To Fixie or not to Fixie?

[gnat23]

Ok, I am having way too much fun looking this stuff up!

My folks lived in Madison, WI when they bought the bike, and my dad was a huge fan of the European-style bikes, so it would make sense that he bought the bike from a little importer store called, naturally, Stella Bicycles. That store was owned by a gentleman by the name of Bevel Hogg, and had an employee Tom French (sales and marketing). The original Stella factory in France burned down, so the store had nothing more to import without, you know, changing the name or something. Instead, they were approached in 1976 by a appliance company exec named Richard Burke, they all moved to a red barn in Waterloo, Wisconsin and started a company called....*drumroll*
Trek!

Smilingcat: I know it's not THAT old! As far as I can tell, this was a replica made in the 70s of the frame that Louison Bobet won the 1953 Tour de France on. Still trying to get more details, but there aren't a lot of pictures out there to compare against. The serial number looks like it was carved by hand into the bottom bracket. Love it!

OakLeaf: actually, the jeans survived right up until I was painting the frame: I had the entire thing balaced on my lap just right, but I made one false move and the darn chain pressed across my right thigh, scarring it forever. Ooops!

SouthernBelle: I thought about that. I usually use the SuperDuper Ruby Pro for commuting, but a fun steel frame 10-speed might be a nice change of pace. I am growing to the idea now...

-- gnat!

[DebW]

Very cool. I had a Stronglight crankset in 1974. Totally wore out the rings and had to replace it, but I loved that crankset. Can we see pictures of the hubs, rims, and spokes? Please? I looked up those derailleurs: Huret Challengers. A nice step up from the Huret Alvit that came on cheap bikes in the early 70s. I'd guess the bar end shifters are Suntour and didn't come original on the bike (maybe a shop swap at time of purchase). Whatever you choose to do with this bike, it will be sweet.

[pll]

So cool...

Here's another 70s Stella: http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Fra...a_bicycles.htm

And a 1974 review:
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/...ing-1974-11-A/

[gnat23]

Very cool. I had a Stronglight crankset in 1974. Totally wore out the rings and had to replace it, but I loved that crankset. Can we see pictures of the hubs, rims, and spokes? Please? I looked up those derailleurs: Huret Challengers. A nice step up from the Huret Alvit that came on cheap bikes in the early 70s. I'd guess the bar end shifters are Suntour and didn't come original on the bike (maybe a shop swap at time of purchase). Whatever you choose to do with this bike, it will be sweet.

AH! Yes, ok, I knew they weren't the Jubilees, but I couldn't find any other references except the Alvits all over the place; good call! The shifters are indeed Suntour and look kinda forced in with the bartape. To be truly classic, I suppose I could throw on some downtube shifters.

New pictures are up. This thing is starting to feel like a pinup girl to me.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnat23/...7605031222215/

pll: thanks for those links: that '74 review looks so close that it might be it!

GLC1968: I'll try that trick next laundry day, thanks!

-- gnat! (Now: somebody please rescue me off the Shelden Brown pages before I spend WAAAY too much money doing this.)

[DebW]

The hubs are probably Normandy. They say Schwinn approved, but Shwinn didn't make hubs. Weinmann rims and brakes were pretty standard. Those bar end shifters will give you a very slow shift because of the cable length and housing compressibility. The bare-metal housing is original with those shifters, but you'll get a quicker shift if you replace it with modern non-compressible derailleur housing, or switch to downtube shifters. (If you want to get rid of the the bar-ends, I'd buy them. I had a set just like that in 1976, and I've got an older bike I'd put them on.)

BTW, you really need to replace ALL the grease in the bearings of this bike: hubs, bottom bracket, and headset. Old grease becomes hard and very non-grease-like.

[smilingcat]

...

BTW, you really need to replace ALL the grease in the bearings of this bike: hubs, bottom bracket, and headset. Old grease becomes hard and very non-grease-like.

This is where WD40 spray comes in handy. It's a pretty good solvent to desolve that gunky grease. And do wear a rubber glove.

Don't use WD40 for any other use on a bike.

[GLC1968]

I had the entire thing balaced on my lap just right, but I made one false move and the darn chain pressed across my right thigh, scarring it forever. Ooops!

That bike is very cool! I love history and therefore keeping bikes in original condition as much as possible...BUT, I think bikes are happier when they are being ridden. If you don't see yourself riding this as is, then a fixie is a nice way to get this bike back out on the road where it belongs!

About the jeans - get yourself some pure greek olive oil soap. Wet the grease mark, rub in the soap, vigorously. Wash the jeans as normal, and I'll bet that they come out clean! This stuff is AMAZING for removing oily stains...even old ones.

http://www.oliveoilsoap.com/varieties/greece.cfm