Gazelle Champion Mondial AA project - FINISHED

[knyazb]

Hello everyone.
Just thought it might be interesting for someone to keep an eye on my project. I'm going to tell you straight away that I'm willing to build a single speed version. I know, some people would disagree, but I never rode geared bikes and probably never will. So here it is
About a month ago I was lucky to buy this frame from Rih on LFGSS forum.
It was re-sprayed in this amazing colour, which i really like. And I think for now I'm going to keep this paint. Maybe later on when it will get a lot of scratches :cry: I will consider doing a powder coating.

Unfortunately, the fork is not original, so I had to buy original Gazelle fork. It's one of those:

And while Im waiting for those forks to arrive ( its been more than 3 weeks now and Im a bit worried ), I was buying the other parts
... to be continued...

 

[Elev12k]

Considering you plan a fixed setup, wouldn't an earlier Champion Mondial (with clamp on shifters and guides) have been better for the clean look?

 

[knyazb]

Considering you plan a fixed setup, wouldn't an earlier Champion Mondial (with clamp on shifters and guides) have been better for the clean look?

Yeah, it would without a doubt. But I wasn't thinking about this little things when I saw a price for this frame. Everything you can see on a first picture including Campag chainset, Campag gearsgifters, Shimano BB, Stronglight headset and Sugino seatpost binder bolt for £130. Can you imagine? Only the chainset I managed to sell for £60. So I think I got pretty sweet deal in the end.

Meanwhile, Im uploading pictures of the parts that I got so far

 

[knyazb]

Right first of all I got those hubs:

Then I was trying to find nice mirror chromed finish rims. The problem is that most of the rims on the market right now are silver anodized finish, which was not good enough. So I had two options:
- H+Son TB14 chromed or
- Velo Orange PBP
But then I was lucky to get those vintage but quite good condition Mavic MA2

I laced them in 3 leading - 3 trailing pattern. The wheel builder in Tokyo Fixed Gear never tried this pattern before and he was trying to convince me to do normal 3 cross. But it looks so cool, I couldnt resist the temptation. Lacing was quite fun, and not as hard as you might think. I spent about 1 hour per wheel. Considering the fact that is my first try. Then I gave the wheels to make em true to Tokyo Fixed. And here is the result:

I have to admit that they would look much better if they were laced to hi-flange hubs. And I kinda regret it now that I bought low-flange ones. But nevermind.
Also wanted to say that this pattern is not as strong as lets say 3 cross, cause some of the spokes interlacing with the other 2 times, some 3 times, and some only once. That means some would be stronger and some weaker.

 

[knyazb]

There are some parts I bought for this project:

- Campagnolo Monoplaner brake calipers. Don't know the groupset or era as when they were polished logos got disappeared. I hope it's Chorus

- Campagnolo Record headset

- Campagnolo Pista crank 50T. Was trying to polish it, but it seems impossible to make a mirror look

- Campagnolo seatpost binder bolt

- Campagnolo Nuovo Record steel pedals

and last, but not the least, pearl of my collection - Campagnolo drilled seatpost. First of all I got Campag Record aero seatpost, but when I saw this one....

 

[Tel]

Not sure about your lacing pattern either but y'know it's your bike so what the hell.

I thought it odd you sourced original forks when you are "just" going to build it as a single speed add to that the mention of powder coating in the future I really wondered where yuor post was heading then I saw the kit you are building it with and I must say that that bike should look stunning! Glad you didn't manage to find any chrome rims, why would you choose chromed steel over alloy?

Anyway. Lovely, lovely. Can't wait to see it built!

BTW to get a mirror finish on the chainset you need to remove the anodising first alot of hard work with wet and dry but I reckon it'll be worth it to match the rest of the shiney parts.

 

[knyazb]

That's it pretty much. I still dunno what stem and handlebars to get. I really like Nitto steel dropbars.
Stem - no idea. If I go with Nitto, then it would be logical to get Nitto Jaguar steel stem

But i was hoping to keep the project Italian as much as possible. Recently bought this:

But it's a bit chunky, so I'm it's up for sale now

Any suggestions?

 

[Tel]

spoilt for choice with Italian stems 3t, Cinelli, Modolo. Personally I'd go for a polished Cinelli 1r.

 

[knyazb]

Glad you didn't manage to find any chrome rims, why would you choose chromed steel over alloy?

Sorry probably you misunderstood. I meant mirror chromed finish, not chrome plated steel rims. As they would weigh a tonne

 

[Tel]

My thoughts exactly! You mean polished rather than chromed.