Gazelle Champion Mondial 1985 Neo Retro build

Ha - i'll see if have a sachet of dioralyte to chuck in as well :-D

That would have been helpful a few hours ago. Fortunately I think my system is no empty! Lol

Seatpost/Saddle and Handlebar/Stem ready to go:

Handlebar/stem close-up (with bell)

Seatpost/saddle close-up

Been quite busy this weekend doing some cosmetic changes to the frame. I know that it may not be to everyone's taste, but I love how it's turned out, especially by altering the decals.

Here is the frame as it was:

And here is what it looks like now:

And the other side:

The rest of the build shall continue this week.

well its your bike and taste, but damn thats a pity in my view.
decals make no sense from a historic point of view. anyway, enjoy the biek and the ride

but damn thats a pity in my view.

Yup

You could have just gotten a frame with a messed up paintjob as a basis for a re-spray project. Would have saved you some money and it wouldn't have been a waste of a lovely frame in mint condition.

Metallic light blue frames are my favourite... Indeed, the build itself is not really appropriate for the frame - 'tis a shame.

You'll probably find that repainting such a lovely old frame might ruffle a few feathers on here. People on here have a bit of a thing for original paint, but at the end of the day it's your frame and if you like it more then great!

^this. I also rattlecanned my first 'road bike' and threw a brown leather saddle and bar tape on it. Fortunately, it was only a pos gas pipe peugeot. You'll probably find that you'll start to appreciate og paintjobs more, the longer you work on bikes. Some of the forum's favourite paint jobs might even be somewhat off-putting for outsiders whereas bike afficionados consider them iconic. From my experience, beginners tend to like traditional single colour paintjobs with rich leather and chromy bits. Around here, such a theme would be considered more appropriate for a randonneur. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what others think as long as you have fun with bikes. Also, your paintjob seems well-executed so kudos for that!

As noted above, it's your frame and you're free to do with it as you wish, and the paint job does look quite well done, but equally it does seem a shame when it was so nice as it was.
And, pedant alert, but is that a 501 decal on the seat tube now...?
Are you downgrading the tubing to make it less nickable...? ;)

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