Crescent 92318 (1981)
This is a Crescent from 1981? (the questionmark gets explained later in the text) in size 59 cm (23″) measured from center of bottom bracket to top/end of seat tube, not top tube. Crescent is a Swedish brand that stars like ”Svängis” Johansson, Åke Seyffarth och Ingvar Ericsson have used with success. I believe my bike to be a model 92318, and should be made of Tange Mangaloy in the front of the frame and ”HI-Ten” in the rear of the frame though a sticker on the frame says it is made of Reynolds 531 butted tubing. According to a MCB sparepart catalogue the frame is brazed with Nikko lugs, Nikko bottom bracket cap and Takahashi rear dropouts. But if it is an earlier (1980) 92318, but painted in silver-blue metallic instead of orange, it is brazed with Dubois lugs and Agrati bottom bracket cap.
The ”U” in the frames serial number indicates that the frame is made somewhere between 1 september -80 to 31 august -81, even as late as last of december -81 as the new stamp-machinery did not arrive until january 1982. Note that the frame in 1980 was painted in orange colour and first in 1981 was painted in the colour mine have.
This is a mystery. How did the Reynolds sticker get there. I have heard from another owner of the same model and his bike have the same sticker stating Reynolds 531 butted tubing. Since my bike´s serial number is U674763 and his bike have serial nr U674756 they definetly are made in the same batch and probably within the same day or week. He suggests that if it really was Reynolds tubing, the seatpost should measure 27,0 mm and not as on our model 26,4 mm. Maybe they ran out of Tange tubing and had to use Reynolds for some of the tubes but not the seat tube? Crescent´s top model 92320 was brazed with Reynolds 531 butted tubes as earlier 92318 (1980 and earlier), so they had them in stock.
I have been in contact with a bicycle authority (same guy who owns the other Reynolds built 92318) who informed me that his research in this matter confirm that Reynold did have a tube with the same measures as the seat tube on my Crescent. The tube is Reynolds 531 7/10. The 92318 had new tubes (Tange) in 1981 so Crescent probably used the tubes they had in stock first before using Tange tubes which the 1981 92318 should be made of. Previous 92318 (1980 and earlier) was made only in orange colour. Another explanation is that my bike was brazed with Reynolds in 1980 but painted first in 1981, or maybe brazed in 1980 with Reynolds tubing and then as an experiment painted in next year colour, 1981 year colour, who knows. My bike probably is one of few 92318 in silver-blue metallic made of Reynolds. Pretty cool owning a rarity 🙂
The equipment is Shimano 600 EX Arabesque. The prettiest group ever made by Shimano. The chainset is not Shimano but a SR Custom and the bottom bracket is a Sakae SR-SC 35xP1. The wheels have Rigida rims for innertube tyres. I would love to get my hands on a set of NOS hoods for the 600 brake levers as mine are in bade shape.
The price to pay for the 92318 back in 1981 was 1675 SEK for frame and fork only.
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