The Belgian-Japanese connection Flandria

[Flandria]

It has been a long time since the last update, but some new steps are made. Decided to build a wheelset myself, since I couldn't find something that suits the build. I've got myself a nice pair of Super Competition Champion tubular rims and polished a set of DA first gen low flange hubs. Freewheel will be a gold (looking ) dura ace freewheel and tubulars are NOS Wolber criterium. Process of building will take some time: have to find spokes (and time) first! Oh, and I have to learn how to build a wheel

Oh, and I'm also looking for another pair of DA first gen skewer nuts. The ones I have now are in bad condition, even after some TLC

Rims (before cleaning with autosol):

Crappy pic of hubs and (gold) DA freewheel:

A couple of weeks ago I acquired a lovely Flandria pantographed 3ttt stem. Very happy, because you don't see them often. It had a lot of scratches and imperfections on the visible part. A couple of hours with sanding paper, oven cleaner, steel wool, autosol and enamel paint, I had a satisfying result. Opted not to use a buffing wheel because I didn't want to overpolish the stem.

Before:

And after:

 

[Flandria]

Re:

Project finished!

Took me some time, but this project is finally finished. Had a go at learning-how-to-build-a-wheel the last days and managed to finish a nice, decent wheelset for this bike. Super Champion rims on dura ace first generation hubs with a gold dura ace 6sp freewheel. Sweared a lot but also learned a lot: great to ride a self-build wheel!

Some specs of the final build:

Frame: Flandria, Ishiwata 022 (stil looking for a frame decal) with chrome forks and rear chainstay
Derailleurs: Dura Ace first / second generation
Shifters: Dura ace second generation
Brakeset: Dura ace first generation (including hoods and brake pads)
Crankset: Dura ace first generation, including DA dustcaps
Wheels: Super Champion rims, dura ace first gen hubs, gold dura ace 6sp freewheel. Wolber Criterium tubulars
BB: Dura ace first gen
Seatpost: SR Laprade
Bars: Flandria pantographed
Stem: 3ttt, Flandria pantographed
Pedals: Kyokuto Pro Ace

Picture time:

I'm pretty pleased with the result! Mostly Japanese parts, only one (!) Italian part on this bike. A lot of chrome and polished parts so shines beautifully in the sun. Happy times!

 

[Jamiedyer]

Re:

WOW, WOW,WOW :shock:


That is one beautiful transformation. It would have to be one of the best restoration threads I've seen and the end result is truly magnificent.
I imagine it rides as good as it looks. I really like the Shimano build and the reasons behind it, I am a Shimano fan so may be biased but it gives this bike its individuality. Plus it looks a million dollars.
I remember when I was younger back home in Oz and these first gen Dura Ace cranks were often modded to run on our BMX by my freinds older brother. I was young, it was the late seventies so cant be held responsible
I for one would be really interested in reading a ride report.

Jamie

 

[bduc61]

Re:

superb

congratulations , it gives a rebuild example to aim for :idea: but tough to beat !

 

[Yetidh9]

Impressve build. Has been a pleausre to follow the steps!

 

[Flandria]

Re: Re:

Thanks for the reactions!

I for one would be really interested in reading a ride report.

Jamie

Only did a small shake-down ride on it to assure everything was working well, so difficult to put a full ride report so far! But from what I know from another bike I have with the same frame, they ride quite comfortable. No extremely tight/steep geometry so they aren't overly responsive, they just do their work as they should do it (fits the Flandria-team mentality maybe ) .

Braking performance of the brakes is good, as is know about this brakes. The dura ace pads I'm using now have had some use, so I'm quite sure braking performance could easily be improved with new pads. But those look so nice and fit the build well, so I can live with that .

Shifting is smooth, as you might expect from a revised top of the line groupset in combination with a new chain. Small sprockets (max 18t iirc) on the freewheel make it a bike for flat rides (or strong legs on climbs, as you prefer )

To be honest, and I might drop a small bomb here, I liked working on the DA components. Campagnolo record is also top notch and looks better (and I do like it too), but some DA components seemed to exceed their Italian counterparts. For example the hubs and front derailleur... Any opinions on that?

 

[Narhay]

Maybe one of the nicest restorations I've seen. I'm going to send you a box of parts you can polish up for me. And a tenner, of course. I'm not a slave driver here.

 

[Bixman]

Re:

Hi Flandria,
what an amazing bicycle! Great restoration and attention to detail. I love it.
I am proud owner of a Flandria bike that I am planning to build up in Campa Nuovo Record. The frame is in fantastic condition and has Campa drop-outs, chrome frame and chrome right-hand chain stay as well as the lovely black and gold lug paint details.
It currently has a mix of components as the previous and first owner changed it over time. It was originally build with Campa Nuovo Gran Sport.
As you seem to be a bit of a Flandria expert, I was wondering if you know how to date these frames? I can´t find any serial number or other stampings that would indicate the age. I am assuming late seventies but would lave to no exactly.
Thanks in advance.
cheers,
Bixman

 

[Flandria]

Re: Re:

Hi Flandria,
what an amazing bicycle! Great restoration and attention to detail. I love it.
I am proud owner of a Flandria bike that I am planning to build up in Campa Nuovo Record. The frame is in fantastic condition and has Campa drop-outs, chrome frame and chrome right-hand chain stay as well as the lovely black and gold lug paint details.
It currently has a mix of components as the previous and first owner changed it over time. It was originally build with Campa Nuovo Gran Sport.
As you seem to be a bit of a Flandria expert, I was wondering if you know how to date these frames? I can´t find any serial number or other stampings that would indicate the age. I am assuming late seventies but would lave to no exactly.
Thanks in advance.
cheers,
Bixman

Long time since I've been here... A pleasure to see the pictures again .

Very nice bike you have there! Seems to be in lovely condition. Unfortunately there are no numbers on Flandria frames that indictate the exact date. There is 4 or 5 digit number on the left dropout on most of the Flandria frames, I'm sure there is one on your frame too. But the general concensus is that there is no line in this numbering, so nothing can be derived from it. There is also a '73' engraved in your seatlug, but this indicates the seat tube angle, not the year of production as is sometimes asumed incorrectly.

I think that you can assume that your frame is from the late 70's though (let's say 77-80). Flandria went bankrupt in '80 iirc, so it's not going to be younger than that. Your frame also has the later style Campagnolo dropouts. I have a very similar frame of which you can see pictures here: https://www.pedalroom.com/bike/flandria-1978-16982 . This one has the longer style Campagnolo dropouts. I dated this frame to be 1978, but more because the groupset is dated '78.

Anyhow, lovely bike you have there!