size on states it's aluminium. Did Principia just stick the standard stickers on it and send it racing, or is it a really good fake? If it's fake, why would you do that!
All very strange. Just need to get the BB out and give it a blast....