PTR

Hi, i have been a member since 2016 but i have made only a one post.
today it was about to change because i wanted to make post about my first "find". Wrote gazillion letters long post added few pics and tried to post it but since im "newbie" all that went down the drain.
I guess i have to take it slowly then.

I found a Dutch bike Batavus Sprint mixte and would like to know more about the bike and ecpesially the era of production. I can post pics after i have made my first 10 post so i can only describe it now 🙂

machinist42

OP's Album

juvela

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your member page here at the forum has a place where you can create a photo album

there is not minimum post requirement to do this

when you have the images loaded members can visit the album and place them into the discussion thread

member @non-fixie is sure to have lots of helpful information on your find


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PTR

is it possible that my initial post was also saved somewhere and it can be restored? It would save a lot of time rewriting my overly exited intro.

juvela

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..the moderators might be able to answer this...

cb400bill


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machinist42

Possibly.

Have you tried initiating a new post as you did when you wrote it? The system may have saved it for you as a "Draft?"

Otherwise, juvela's suggestion to contact the Mods (or The Rockers?) is prudent.

juvela

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cycle's birth time appears near to 1976-1977


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cb400bill

Nope. It’s goners.

T-Mar

Assuming the front derailleur is OEM, it is no older than a 1977 model. That is the year that Shimano introduced their CPSC cage. It was used through 1981 on this particular front derailleur. The rear derailleur is an obvious replacement from the 1990s but the levers match the front deralleur. Both are consistent with the crankset and while the levers appear to be placed a bit low on the down tube, so is the brand decal. The frame itself appears to be hi-tensile steel, with stamped dropouts and a small diameter seat post. Pedals are another obvious update. The stem appears to be at an unsafe height.

PTR

What do you think what type of rear derailleur was there leaving the factory line. Assuming all the components were Shimanos

non-fixie 

The Sprint was Batavus' sports model at the time, covering the middle ground between their city bikes and the racing line-up. In Holland they could be had with drop bars as well as upright bars. Not particularly light, but well made, and with a few upgrades - such as aluminum rims and losing the protective hardware and rack - it is fine machine for light touring.

It might well be the same frame that was sold as the Tour de 'Europe in the US.

This is an ad from May 1977. I suspect yours is a bit later:



There are a few Batavus's on Bikeforums, like in this thread.

PTR

I uploaded some more pics in gallery. What do you think are the brakes original?
The rims are Weinmann alloy rims. Should clean up really nice.

fabiofarelli

The brakes are original.

non-fixie 

I believe the brakes could well be original. Those did show up on the Sprint in the catalogs. Weinmann rims are fine. I'd keep them. Those brake levers do not belong on those bars, they are city levers. Either the bars or the levers are not original.

If the frame were mine and I liked it, I'd build it up with period-correct parts I like and not worry too much about originality. These bikes were originally built to a budget, and with nicer parts it will be a nicer bike.

PTR

The plan was to build it for my wife and daughther for light touring on local bicycle roads. The thing is my daugther is very experienced with bikes because she trains 4 times a week on mtb and roadbike since she was 5 yo but my wife is new to sportbikes/dropbars so i am thinking something more beginner user friendly.

An you sir are right those bars are not original because they are smaller size than the stem so PO has inserted a piece of aluminium to fil the cap .

non-fixie 

Mrs non-fixie was not a fan of drop bars at first, and to get her used to the more sporty riding position and offer a few different hand positions as well, I used these on her bikes for a while:







The last iteration before moving to drop bars was this one:

thumpism 

Your frame appears to be tall for a mixte, possibly even a 23" seat tube. Hard to find those. I suspect the Sprint model is its own thing, since I bought my Tour de l'Europe in Amsterdam in '74 so I know it wasn't just a U.S. model. Yours is actually nicer than mine was with its steel rims and cottered crank, Simplex shifters and derailleurs. Interestingly, I thought all Batavus/Intercycle bikes of that era had the Durolon coating to protect the paint but I don't see that sticker on your seat tube. Enjoy the build and the bike.

PTR

i cant find any size labels from frame but i measured horizontaly from the center of the stem/fork to the center of the seat post and it was 53cm so i think its rather medium/small size. My daughters Orbea mtb measures the same.

thumpism 

For "frame size" you want to measure the seat tube length, that's from the centerline of the crank to the top of the seat tube where the seat post emerges. What you were measuring is the effective top tube length, "effective" because mixtes don't have actual top tubes so you're measuring the span that one would have to cover.

PTR

So the first job ( after cleaning) was rear wheel. The axle was broken so i had to replace that. Luckily one guy had it and i could swap it right away. While doing that i noticed that the freewheel was making bad noises and didn move freely. So decided to open it and give it a good clean. Did all that, put a new grease but i think i used wrong grease or too much of it. It was Motorex bike grease. The freewheel fheels now "thick" and doesn spinn freely and it doesnt make that nice ticking sound. What kind of lubricant is right for freewheel?
Ill do it again tomorrow.
The freewheel is shimano ug.

non-fixie 

I don't know what is "right", but I generally don't take freewheels apart. I just flush them with WD40 and spin them until no more dirt escapes with the WD40 and it spins freely (and noisily). Then I flush and spin again, this time with a thin general purpose oil, also called sewing machine oil in my part of the world, until the oil has replaced the WD40 and it sounds "right". Worked for me so far. YMMV.

PTR

Trying to figure out what gear shifters i can use instead the ones i have on downtube.

PTR

Well this should be my 10th post.

PTR

This is the setup im going with

Ishamael

If you'd pressed 'back' in your browser when you got the newbie error, you probably would have gotten the post back. I had to do that for one of my posts. If you started a new thread, I'm afraid it might be lost to the ether.