non-fixie 

Today I picked up a Jabo frame. I have been lusting after one ever since I became aware of the brand, so when finally one showed up in my size in the local classifieds I acted promptly and bought it:



Jabo was the brand of Jasper Bouma (1918-2012). Trained as a blacksmith, he started his career as a frame builder before WWII at Magneet, before moving on to Joco after the war. The Joco shop in Amsterdam produced high end bikes, and hosted quite a few talented frame builders at the time.

After a disagreement with Toon de Jonge, the Joco owner, he left and opened his own shop in Amsterdam, building frames for other Dutch shop owners, like Jan de Reus in Halfweg, Wout Verhoeven in Rotterdam, Gerrit Bontekoe in The Hague and Willem Buitendijk, also in Rotterdam.

By the mid-sixties Bouma had become an established name. The Batavus bikes for the Televizier-Batavus pro team were actually built by Jasper Bouma:



He also created his own brand: Jabo, which he sold to individuals, both professionals and aspiring amateurs.

Testament to his building qualities was that the 1967 pursuit World Champion, Gert Bongers, rode a Jabo track bike:



Bouma also supported young talented riders. He even sponsored a team for a while, with bikes and shirts, but really couldn’t afford to, so that venture was short-lived.

Jasper Bouma and his team car in a race support role:



One of Bouma’s young talents was Joop Zoetemelk, and even after Zoetemelk had already risen to stardom, he would come back for the Tour of Dongen, the town Bouma had moved to after leaving Amsterdam.

Jasper Bouma and Joop Zoetemelk in Dongen in the early seventies:



The frame I just bought seems to be in good shape, but needs a bit of attention before I will build it up. The paint has been stripped from the upper half of the fork by a previous owner, and I want to rectify that. So the first order of business will be to find a can of matching brown metallic paint.

non-fixie 

I just checked BF for other examples of Jabo bikes, and found two. Both posted by a younger version of yours truly.

This pretty chromed Jabo was present at the 2015 Stalen Ros vintage bike show & swap meet:



This freshly restored example I saw at the 2017 Tour d'Historique ride in Haarlem:



This lovely Germi Grand Tourisme, owned by fellow member alexnagui was also built by Jasper Bouma:



More information about that bike is here.

kermie

Thank you for the history on the brand. Very interesting and what a beautiful frame you got.

non-fixie 

I've been cleaning the frame prior to building it up, and I may have to change my original assumption that a previous owner had removed paint from the fork.

There is no evidence on the (Nervor) steerer that it has previously been painted ...



... and there's a clearly visible shadow of a Reynolds fork transfer on the chrome:

juvela

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me first "thought" was that fork may be a replacement but then ends appear to be a match for that which abides upon the stern...

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have your researches been able to establish a date of birth?

to my unpracticed eye it looks like it might be ~MCMLXXIV

do you envision a period correct assembly? other?


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non-fixie 

I haven't been able to find much information yet. Not enough to establish a date or what is correct and what isn't. So far, I have no reason to doubt the originality of the fork.

The seller's guesstimate was "early seventies", so '74 would fit that nicely. As well as the "patent-74" derailleur I have just mounted.

It would be a nice bike to take to L'Eroica, together with mrs non-fixie's Zieleman, so I need to end up with something that looks more or less period correct. Perhaps a "Benelux build": a mix of French and Italian parts. I need to see what my bins can cough up ...

non-fixie 

'74 Titan stem and bars.

From 1971 on the script faced the cameras instead of the rider.