Cuevas Bicycles – A Queens NYC Legend

Cuevas Bicycles was a multi-generational family of bicycle frame builders based in Astoria, Queens.  I have owned two Cuevas bicycles: the one shown above is a one-of-a-kind custom made pursuit bicycle with a 650c front wheel and a 700c rear, with an integrated handlebar/stem.  It was hand made by Fernando Cuevas, the third generation of this incredibly talented family.  I also had a Cuevas Custom randonneur / touring frame by the patriarch of the family, Francisco Cuevas. This article features both of these stunning examples of custom, lugged steel bicycles and traces the history of Cuevas Bicycles.

Fernando’s grandfather and founder of Cuevas Bicycles, Francisco Cuevas, hand-built over 35,000 frames during a 70-year career that spanned three continents. Renowned for his ability to build frames without the aid of a jig or pins, brazing exclusively with brass, and incorporating many unique and thoughtful details, Francisco was a true craftsman of the old world. The Cuevas Custom randonneur frame is testament to his vision and artisan skills.

The pursuit track bike restoration took me two years to complete, and when finished, I brought it to the famous Kissena Velodrome in Queens for an afternoon of laps and photos.  Read on to learn more about these incredible bikes and the Cuevas family.

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Bridgestone Eurasia Sportif – Part Two

A few weeks after I purchased the Eurasia ES-1 frame and fork that became the base for the first restoration I did, I came across the same model of bicycle on Yahoo Japan auctions, in its complete and original configuration. The bike was in rough condition, and the price accordingly low. I snatched it up, but this was in the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, and it was impossible to ship items to the USA from Japan. So it sat in a warehouse in Tokyo, where it would be joined by several other frames and complete bikes I would go on to purchase, until shipping would again be possible. That would turn out to be over a year later and cost several times over the auction price of the bike. Lesson learned! When it finally arrived in my shop, I was excited to return this bike to its original glory. Read on to learn more about this restoration and check out the photo gallery.

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Zunow Z-1 road bike with Sugino 75 group

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The post has been long overdue.  Above is my Zunow Z-1 road bike, equipped with a Sugino 75 road group.  It has a 53.5cm seat tube, making it slightly large in size for me, but I have the fit dialed in quite well.   An earlier build of this bike (sporting tri-spokes, LOL!) was featured on the Chari & Co. blog two winters ago, and it's taken a quite a while longer to "finish" it.

The Zunow Z-1, made by Takeru Kageyama, was their top-of-the-line road bike, made with their proprietary lugs and Tritec / Ditchex tube set.  The drop-outs are Campagnolo, although Zunows were also made using SunTour dropouts as well as their own Zunow-branded ones. 

The rear triangle is atypical for the Z-1 series; they usually have a more typical seat stay arrangement with a bi-plane style brake bridge.  My Z-1 has wishbone style seat stays with a gentle curve in the stays.  The chain stays are curved too, and the entire rear is chromed.  Wishbone rear stays are more commonly seen in their DiPicce and Lepton models. 

Read on for more…

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