With today’s entry, we maybe coming close to solving one of our many “Unidentified” OTS mysteries.   This is Vic’s “Premium” 10-Speed, and as he points out, it bears a significant resemblance to  Todd’s Unidentified 10-Speed from last year.  Same components, same lugs, and most importantly, same pie plate!  Also, as Vic points out, the headbadge bearing “PREMIUM” and downward crossed arrows is nearly identical to an Azuki headbadge.  Another similarity to Azuki is the lug style of Vic and Todd’s “Premiums” and Gauge’s Azuki.

My name is Vic. Before I say anything else I have to say I love this site! I look forward everyday to seeing new posts. Most days anyway.

You say your site is for all things old crappy 10-speed. Well I think my bike is exactly that. It is old, it is crappy, and it is a 10-speed. What year is it? I have no idea. I’m assuming it’s just a generic department store bike from the 70s. Make and model? Well I don’t know about the model, but for make, the head badge says “PREMIUM.” But what’s a “Premium”? I have never seen another bike with a badge like mine before. The only thing that comes close is one of the Azuki badges which has the same shape and the same arrows but with a different image above the lettering. I also had a “Sports Cycle” atom sticker on the seat tube. At the bottom of the seat tube was a sticker that read “Made in Japan.”
Over at bikeforums.net, this person seems to have same “Sports Cycle” atom sticker just like mine although he says it is an Azuki and has stem shifters. Read post #4. http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=96892

Also check out Trevor’s Mid-70’s Azuki 10-speed. You can see the badge, and just barely make out the sticker on the seat tube. This Azuki also has stem sifters. http://oldtenspeedgallery.com/found-on-flickr/trevors-mid-70s-azuki-10-speed/

Anyway, I was planning on riding a bike to school this upcoming fall because I just moved into a new apartment which is a little farther away from campus than my current place. I immediately thought of this bike at home because no one rides it. It was sitting in the garage at my grandparent’s house for who knows how long. When I was about 5 years old my dad moved it to our house and since then it has been hanging in the garage for close to 20 years. It was originally my uncle’s bike, then he gave it to my dad, and now I have it. I actually kinda liked the original red paint, but I just couldn’t stand all that reflective tape. It was even on the wheels. I think it was used as a theft deterrent, but who knows. I spent a good couple hours removing the tape, but it didn’t look too good afterward because a lot of the paint came off with the tape . So I just decided to turn it into a quick little project. I sanded the paint down and painted it black, got new cables, and replaced the foam grips with red handlebar tape. New brakes and tires are coming soon as well. I’m only a poor college student after all.

Okay about the bike. It has a Shimano 333 front derailleur and Shimano Eagle rear derailleur. It also has Shimano downtube shifters. It has center pull brakes but I don’t know who makes them. I think it says “Hi-Stop Cherry” on the washers around the nuts on the calipers. The wheels are 27″ Arayas. The bike weighs around 33 lbs. I’m guessing everything is made of steel.

All in all it rides and shifts smoothly, so I’m happy.

Before sending you this email, I went through all your old posts just to see if anything like mine has come up before. Going by the parts he listed, could Todd’s Unidentified Old 10-speed potentially be my big brother? The pie plate looks the same and the crank cover or whatever is similar enough except for the slots. The “Eagle” lettering on his rear derailleur is a little different so maybe it is an earlier or later model. The rest of the components are quite similar. But I’ll leave it up to you pros to decide. Also check out Harv’s comment, he had a “Premium” also!!! http://oldtenspeedgallery.com/owner-submitted/todds-unidentified-old-10-speed/
Thank you for your time.

Vic

Thanks Vic