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Does anyone know this brand? I’ve never heard about and couldn’t find anything on Google

Bicycles Asked by yohairosen on May 23, 2021

It says “PRIMA CYCLE” but I’m not sure its the name of the brand. Any Idea?

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2 Answers

That's probably because this bike pre-dates the internet by decades. Anyone connected with the brand is likely a minimum age of 70, or has long since passed away. I have a similar `80s bike from Vincere and there is literally no information to be found anywhere.

What we can see is a 1970s bike at the latest - the cranks are attached to the bottom bracket with cotter pins, which would have been out of sale by the 1980s.

The brake levers have sissy bars for braking from the tops. This never really worked well, and was a way to make drop bars more appealing during the bike boom of the 70s and 80s, when oil prices were high.
Left brake-front wheel suggests this is an American or Continental setup. English/Commonwealth/Japanese bikes tend to have the brake levers swapped in function.

The pedals look to be pressed steel, and are probably newer replacements.

Wheels are probably chromed steel and will be 630mm sized, often called 27 or 28 inch and aren't either. Tyres are still available in this size, but the range isn't large.

Problems/niggles:

  • The bike should have three cable clamps on the top tube to secure the rear brake cable. They would be made from stainless steel and secured with small bolt. It appears to have cable ties holding the brake cable on, and only two of them.
  • The front derailleur control cable seems to be super-taut above the BB. I suspect one/both of the end stops have slid up the downtube or seattube over time.
  • Dual pivot brake calipers are far newer than the bike - they might have been replaced to improve stopping power.
  • Pedals also appear to be MTB style replacements, blacked not chromed.
  • Handlebar angle seems high, the bike is almost "looking upward", and the handle bars seen too high for the saddle, as though this was ridden by an older person with limited flexibility. At the time trend in seat posts was relatively short with not much poking out of the frame but this saddle seems to be slammed....
  • Saddle looks to be simply sitting on the seat post - I would have expected to see more of the clamp holding onto the visible rails. Not sure, needs a closer look there.

All up it looks like a thoroughly nice vintage bike from the late 1970s. The white bartape carries through the `80s aesthetic too, and has been redone recently. (clean white bartape doesn't stay clean long when the bike is being used)

My only significant complaint is that the photo has been taken from the wrong side. Normally we want to see more of the transmission, which is almost always on the right-hand side of the bike. So a bike should be aiming to ride off to our right-hand side.

Answered by Criggie on May 23, 2021

I have heard of a bicycle called a Puch Prima I don’t know if this links in any way but if it does that might make this bike German if I remember correctly.

Answered by Matthew Bunting on May 23, 2021

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