I guess this is a hybrid, right..?
Just built up last week out of an early 90's Gazelle Champion Mondial AB that had been sat in the basement for many years and only brought out for a ride once or twice a year.
It all started with the typical spring bike fever. A bike messenger collegue of mine was shifting his fixed gear work bike as he was moving abroad and I was jonesing for a new summer work bike to enjoy the weather on. This craving came with guilt as I knew I had that pristine Gazelle that I barely rode - always thought it was too nice to thrash, built as a sunday ride etc. - and I already had a fixed gear work bike - bit of a beater but anyway.
I mulled it over and ended up passing up on having yet another bike in my garage, and instead committed to make the Gazelle into something I'll actually ride and enjoy on a regular basis. There's nothing more sorry than a nice bike being unridden. The nature of a bike is in its function; to really appreciate a nice bike is not to preserve it as a collectible, but to thrash it as often and hard
as you can and cherish the scars you put on it.
Off with the drops and brifters, new stem, tyres, flat bar and thumbies; and so this was born as my fair weather work bike - the triple rush machine to supplement my fixed gear and my retro mtb. Gotta say I'm pretty friggin' pleased with how it turned out, and I'm enjoying the ride 10x more now that I've overcome the collector's mindset with this frame.
