Decathlon Cobra 500

[chrometop]

I have recently acquired a Decathlon Cobra 500 and can't find any information about it. I know its a cheap road bike produced by the French sports supermarket but apart from that nothing. Anybody have any information about when these bikes were produced and any other interesting facts?

[mzjo]

Mid to late 1990's cycletourist range, basic chromoly steel, Sachs hubs with cheap Rigida rims (probably) and I think Shimano transmission. I think there was a 500 and a 700, might have been a 300 as well. Over here should be very cheap in jumble sales, D4 trocathlon or Le Bon Coin but probably more expensive in UK. The basic models had downtube levers, the upper range models were among the first really cheap roadies to be equipped with STI.

[Vencer03]

Hi guys, french here.

I bought this bike when i was 16, in 1998 : it was 990 francs at this time, less than 150 euros.
http://img5.leboncoin.fr/images/f65/f6528fbfb971f565322e123f6c7195fcbef184a1.jpg

Few time later there was a newer version, dark blue :
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usedphotosna/47914961_934.jpg

chainwheel is BCD 116 (Miche) 5 screw. 42/52
sprocket 13/15/17/19/21/23/26
Gear shifter is on the frame, left one is not indexed but right one is indexed.

I still got him, but i don't use him much... but when i see the start prices for any bike now i'm happy to still have it.

Just 2 problems :
- I broke the large chainwheel and the crank set is BCD 116, hard to find.
- I haven't moved the saddles for 5 years and now it's impossible to move (WD40, blowpipe, sledgehammer...)