gstein

Picked up this bike frame from my brother along with another road frame (which folks from BF were able to identify as a nicer Bielstein bike and provide some good background on the bike as well).

Unfortunately this frame has no decals and the only identification number I can find is on the bottom of the BB.

Would love to have some of the BF gurus opine on what this frame might be.

I plan to build up the Bielstein bike but would like to know if this frame is worth investing time and money into to also build up.

unworthy1

Yeah, looks well-brazed and the seat cluster details are especially nice, but would be nicer if the seat lug "ears" are filled in rather than hollow (I can't tell for sure). The BB shell a little more commonplace but all told would be worth somebody's time, especially if there's a fork!
Is it Ital threading? What's the seat post size?
A bit too much that's generic to pin a name to it, could be any of a dozen or more.

EDIT: one concern, the shorty Campy DOs like this has have a rep for cracking, and the fact this DS one looks a little "porous" in the casting...I would keep my eye on that and try not to stress it if you can. They are fine until the aren't, but then you have a repair that can be costly. I have had 2 of these crack on bikes I owned.

non-fixie 

1985 Batavus Professional. 60cm frame. Nice. 👍

Bad Lag

No matter who made it, that is a nice frame and is worthy of paint and a rebuild.

gstein

I do have the fork as well, should have taken a picture of that and posted it as well. When I go back to his shop to pick it up I’ll take a picture of the fork and repost.

I’ll check the threading to see if it is Italian and also measure the seat post.

If this really is a Batavus Professional, then I do think it is worth restoring. My brother owns a auto body shop so just need to determine the original paint code (looks like the frame came in blue) and repaint the frame in the original color.

non-fixie 

Before you add any paint, check the tubing. These could be had in Reynolds 531 as well as Columbus SL. I would expect the fork to be a chromed affair.

gstein

Fork is not chromed. Only the chain stay and dropouts are chromed.

gstein

Anyone have the Batavus catalog…can’t find one for that year online.

non-fixie 

Here you go. And a picture of another '85 BB shell for good measure:

gstein

Awesome…thanks.

I think I am going to go with the Transparent Blue for the new frame color.

May take a while to paint and build the bike but will post pictures once finished. Just need to build the custom Bielstein bike first!

unworthy1

ah-HA! somebody who reads "Batavus BB shell" numbers is in the house!
That's some good sleuthing, I never would have guessed!

USAZorro

When I saw the first picture of the BB shell I was thinking something like C-Itoh. Then the wrap-arounds had me thinking Falcon. Then I became very confused. Glad non-fixie pegged it, and that it's much better than that 1st picture lets on.

John E

The combined knowledge base and expertise of this group is as impressive as its passion for C&V bikes. I cannot jump onto this forum without learning something.

gstein

Here are a few pictures of the matching fork for good measure.

Mackers

Does not look like a Batavus fork to me.

smd4

The frame looks really nice, but that fork...Seems very crudely assembled. That crown looks like it has quite a bit more metal then necessary!

dddd

From the catalog images, the "Criterium" and "Competition" models appear to use the pictured "box" fork crown, not sloping.

The "Nuovo" Professional's fork being the only one that's chromed(?).

non-fixie 

That is definitely not a Batavus Professional fork.

This is what I would expect it to look like. My '84 Professional (Columbus version):

Doug Fattic 

That fork looks exactly like forks on my 70's Schwinn Super Sports. I'm sure it was not original to the frame. It might be something an owner could have gotten as a replacement at a Schwinn Store.

Doug Fattic 

Here is a picture of an early 70's Schwinn Super Sport Fork. I'm in the process of repainting it and the blue is a House of Kolor primer. Eventually it will get painted another blue base coat color before it is final cleared.

You can see that my fork looks exactly like the OP's fork. His look-alike is an obvious replacement. An early 70's the Super Sport was one down from the top-of-the-line Paramount and cost about $150. Schwinn experts can chime in with greater knowledge but my impression was these forks were not made in Chicago but rather imported from Japan. The forks on my Super Sports from the mid 60's were more nicely made. I'm assuming those were made in Chicago.

sd5782 

And that fork on the Super Sport would have had the shiny chrome sheet metal cap covering the crown. It was certainly a cost cutting way to dress up the looks of the crown and not have a lot of labor intensive hand finishing work.

cudak888 

I'm pretty sure the majority of these are Tange. Though they're best known on the Schwinn Continental through the Sports Tourer (and Superior), they were also available as service replacements.

This picture is from BMXMuseum.com, but I believe someone has posted a larger copy (or a different brochure) here on the forum that shows the exact fork available from Tange's catalog of lower-end hi-ten offerings:



At any rate, that frame is definitely worthy of something better. Probably doesn't fit it right either; the fork is likely built for 27"/ISO 630 clearances and the frame 700C.

-Kurt

gstein

As always, the wealth of knowledge on this forum is second to none.

Good thing I posted a picture of the fork. I assumed, given that both the frame and fork had been stripped down, that both were original.

Bad assumption on my part. I should know better, but here’s another assumption…finding a matching fork for my frame is going to be very difficult to find.

Soody

any vaguely correct nice chrome fork would be good
nobody would notice except all the people here who would notice

cudak888 

Not really. Calculate your steerer length and then go to town looking for any sloping-crown replacement. If you're lucky, you might even find an original.

-Kurt