oneclick 

This just followed me home (drive side pics later):



I've been looking it up. Romet was a brand of the nationalized polish bike manufacturer, and at the time the Sport was made it apparently was a top-line model. I think this is an 86, the decals are consistent with net pics and the serial starts with 86 in a different font from the subsequent-and-irregularly-stamped digits:



It looks a bit of a mix of good and bad. One shifter boss is crooked, the top-tube guides are cheap, the chainstay bridge is cheap and ugly:






On the other hand, the dropouts are good enough, the crown is a nice solid bit of casting, and the brake bridge looks the business:






The numbers are 52cm seat tube, c-c; 2295g bare frame, 845g fork with crown race,and a 25.6 post fits no trouble. Not a featherweight, but not likely to break either.
The tubes are imperial, so is the threading. My little fingers say there is no seam in the chainstays, and the forks don't show one from the outside.

Pics of the components next - Iron Curtain copies of Campag, Simplex, TA, Mafac, Shimano (those nasty black plastic shift levers)...

tricky 

Patiently awaiting the component pics. Those commie copy bits are the best part!

oneclick 

OK, here's the first one, and it's a mystery to me. No maker's marks that I can see. It goes click-click-click, not clickclick-clickclick-clickclick. Teeth have a narrowed top edge. Some nice machining, the body is relieved inside the bottom flange, makes it a little lighter probably. The three largest sprockets are stamped/cut from some sort of sheet that has a square pattern of tiny dots.

Doug Fattic 

I'm curious if any of the parts on this Polish made frame came from the XB3 company in Kharkov, Ukraine.

juvela

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thanks so much for sharing this interesting find

shall look forward to seeing the fittings with which it was constructed

one Polish marque have had come through is that of ZZR

all of its bits were marked ZZR

it was likely about 12-14 years earlier than the subject machine


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[ KOMAR a ROMET marque of motorcycles/mopeds ]
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oneclick 

Here's the hub. Looks like a Campag 1006 Gran Sport. No marks on the hub, but the Romet mark on the qr lever. Haven't had it apart yet, spins nicely enough though. The washers-as-spacers look crude compared to the rest, and it measures just under 124mm (so does the frame).

juvela

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possible hub may be a model of ESKA, or a hub from the factory which produced the ESKA marque among others...

they did a good assortment of models, many of whose barrels were marked with the brand name of the cycle

always the possibility you may discover a marking on the centre section of the axle...


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oneclick 

Almost exact, the only major difference being the brake adjuster and its steel insert.

A bit of crudity in the off-centre slot in one of the cheese-head screws, and (much like Weinmann/Dia-compe) they benefit from careful fettling of the pivot arms - as found on left, arms reshaped on the right. Nearly hidden by scratches are the stamped Romet marks.

juvela

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lever on the right in the image appears to have been crashed and received both deformation and reformation

its pivot pin appears cracked; does it go all the way through?


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oneclick 

Perhaps I wasn't clear - right side is after i spread the pivot ears. And that's a wee bit of dirt, not a crack, you made me check.

juvela

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yes, thank you, that is what i assumed


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oneclick 

Bars have no markings other than the kurling, but they do have a hidden feature - a steel sleeve inside the centre. It's off-centre, the two pencil marks show the ends, as found with a magnet. It might need the sleeve, it's quite wide. 450g.

oneclick 

This is one of the nicer-finished bits (stem is the other). It's a pretty good match for the Simplex pushrod, made from some sort of alloy; I'd guess a zinc-aluminium mix of some kind.
It has a nice smooth action, the spring is softer than the Simplex, and it's not going to break like the delrin versions. Marked F on the band, ROMET on the body, and on the inside of the body - a date-code? casting master? The cage fixing-screw head is marked HERZA (mfr) 5.6 (grade). It weighs 125g.

These are listed in velobase under "Favorit" which is czech, not polish, but comrades all...

oneclick 

Stripped the paint off and had a *good* look at the construction; again a mix of good and shoddy.

The bbshell is cast and some of the lug points have had a bit of attention.
It has some attempts at features; brake and gear guides and stops, brake bridge reinforcement plates, and one lug had a window - it's the bottom of the lower head lug, where *nobody* will ever see it.
The rear brake bridge still had swarf brazed to the back end of the brake-bolt hole; all over lots of messy brazing, but no gaps.
All the dropout stay ends are somewhat crude, but again solid, and there's right side extra clearance.
The seat-lug slot - they do these one-handed...
That shifter mount (he used the other hand)...
The paint was pretty thin, removal to this stage didn't take long:

jdawginsc 

Thats a nifty little specimen! (Might look good in orange, green or purple...haha. Or black)