Gazelle champion mondial AA special

This was a relatively recent purchase from the bay.....1985 champion mondial AA special in sapphire blue.....this is a darker blue, with a pearl topcoat.
57cm CtoC seat tube
55.5cm CtoC top tube

I was very happy, as I have wanted one for a long time.....this one comes equipped with Mavic ssc front and rear mechs and a Mavic chainset.


The whole lot was very grotty though...

The plan is to strip it down, give everything a good clean/service and change the bar tape and saddle to brooks honey items.....a well broken brooks professional with my sit bones defined....I'm not a huge fan of restored bikes, as I like to see the scrapes and marks from use....it's part of the bike's history and what makes it unique.
I've also picked up some small flange super record hubs laced to Mavic GP4 tubular rims, which will replace the mismatched ones that it came with. These are lovely, but the chrome spokes have some rust which I am looking for some ideas to help remove!
I have some time tomorrow, so will post the 'after' shots then.....
The brakes are the wrong way round.....the left is the front and vice versa, so they will need sorting too.

Nice, love the Mavic bits, my pista is same colour think its called Saphire if I remeber correctly from 'Mr Gazelle'- Dutch cheese.

Yeah, he was very helpful with dating the bike.....
Anyway, a lot of parts cleaned, and newly polished shorter cinelli stem installed...I like the look of shorter stems.

I should have it finished, but still a work in progress,by this evening.

More pics. Interested to see how this progresses.

^So am I, more pics!

Very nicely defined lugs/paint work.

These are lovely, but the chrome spokes have some rust which I am looking for some ideas to help remove!

Silver foil scrunched up and wd40.

Although, if it were me I'd rebuild them with new stainless steel spokes. Character is nice and everything, but some things are better new. Double butted ACI's from cyclebasket are cheap and good. Are the rims alu? If not they're probably not worth keeping on a rebuild.

+1 to a good service. I had an old DA rear mech that was a bit iffy. Cleaned, regreased . rebuilt and it was lovely.

It would be nice if you could pickup some nice mavic hubs... 501's always look lovely but are probably a bit new for that.

Thanks for the silver foil tip......I tried it with no wd40 and it just kept wearing through to the finger tips!
I will look into getting them rebuilt, it's just about the only thing on bikes now that I don't know how to do......but I do like originality.
Anyway, finished for today, maybe more to follow, certainly some more polish on the frame and fork, as I never put a lot of effort into the polishing, just degreasing/degunking.

I know the cables look a bit like a knob vein under the brooks tape, but the levers were designed to be back to front....the little cut outs came out the 'wrong' side and this was what worked best....I could have made a new cutout on the correct side, but I didn't realise how noticeable it was until I looked at the picture......I might untape it and rectify, but I've made a nice job of the brooks tape apart from that!
Looks nice from here!

Polished stem and "cock"pit area

Polished original SR Laprade seat pin and Brooks professional saddle with lovely wrap over seat stays

Nice clean and oiled Mavic rear mech, running very smoothly

I didn't have the balls to polish the Mavic chainset (including rings), so it just got a clean

For the record, the brakes are team modolo, which I believe we're made by Mavic too?

Anyway, thats it for now.......thoughts and comments welcome!
This is my first 'current projects' thread, so go easy on me!

Damn I shoulda bid higher!

Nice one!

Damn I shoulda bid higher!

Nice one!

Ha!
I'm glad you didn't, because I had put a much higher bid on it too!

The story was, that the original owner used to race it, but got married and retired it to the garage.....then his brother (who also used to race) got it out and tried to use it again.....unfortunately, a back injury prevented him from doing a lot.....he was only going to commute on it anyway.

Like this bike man,
This will be an example for the bike I'm building for my girlfriend, only mine has a modern content (rsx shifters etc.) I would really sort the cables out though.

Looking good.
I like the pro build touch of the blue inner gear cable covers.
Just needs end caps on cables now plus toe straps and toe strap pulls.

Yeah, I will probably sort them tomorrow........the vein does give a nice place to rest your fingers when on the hoods though.....
I'll be getting some end caps for the cables from the shop one Wednesday or Thursday....he is normally shut Wednesday, but I hope he is open because of the long weekend instead. The pedals are just some lyotard ones with half toe clips that I put on for a shakedown ride......there will probably be some spd's going on for it's first proper ride.......I'm saving the toe clips for my hetchins and L'eroica ;0)

absolutely loving this set up
bravo!

Gotta love these old Champi's!!

Thanks guys..... I'm taking it for a good thrashing tomorrow, so will decide about the cabling then.... If it is a hindrance, it will change

"knob vein ", "cock" pit area, "i didn't have the balls", "I'm taking it for a good thrashing tomorrow" ...
marvellous stuff and a lovely bike too ;)

Very nice bike.
If you reverse the brake levers then you have a better cable routing.

But then I'd be like an American or something.......doing some skids over the handlebars.....

Very nice bike.
If you reverse the brake levers then you have a better cable routing.

I think I have made a mistake because of my limited knowledge of the English language.It must be exchance the left and right brake lever.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.....

Like what you've done. Just grabbed an AB from ebay. Want to restore it for the L'eroica next year and you've given me some inspiration!

Just bought this frame from stedlocks. First classic steel frame since 1984! Will build it up with fairly new bits hanging about and ride through the summer to see if I like it.
( Did not get on with steel Woodrup I had made in 2008 so thought I would try a classic) then think about what to put on it. It's part built, just needs cables.
Will post pictures when finished .