CriticalThought

Thought I'd share a recent acquisition. Early 1970s Mondia that's near original. I feel really fortunate to have picked this beauty up.

It has a couple of period upgrades. Original sew-up rims replaced with Mavic Open 4 CDs, laced up to the original Campagnolo Record hubs thankfully. Also the original Swiss brakes (center pull Mafac Racers) have been replaced with near period first generation (I think) Shimano DuraAce side pulls. Other than that, I think it's as stock, with the original Campagnolo bar end shifters. I haven't had a chance to ride it much, but plan on replacing the tires, and maybe the bar-tape and that's about it. The blue fade-to-chrome paint is absolutely stunning in the flesh. The photos don't do it justice (nor did I have time to even wipe it down before taking them).

cb400bill

Beaufiful bike!

mpetry912 

those are very nice bikes. Looks hardly ridden. Paint on those is impossible to reproduce today, altho this one does not have the fades.

CriticalThought do you mind sharing what you paid for this bike ?

always interested in valid comps

very nice !

/markp

CriticalThought

I don't mind you asking mpetry912. I paid $500 US and I thought it well worth it. My typical mental justification is "what I could get for the components and frame if I parted them out" (though I'm not at all a part-it-out kinda guy). I've paid more than parts value for bikes in the past when I've had some emotional attachment, but I try to be honest with myself about that. If I've paid well under parts value, then I'm typically pretty happy.

This one though is stunning in the flesh, much more so than the pictures would lead you to believe. Also, I bought it from the original owner and he rode the wheels off it, putting thousands of miles on it over the last half century and he kept it up impeccably. I'm really looking forward to cleaning it up further, lubing and adjusting the bearings, getting some fresh bar tape and tires on there and putting in some miles!

I'm a big fan of Swiss bikes and have a couple others (one of which is another Mondia Special just like this but even more original with the archetypical white orange black fade paintwork), though that one is a little small for me and it wasn't as well kept as this one. All in all, I think this bike was worth the price paid, and I'll be riding it a lot. I also like that the wheels are really nice and that I can swap them over to some other bikes I have with similar set-ups when I feel like it.

Kabuki12

Very nice example of a truly fine machine. I bought mine in about 2016 and have ridden it many miles. Mine is the red fade to white fade to black color and a 63cm frame , 1973ish . When mine was made it came with Mafac Racer brakes which I love....THEY STOP! I haven't seen too many with that color , actually none. I have been able to run very wide tires on it in the past but I think the ride is better (for me) with 700 x 25's. My wheels are Super Champion Gentleman clinchers with Superbe HF hubs ( I have the original Campagnolo Record HF stored away). The bar end shifters took a while to get used to as all my other bikes have down tube shifting , but I wanted to keep the bike original. I find that the chrome on these bikes is amazing . A very good value for what you paid , given the condition , even in todays soft market.

Mondia Special #174838

repechage

I looked at the Mondia special in 1972 while looking for a bike- the versions I saw had the fade paint, the orange and the blue versions were quite smart appearing.
it would have been another year of saving.
they were approaching $400.
$375 in the Spring, $395 by summer
inflation - and profit margin was king.

CriticalThought

Thanks for sharing that photo, Kabuki12. That's a beautiful bike. I love the dual color bar tape and that classic (odd-ball? ) Mondia color scheme.

My other orange smaller Mondia is the same. Also your comment about the brakes on yours made me double check mine. As you said about yours, mine came with Mafac Racers and I suspect that I was wrong about this new one I picked up coming with Swiss Weinmann Vanquiers. I think it also probably came with Mafac Racers.

When debating making an offer on this blue one, I was also looking at another one near Denver which had the most outrageous vintage Swiss paint job you could imagine. If it weren't for the fact that the fame was way too small for me and that practically all of the original components had been replaced with modern kit, I would have grabbed it. I'll see if I can find a photo and add it below. It was lime green and red with the Mondia fade with white and chrome lugs.


My other Mondia wearing the traditional colors, as found... a bit rough)


(sorry, seller didn't share drive side pics... but check out that paint!)

Kabuki12

It looks like your orange one still has the clear coat on the chrome. Mine had that when I bought it and after completely taking the bike apart, I polished the yellowing clear coat off to reveal “new” chrome underneath. Unfortunately some of the decals did not survive the process.




After polish

After polish

3alarmer 

...FWIW, it's not very expensive to order the seat tube lettering from some place like these guys.
The one I ride here came with few of the seat tube letters still intact.

Measure the height and width of the lettering overall, and use one of the Helvetica fonts in the design app. I went with white, rather than red.
There's a choice tool on there for vertical text, as well as one for the letter shadowing in a different color.

Kabuki12

3alarmer, That is something I haven’t seen. I was thinking about new seat tube decals, or a complete new set . I guess I would have to polish off the remainder of the originals before putting new ones on. Thanks for the tip

xiaoman1 

That's one beautiful Mondia, for my money I believe that the marque is truly undervalued. The fades were my favorite and they came in many variations BUT the one pictured is outstanding....Great score!
Best, Ben

3alarmer 

...IIRC, when I was reseaching it, I discovered that they had come in two different letter sizes over the years. But if you measure the total height, and width, of what's on there now, you should come out well. I think the originals were a red letter color, with a gold shadow. Like I said, I went with white body and a gold shadow, Red probably shows up better against the chrome.

I think that maybe Greg Softley still sells them, but I wanted to get mine in a different color.

WT160

Do you know where in Switzerland these were made?

Lamont Cobb

Great score

kroozer 

Beautiful bike. IMO it really should have a set of polished alloy rims and CP brakes.

CriticalThought

WT160 , I do know where in Switzerland Mondias were made.. Mondia had a factory in Balsthal, in the canton of Solothurn. It's south of Basel and north of Bern.

There was a really interesting article in the Solothurner Zeitung (the local paper) in Swiss-German in 2019 that describes the history of the company. I grabbed a (rough) Google translated copy and am including it below, along with an old photo of the factory (from maybe late 60s early 1970s judging by the Citroen DS in the photo). They moved into their "modern" building from the previous location (essentially a rented storage room by the local train station).

The company's headquarters at the intersection of Sagmattstrasse and Holderweg, where production and sales have taken place since 1946.

Bicycles, racing bikes, motorcycles and then nothing: the history of the «Mondia»

When Balsthal still produced bicycles: the rise and fall of the once successful Thal company Mondia.

Franzi Zwahlen-Saner12/31/2019


It all started with a small trading company: the Mümliswil innkeeper Gustav Haefeli and the Balsthal blacksmith Josef Jeker founded the import company Jeker, Haefeli & Cie. in 1918, initially in Jeker's private home. It was a trading company that had bicycles, sewing machines, tricycles, flashlights and much more in its range. The company grew, and just one year later a storage room near the OeBB train station in Balsthal was rented, where the goods could be stored and from where they could be forwarded.

In 1933, 15 years after the company was founded, the first bicycles were assembled in the company's own workshop and given the Mondia name. From the beginning, the aim was to produce high quality bikes with the best frames and components. Three years later racing bikes were already being produced, with which great successes in cycling races were achieved. The Tour de Suisse was won in 1936 by Karl Litschi and in 1937 by Giovanni Valetti on Mondia bikes. The racing driver and mountain specialist Fritz Schär - a contemporary of Ferdy Kübler - also increased the level of awareness of Mondia racing bikes. Thanks to these successes, the demand for Mondia bicycles increased and larger production facilities became necessary. In 1946, a new building was inaugurated on Holderweg/Sagmattstrasse, which also made it possible to increase capacity.

Motorcycle sales expanded

Motorcycles were added to the range as a further sales field. The company also sold other branded bicycles and mopeds. Just ten years later, the factory was expanded again and the share capital increased to CHF 500,000. In 1963/64 an expansion of the premises became necessary. At the company's 50th anniversary in 1968, the company employed 77 people. They produced around 10,000 bicycles and sold 4,500 motorcycles a year. This year Jeker, Haefeli & Cie. also importer for Switzerland and Liechtenstein of the Japanese motorcycle brand Kawasaki. With this product expansion, the warehouse for spare parts also had to be enlarged, and in 1975 it was relocated to a new location on Sagmattstrasse. At the beginning of the 1980s, the share capital was also increased to EUR 1.8 million.

1986/87 saw the last major investments in new buildings on Sagmattstrasse, at the spare parts warehouse. In 1986 the factory building was equipped with the latest manufacturing technology and put into operation. In 1988 the sales network for Mondia bicycles was extended to Germany.

First mountain bikes from Balsthal

At that time, there were still various other bicycle brands in Switzerland. Mondia went on a "shopping spree" in 1989 and took over the Allegro bicycle factory in Marin. Kawasaki also grew and in 1991 opened a separate Kawasaki department with a museum, showroom and its own sales department. In 1992, the share capital was increased again and now reached a total of CHF 2.7 million. At the same time, the first mountain bikes were sold under the Kuwahara name. These were very heavy and massive bicycles with a steel frame. In the same year, the Mondia brand also started with a range of mountain bikes.

In 1995 the Allegro production was moved from Marin to Balsthal and two years later the Balsthal company took over Condor, which was in financial difficulties, even though Mondia was also in the red with its bikes at the time. The takeovers, the large construction investments and the entry into the German business took place in too short a time and required too much capital. From 1993 onwards the company kept losing market share and in 1997 the import of Kawasaki bicycles was transferred to Emil Frey AG. As a result, Mondia lost a major source of income. Entering the German market turned out to be a major financial fiasco.

In 1999 there was a management buy-out, but even this could not save the company. In 2001, bicycle production in Balsthal was closed and relocated to Strengelbach. In mid-2011 bankruptcy proceedings were opened against Mondia Balsthal. Towards the end of 2013, production in Strengelbach was discontinued. As part of the bankruptcy, the brand name "Mondia" passed to Heidi Chung Hoi Yee in Hong Kong in autumn 2014 for CHF 300,000. This ends the story of a once flourishing and well-known Balsthal company.

Source: «Baustler Story» 2019

CriticalThought

kroozer I tend to agree. The rims definitely look "modern" for the bike in my eyes.

I'm toying with what would look better though, a set of Mafac Racer center-pull brakes (as original) or maybe a set of Campagnolo side pulls from the period. I'm a little on the fence in that regard. But I definitely agree about polished alloy wheels looking better.

Kabuki12

The Mafac Racer will stop better. I have Campagnolo NR on many of my bikes and like them for the way they look but I don’t think they stop quite as good as the Mafac. The pads you choose will also make a difference . My Mondia with the Mafac brakes is probably the best stopping bike I have. Someone , years ago , had put Madison pads on it . They are a blue - ish color and they look old but quiet and effective , even after 8-9 years of service. The other consideration is the brazed on brake hanger mount on the seat stays. I changed the Universal C-pull brakes to Campagnolo NR on two bikes because I prefered the look but I compromised the performance. Just my humble opinion. Joe