My ultimate project: restoring a 1991 Panasonic PR6000 team bike

This NOS headset (7410 but I don't mind) arrived today thanks to @TheArchitect

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Do like this thread. Subbed.

3 years since I updated this project...

I had some issues with the BB (it was stuck like hell and the frame builder that was to help me drill it out went on retirement earlier than he told me he was going to) but I found someone else to do the job. But than came corona and this was delayed once again. 1 month became 6 but this afternoon I got a message saying the frame is ready. This means: the bb has been removed and new cable stops have been brazed on. One of these days I'm going to pick up the frame and bring it to the resprayer.

Great news :-)

Great progress.

I always wanted one of these, mainly so I could pretend to be Maurizio Fondriest;

Looking forward to seeing it progress.

Than this one is what you need, @andyp

Do it @andyp

It's worth the price given the fact a new PR 6000 costs more than 1500 € for frame and forks. I guess this one has never been ridden as it was Fondriest's 5th bike. Most of the team riders only had (and used...) 3.

I'm expecting to see a flurry of For Sale threads started by @andyp today, as man-maths goes into frantic hyperdrive.

That Fondriest bike looks very cheap to me - that would be lovely hung on the wall!

Sadly I don't have the spare cash!!

If I had the spare cash, I wouldn't have posted the ad here. ;-)

Luckily not my size, otherwise I would have had to buy it.

exactly my thoughts. I ride 56 cm frames and this is 57,5. But a couple of minutes ago I read MF's bio and it seems he's 1,82 m tall. Exactly my length.

Someone needs a kidney??

Received a first price offer for a respray today: approximately 700 €. 😱

Maybe I'll end up cheaper buying the bike from Fondriest...

Ace project, totally worth it if the right size.

And here's a couple of photos (action one from De Ronde)......

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Only seem to be uploading one at a time

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Last one

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Nice pics, @Big_Ted. De Ronde is here just around the corner. Is yours a 1991 too?

It’s a 1990 or 1991, not totally sure but, despite absolutely no confirmatory evidence, I’ve decided it’s the bike that John Talen rode in the 1990 Paris-Roubaix when he entered the Arenberg in the leading group. One thing that isn’t lost on me is that John Talen was the tallest and heaviest pro in the prleton.

Anyway, this bike got me round the Ronde a couple of times, bike performing far more elegantly than the rider (although I was amused that so many people told me it wasn’t possible with d/t shifters).

Doesn't yours have the riders' initials and year stamped in the BB (see photo of mine on first page).

I think it’s just stamped JT-3 so thinking his third bike for whatever year it was (unless Justin Timberlake and John Terry had JT-1 and 2)

John Tomac? ;)

It will be from 1990. That was Talen's last year for Panasonic and the PR 6000 wasn't produced before 1990.

Picked up the frame today. BB removed without damage, new braze ons and a new steerer tube for the alternative forks (in case I build it neo retro). Frame now is ready for the final step: the respray (only need the find the funds now...)

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