1980 Raleigh Competition G.S.

So, after acquiring this frame a couple of months ago as described in a previous post, I have finally decided to get started putting it together. The lingering question was just what to do with it? It’s not a high dollar classic or a particularly sought after brand, and not really very collectible so it had to be a good rider. It should also be reasonably light and a bike that is nice to look at, so my main goal for this Raleigh is just that, for it be a nice looking bike that is fun to ride.

 

Presenting the Debutante

1954 Urago Debutante

The notion of a debutante, that of one whom “after a period of maturation and refinement is being presented to society“, is a good analogy for this bike. Though in this case even as the subject is a bit more mature, she is still “coming out” after her restoration!

 

Dressing the Debutante

It is sometimes a tough call to decide on how to finish an old bicycle frame. You can choose almost any kind of treatment from a “rat bike” to a museum quality finish and get a satisfying result within that theme. In general I usually prefer to keep things as original as I can and to be honest I don’t mind quite a bit of authentic patina, but this one was going to be different.

 

1971 Gitane Gran Sport Deluxe

The making of a parts bike

Over the years I’ve been slowly accumulating bicycle parts. Not through a conscious effort but more as the by-product of working on older bikes as a hobby. You might buy a bike as a project and not use all of the components that came with it, trading some parts out for others and throwing the rest in a bin. I never imagined that some of these leftover bits and pieces would actually get used on a bike again! These extra items might be an off brand, lower quality or simply a component that was not well regarded. The question of what to do with some of these orphaned parts was answered for me recently when a solution of sorts presented itself.

 

Mid 60’s Girardengo, completed

Bicicletta classica per tutte le strade

I’m trying to find the right category to classify this bike as and I haven’t quite got it yet. Retro Italian gravel bike, vintage all roads rider, old school adventure bike, Strada Bianca speciale? All of these come close but in the end it is probably just a Franken-bike.

 

1954 Urago Debutante

Urago Bicycles was a French manufacturer which was founded in 1935 in Nice by brothers Joseph and Francois. They were known for the high quality of their handmade frames, many of which were built by artisan frame builder Anicet Cattanéo who continued working through the early 70’s. Francois Urago was a track racer in the 1920s -1930s and his likeness was on the head badge for many years. Outside of these scant few details there is limited information readily available on the Urago marque other than the few bikes that are out there to observe.

 

1968 Lygie, Updated!

A few years back when this bike was built I was looking to create a nice vintage rider, an all purpose machine that would be both versatile and a little sporty. At the time I lived in the high desert and contending with rain was almost never an issue. Now we spend much of our time in the Pacific North West where conditions couldn’t be more different. It was time to revise the Lygie to be more suitable for it’s new locale.

The Lygie before it’s transition to an Oregon bike

 

1992 Bridgestone RB-1

Here is a bike that is not one of my own but turned into a project for me anyway. Owned by a family member but neglected for many years I decided it was time to resurrect it.

 

1986 Nishiki Prestige completed

When this bike came to me it was a sad sight. It had not been heavily used over its previous life and does not appear to have been stored outside, but it was incomplete and had been treated callously by previous owners. Regardless of that it seemed to be sound mechanically and the blemishes to paint and other metal surfaces could be softened with a little effort. The logos and other original graphics were still relatively intact so I chose to preserve the frame “as is.” Once altered “originality” can never be regained, and having a few imperfections on a 35 year old frame is not unreasonable.

 

1986 Nishiki Prestige

Here is a recent acquisition from Ebay, a 1986 Nishiki Prestige road bike. This one was the same model and year of bike that I once rode back in the 80’s and it was my first “real road bike.” I sold it more than 30 years ago so when I saw this one come up I thought it would be a fun trip down memory lane. It was pretty much just missing the wheels to be complete so I pulled the trigger!

 

Mid 60’s Girardengo, assembly

It begins to take shape!

Here are couple of pics of how things are going so far on this vintage gravel bike winter project:

 

Mid 60’s Girardengo, modify

Adapt and conquer!

Vintage bicycle components are often wonders of simplicity. They were designed to do a specific job with lightweight, reliability, ease of use and often with a little bit of style. Sometimes when you are trying to get more versatility out of a bicycle you must also work to expand the capability of the components. After all, the complete bicycle can only do what it is possible for it’s individual components to accomplish. Following is a summary of some of the modifications I have undertaken to adapt these otherwise unremarkable components into more functional versions, so that the complete bicycle it is greater than the sum of it’s parts.

 

Mid 60’s Girardengo RestoMod

Re-interpreting the wheel?

These days, even with the many categories of bicycling that are now currently popular, it is still easy for vintage cycling enthusiasts to see their projects through the narrow lens of a “period correct” view. That perspective can limit what a project bicycle could become to whatever they did “back in the day.” If we consider where cycling is today then we have many more options as to what a bicycle can be. Randonneuring, gravel biking, cross bikes, touring and commuting are all disciplines which are gaining in popularity while traditional road racing has entered a kind of decline. In deciding how to build this Girardengo I will adopt a broader view of what a bicycle can/should be. To re-interpret a classic bicycle with the possibilities of today in mind!

 

Girardengo A135 completed

Entry level racer

This Girardengo is an early to mid-60’s intermediate level frame and probably just the sort of bike that a beginning racer might ride. Not top shelf but still good enough for local competitions and a pretty good performer overall. A bike like this would have been the envy of many aspiring young bike racers on a Saturday morning back in the day!

 

Costante’s Moustache

Sometimes it is hard to categorize a unique type of bicycle. This Girardengo in all likelihood began life as a proper Italian city bike, probably 5 speed, with fenders and an upright riding position. Not a race bike by any means, rather a very civilized and practical means of transport. I have however re-invented it into another category altogether!

 

1973 Lygie Condorino

Well, that’s what I’m calling it!

What exactly is a Condorino? Well in the direct translation from Italian it means little condor. However, in the world of bicycling it is a reference to a unique style of handlebars most often seen on Italian city bikes. The resemblance to a bird wing like shape of the bars is the reference. The “condorino” handlebar is a uniquely Italian concept with Bianchi, Legnano, Torpado and others having offered this style of bars on their city bikes over the years. To me it offers a sportier upright riding position than the more common swept back style of bars do. Not often seen in the US they are also a quite comfortable riding position even though they may be a bit narrow for some tastes.

 

Mid 60’s Girardengo

No Number

Here is another Girardengo example which was recently acquired and then set aside for the future. It came as the frame only, without any components or fork. Mounting holes for badges on the head tube as well as the seat tube are typical of an early to mid 60’s Girardengo. There is no frame number at any of the likely locations so that adds a bit to the mystery.

 

1984 Raleigh Touring, completed

A sporty all roads rider!

 

Sometimes it takes a while to get where you are going, and so it was with this build. I had gathered all of the parts that I wanted to use on the bike pretty quickly but the time to put it all together just never materialized. Finally over this past winter I was able to get a start on it and by Spring it was ready to go!

 

1973 Lygie

A 1973 Lygie came to me recently in pretty decent shape. It is just the frame and fork but it has the makings of a modern classic, as soon as I figure out what to do with it! This new acquisition does raise the question of how many bicycles one person needs but I will not attempt settle that issue now. I will just put this one in the queue and think about silly questions later!

 

Bayliss Wiley Free-wheel unit hub.

Innovation

The “freehub” is one of the great inventions of modern cycling, providing the key elements necessary for multi-speed drive-trains on bicycles. It’s mechanical function allows a cyclist to not only “freewheel” or coast their bicycle without pedaling, re-engaging the drive when pedaling is resumed, but to independently change the cogs to meet gearing requirements or address wear issues.

Many people believe that the freehub was invented by Suntour in 1969 (failed) or Shimano in 1978 (successful). While Shimano certainly did a lot to refine and popularize the technology, the freehub has been around for longer than many people realize. The first maker to invent the “freewheel unit hub” is open to debate but Bayliss-Wiley was one of the first manufacturers to bring the product to market.

 

1989 Miele Sport

Here is a mid tier Miele road bike that I acquired recently. It came walking into my local bike shop for a consignment sale one day while I was there. The shop owner wasn’t really excited by the opportunity so I jumped in to help everybody out!

 

1984 Raleigh Touring Bike

I acquired this bike as an impulse purchase, mainly because it looked like a good deal. The price was $120 including shipping, as pictured below. Now, I didn’t really need this frame but I do like some of the 80’s British touring bikes and I thought that maybe I could find something to do with this one. Besides, look at all of the good parts it came with!

 

The Mystery bike is finished!

 Cicli – R.Daniele – Ivrea

 

Late 1950’s or early 60’s?

 

1972 Atala Competizione, after

A retro-mod frankenbike, with patina?

As it came to me this bike was equipped with a Campy sport level 2 x 5 drive-train. For this year of bicycle that meant that it had a rear hub spacing of 120 mm. That is not a problem if you are going to use the original components in building this bike up. But….. I wanted to give this Atala an update and I just happened to have a Campy Veloce 9 speed gruppo laying around. Of course the spacing for a modern 9 speed hub is 130 mm so that is not going to work, right?

 

Progress on the De Bernardi, paint and decals

Time to dress this “Bella Donna” up!

The paint has been finished except for the final clear coat so it is time to put the decals on. I took several reference photographs prior to stripping the old paint so that I could get the decals exactly where they belonged. For decals I chose the Velocals 1 mil version and applied them using the water method. They are self adhesive but the water method allows you to correct alignment errors more easily. Once these decals stick they are going to stay!

 

De Bernardi, the makeover!

This Italian beauty is naked!

After a dozen or so hours of effort I finally have the frame and fork stripped down to bare metal. I used “Aircraft Stripper” and a fine wire brush. Aircraft Stripper costs a little more but it doesn’t really do the job any better. I was hoping the fancy name and price would make it better. Oh well, lesson learned (again).

 

1972 Atala Competizione, before.

Rough but Original?

That is how this bike came to me. It had probably been ridden very lightly for a couple of years and then stored for over 40 years! It was as original as you can get with, tires, cables, seat and brake pads all nearly unused but suffering from age deterioration. Some rust has diminished the chrome but it should be 90 percent salvageable. There are scrapes on the paint and the logos are faded but other decals and the head-badge look pretty good! This is just how I like to get a bike, I think this will clean up very nicely!

 

Mystery Bike ???

Here is a frame that I ended up with recently after it was referred to me by a friend. It was on Ebay and had some characteristics similar to the Girardengo frames that I have an interest in. It was a good value so I bought it even though I did not need another project right now.

 

The 1999 De Bernardi that followed me home.

I went in to the local bike shop a few weeks ago and……

There it was sitting in the back of the shop. I noticed it right away because a De Bernardi is not a bike that you see everyday. A local seasonal actor had brought it in to be sold on consignment. He said that he had the bike for many years and loved it very much but had to sell it since he was moving far-away. He was asking $450, which might have been a fair price had the bike been in good condition, sadly this one was not. Even though it appeared to be complete and original this one was poorly taken care of. It had not been ridden a lot but had been handled roughly and tossed around a bit. I offered a token $200 for it and walked out.

 

Refining the Bianchi L’Eroica

Not every bike has achieved it’s finest expression right out of the box, and so it is with my Bianchi L’Eroica. After several hundred miles of time in the saddle (including Eroica Hispania) I have come up with a few changes that I will make. Not that any of it will improve the performance of the bike, which is already great at this point, but just to add some style points. After all, can a classic bike ever really be too classic?