seboros

My friend called me to ask if I want a bike for free. His wife does not want to use the junky old Dutch bike as a garden decoration to hold flower pots anymore.

Turns out to be a Gazelle Superieur. If the serial number they used is similar to Raleigh's, then GK6 might mean:

G = Gazelle factory
K = July
6 = 1976 or 1986

It has the standard Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub, a british threaded bottom bracket, cottered cranks, Weinmann Vainqueur 999 Red Brakes and a bent fork blade.

The frame looks undamaged (it passed the string test with a 2 mm deviation from left string to seat tube to right string to seat tube). I plan on realigning the fork blades (it's got no buckling or cracking) and use it as my city bike.

The grand plan:
Shed as much weight as possible. No drive train guard, no mudguards, no lights, no generator, no kickstand, fixed gear, front brake, 30–40mm tyres. Leave the paint on. Being left in the rain for some time, it's got a very nice patina. You don't know for sure which part is paint brown and which is rust. The golden lettering and pinstriping add a touch of steampunkness. Initially I thought of building it with golden or copper looking parts. Luckily I saw a Cinelli Gazetta in the window of a hipsteresque bar. The poor bike had every part golden except for the frame (deep section gold rims and everything). No more gold for Gazelle now.

Anyone knows anything about this model? Unfortunately I left everything but the frame to my grandma's in the countryside so I can't make out the year of manufacture judging by the parts until I get there.

Bikerider007

Nice stylish frame. I would lean toward the older year but know nothing of Gazelle. And I would have a tough time not leaving at least fenders on if you have.

seboros

Thanks for the input! I'll have too look for the fenders at grandma's. I don't remember if they were original. If they are, I'll consider installing them. Though I'd probably use it to ride along with my little girl on sunny weather.

non-fixie 

The Gazelle Superieur was a rather popular upright sports model. They are still quite common in these parts, in fact so common that no one has bothered thus far to document anything about its history.

Yours is an earlier model, so I agree with [MENTION=417491]Bikerider007[/MENTION] that seventies is more likely. The later ones had drum brakes, and were a lot less interesting to look at. Yours has these elegant fork ends:



I'd be really tempted to use all those nice details and braze-ons and build a nice tourer with it, instead of a fixie. With inverted north road or even drop bars.

Stadjer

From 1981 they got 7-digit serial numbers. A 6 digit serial number with G* in front is from between 1974 and 1981. The first digit is the last digit of the year it was build in. Hence this is a 1976, which explains the colour. Actually Gazelle had two shades of dark brown in the seventies, I have one in the other, lighter, brown. It's the fork ends and chainstay ends that are a bit uncommon and probably typical for this model in that period.

70's is good, Gazelle only started cutting corners on quality in the 80's. So it's not even vintage yet. Bikes like that have been shipped in great numbers to Eastern Europe for at least a decade, because they are a bit underestimated in the Netherlands and they can only be sold as a 'trainstation bike', which can't be expensive. In Eastern Europe people appreciate the quality.

There's no point in preserving the original, but I don't see the point in trying to make a heavy bike light, it will still be a heavy bike with lots of naked braze-ons for things you left of. Weight is overestimated, it doesn't make a bike slower unless it's very hilly there, but then you shouldn't underestimate an SA3. I'd get a nice chrome outer cable for the SA and have it curve beautifully to the cable braze-ons, maybe chrome or wooden fenders with chrome supports, wide light coloured or white wall tyres, a nice shiny kickstand with a visible spring and maybe even a chrome front rack and show off it's original comfortable all purpose character in a new way. But that's just me.

juvela

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BSC threaded shell mentioned.

You might wish to check width; possible it could be 70mm.

This could affect build plans if you envision a chainset change.

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Slash5

Nice that it's a BSA BB. Both Gazelle's I've had my hands on had a whacko press fit BB that I was unable to find any info on and would have had to be ordered from the Netherlands.

merziac

Exactly this, spit, polish and chrome, it would be stunning.

seboros

Thank you for the information! I have mostly italian lightweights and I thought this Gazelle was really nothing superieur. I also never really dug the extras on bikes. I remember as a kid I stripped my cruiser bike just to be in tune with the BMX trend.

But reading your advice makes me think this build over.

seboros

Measuring the bb shell width was among the first things I did. It's 68mm. I alteady have a Shimano BB UN 55 and a pair of Ofmega square tapered cranks to go with it. I was aware of the idiosyncratic bbs some dutch bikes had.

seboros

Thanks a lot, Stadjer! I never thought I could drool over a description of fenders and kickstands. First I envisioned this bike like a roadster along the lines of the path racers. You got me think this over.

non-fixie 

Here's some more inspiration:

seboros

What a delightfully quaint film! Thanks for sharing!

Stadjer

I happened to try to turn an old Gazelle into a 'cross bike' when I was about eleven and there was a BMX hype and my parents refused to by me one. It was a small roadster from my grandpa's shed, probably pre war. The stripping went well and getting it rolling again was easy and I was very pleased to discover a beautiful sprocket like in my user icon behind the fully enclosed chaincase. But it was even considerably heavier than the 70's Gazelles, but the most important thing was that the geometry was completely wrong for the purpose. And I got laughed at the BMX track. So I learned very early that one can't change a bike's character by stripping it.

Gazelle is not really that special, but it's probably to Dutch bikes what Mercedes is to German cars in many ways.

I like the look of path racers too, and there appears to be custom bike cults over Eastern Europe which makes the mass export of good old Dutch bikes much easier to bear. That's why I suggested the wooden fenders, it's not just about the wood, but they are usually flat and not curved around the walls of the tyres. That gives a bike with fenders a very different look.

I'm looking forward to see what you come up with when you're done rethinking.

gugie 

Love the film. It's got everything I like about cycling in it - going off to explore new places, making new friends, lugged, steel framed bicycles, and getting a good appetite from rigorous exercise.

With all the lugged, steel bikes, saddlebags and people wearing "normal" clothing, it could be a Rivendell ad. Right around 7:30 in the video there's a common scene. 10 people standing around watching someone repair a flat, giving suggestions, telling him he's doing it wrong, making jokes...and fenders all around!

non-fixie 

Either that or it's from outside the US.

While I'm not necessarily a Rivendell fan, they do seem to be the only Americans who understand that you can actually ride a bike without dressing up in lycra and protective gear ... and live to tell about it.

From a current Gazelle ad:

gugie 

or they're from Portland:

non-fixie 

Thanks, @gugie. Is that the Portland morning rush hour?

This is what it looks like in the outskirts of Amsterdam:

ollo_ollo

Check out the cyclist hauling his bass Fiddle at about 1:17

Stadjer

It's that kind of daily use that explains why Gazelle and a lot of other Dutch bikes are still quite good and worth a second life as someone's custom bike. It's really hard on bikes, I've had a Motobecane and a Peugeot but they really aren't made for that.

seboros

When I visited The Hague a few years ago I remember I was intrigued by the large number of bicycles I encountered that were squeaking along their dry rusty chains. Now I finally understand. The Dutch just ride.

seboros

I finally managed to get it rideable again.


russian image hosting

Compared to the steel road bikes I have, this one rides likes a comfortable truck. I haven't decided yet if it is a laid back scrambler or a limousine. I plan to equip it with toe clips and straps and a red saddle. A pair of locally made wooden fenders might be another addition. The original dynamo and bulb still work.


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seboros

Here are some better pics:











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seboros

non-fixie