This lovely bicycle is a 58cm Routens “cyclosportif” with a Simplex Super LJ group set. It’s one of the finest machines I’ve had the privilege of restoring, although it needed very little actual work to restore. A “cyclosportif” is sort of like the French equivalent to “sport touring” where a bike may have fenders and a handlebar bag, but is not meant to carry panniers. Read on for more info on this classic steed and its famous namesake.
It’s been several months since I’ve done a write up on one of my restoration projects, but now I’m back and I have a whole stable full to show off. First in line is this 1980 Mercier Salève “velo de course”. A mid-range road racer as seen in this catalog from the early 1980’s, it features Vitus tubing and drop-outs. I like the paint and logo schemes of the early 80’s Mercier bikes more than any of the other eras. It’s restrained but the blue paint glows with a subtle sparkle. Read on for more…
This bike was a quick Sunday project that turned out quite nicely. I had nearly all of the components laying around my apartment already, but didn't have an appropriate frame to put them on. When this Andre Bertin frame popped up locally, I knew it would be perfect. Read more…
Every bicycle enthusiast has a certain bike that's their "holy grail" – that perfect combination of builder, vintage, design, and of course rarity that makes it both sought-after and difficult, if not nearly impossible, to find. Recently, I finally found mine: a 1970's vintage Zunow randonneur.
The Zunow brand, founded in 1965 by Japanese master builder Takeru Kageyama, is better known for his wilder road and time-trial designs like my Z-1. But Kageyama's earlier efforts were often in the style of the French touring and randonneuring bicycle that were popular in Japan through the 1960's and 1970's. Japanese brands like Toei, ALPS, Holks, Zunow, and Watanabe built beautiful and refined interpretations of the French designs, making use of a mix of French and Japanese components. Read more… Continue reading
This one started out as just a frame, a 1990 Schwinn Crosscut, size 55cm seat tube with a 61cm top tube. This was their top-of-the-line cyclocross / all-rounder from the early 1990's, similar to the Surly Cross Check or the Pake C'Mute, and built from stout double-butted cro-moly steel tubing with a fully chromed fork. I stripped and repainted the frame in a dark metallic green with a subtle sparkle and shined the fork. Read on for more details and pictures.
Inspired by the Rivendell "Bombadil" bicycle, I revisited the vintage mountain bike-as-a-townie concept with this build, starting with a 1983 Univega Alpina Uno hardtail frame. Made of stout cro-mo tubing and featuring a gorgeous "biplane" fork crown, it makes a handsome base to build up a fun "around town" bike that can also handle gravel paths, fire trails, and the rough roads of New York City. It has a 47cm c-c seat tube and 56cm c-c top tube, making it a good choice for riders 5' 5" to 5' 10". Read on for more detail and pictures…
I built this bike up over the weekend, starting with a vintage Italian-made frame that I found online. It was fully chromed under the paint, so I stripped the paint and polished up the chrome to a nice shine. I added a shiny silver Shimano 600 group and Dia-Compe brakes, along with brand-new wheels and saddle that complimented the classic spartan look of the frame.
While the frame didn't have any identifying logos, some research confirmed that it's an Italvega Super Record. Italvega bikes were designed and hand-built within the noted Torresini workshop at the Torpado factory in Padua, Italy. It was carrying a sticker from Zumwalt's Bicycles in San Diego, CA so perhaps it was their in-house brand at one point.
It's a quality frame, with gorgeous long-point lugs and Columbus SPX tubing, one of their higher-end tubesets. Size-wise, it's 53cm bike, with a 53cm center-to-center top tube and a 53cm center-to-top seat tube. Read on for more pictures and details:
