Gazelle Champion Mondial AA restoration

Hi there.

I've recently purchased a Gazelle Champion Mondial bike from rih and just received. I'm planning to restore it a bit, polish up some parts, lace new wheels to refresh it a bit - nothing too radical I think.

I planned to swap the cable outer to a new black one and also the bar tape to a black cloth tape but I read somewhere that originally when it comes to Gazelle it was always decals colour = cable outer = bar tape?

I also plan to switch to tubulars - got nice old Ambrosio rims laying around, gotta polish them a bit.

I must say I'm impressed by the chainset and it's present state - looks almost like new, the BB is also buttery smooth - much more than new cartridge BB I have laying around.

Oh - and the brake lever hoods are in very good condition, too. Or at least were as one of them developed a tear as soon as I pulled the lever to check how it functions :/ The paintjob is in general good condition, but there are quite a lot of dings and scratches around the seat tube / top tube lug.

Here are couple pictures of the disassembled bike waiting till I have more time to clean and polish everything.

Looks lovely. The yellow bar tape is good and there's probably no point in changing it, but it might be hard to find cables in exactly the right yellow so that they don't clash with the tape. Someone told me with those type of hoods that the trick is to moisten them slightly before bending / rolling so they don't crack.

yellow cable = too much colour , detracts from the lovely frame ......oh and tubs a bit of a pain in the ass . just get some classic gumwall tyres .....

I agree with gios about the cables, regarding gum walls - I'm a fan of these - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380473367488?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 (hope that link works) they look better in the flesh, and super cheap... no issues with them so far...

Whadda beauty. Keep the leather bar tape - looks like it's in great nick.

wow

The tape looks pristine in the photographs, not so good in flesh. But will try to clean it and keep it. Gumwall tires are great, I agree, but I'm going to lace tubar wheelset nonetheless. Been riding tubular front in my fixed bike with zero problems and personally I think tubulars are more "classy". Continental Giro and Vittoria Rally seem to be the only cheap equivalent of gumwall tires but are also considered to be POS. Veloflex sounds nice but a bit too $$$ sadly.

Thats a really nice bike. I thought it looked great as it was.

Little update.

Today I've disassembled the rear and front mechs, also I've polished the frond derailleur a little bit. Unfortunately one of the limit screws of the rear mech was broken in half (the screw head was missing completely) so I had to drill it out. Hopefully I'll find a matching screw - otherwise I'll retap the holes to match a litle bigger screw diameter and fit new screws. Front mech fortunately is complete and in good shape - just needed cleaning and little polishing.

I'm not going for a full mirror look so the polishing job is not perfect but it's a final effect I'm aiming for.

Here are couple photographs (front mech screws and springs are still bathing in rust remover so they're missing).

I also disassembled, cleaned and lightly polished the shifters.

Little update:

Cleaned and very lightly polished chainset (micromesh 2400 -> 6000 -> 12000). Really not much of a difference but slightly cleaner look.

Must admint that Italians really know how to make nice things.

One part I wanted to finish with a high amount of "bling bling" was the stem. And here it is, after polishing. Say hello to the photographer :p

Need to get new mounting screw, the chrome finishing of the current one is chipped at the allen key socket and it rusts easily.

I ran into a problem. Need to remove the freewheel to relace the hubs to new rims but have a hard time finding a LBS with the right tool. It's a 6 speed Sachs Maillard which requires 2 prong key but the grooves are too wide for the common tools.

Here is a picture:

It looks like a Suntour tool could fit but it's more of a guesswork and I would like not tu buy a tool I won't be able to use.

Any suggestions?

This thread doesn't seem to draw much attention :P

But here's another update - mounted the levers and wrapper the bars. Some people don't like the Benotto tape (or top-down wrapping) but for me it's ace. And I prefer the plugs outside the tape to electrical (or any other) finishing near the stem.

Looks very nice. I hope you were sure the brakelevers were in the right position before wrapping.

Me too. Will never know until I ride the finished bike. Luckily re-wrapping won't be much of a problem.

This is awesome, truly. You have done an excellent job on that polishing. The Benotto tape can look gash on some bikes, and fantastic on others, this is shaping up to be the latter.
Not sure about your freewheel, it looks like the tool would work, worth giving it a try.

Ordered a Suntour freewheel removal tool. It might just have the right diameter and correctly sized prongs but I'm a bit sceptical to be honest. It was dirt cheap though (equivalent of about 2 pounds) so not a big deal (financially) if it doesn't work. But it seems to be the only chance of removing this freewheel in a civilized manner - which I would like to be true as I really would like to keep it. Otherwise it'll probably take ages to find a bike shop with a correct tool :/

So the build is progressing slowly, nearing an end hopefully.

I cleaned, repacked and greased the front hub, it definately looks better now. Though I think I need to get new ball bearings as the old ones don't look too good. The bearing races, however, look pristine so it's an easy fix.

As I've said before, one of the limit screws of the rear mech was stripped and I needed to drill it out. Unfortunately I was unable to find a replacement so I retapped the holes to take standard M3 screws.

However - I think that the 980 mech will now serve as a backup because look what I got for £23 (in great condition):

I gave it a good clean and little polishing. Getting all the dirt out from the Nuovo Record "nameplate" is a major pita. I managed to get most of it out using a small screwdriver but have surrendered for now. I think I'll get a stiff toothbrush with straight bristle and trim it to make it even stiffer and that might be able to get it all out.

Only thing left is removing the freewheel, polishing and repacking of the rear hub and lacing new wheels. I hope to geit it all done by 28th February as it's my birthday and I hope to make myself a nice gift ;)

I have that suntour tool and it fits my compact 7 speed Maillard freewheel quite nicely. If the ears on the freewheel are too big that's not necessarily a problem. If the tool's too big you could dremel the side that doesn't engage when dismantling. I think the saying about those NR mechs was that the shifting was fairly average, but would stay exactly as average forever.

Good to know. By the way - I'm currently trying to choose tubulars for this build and can't really decide. I thought of Continental Giros or Vittoria Rallys - they're cheap, easily available, not great quality but should be enough for this bike (as it's not a racer - more of a training machine / fun way of spending time) and most importantly - tan sidewalls. But both have non-removable valve cores so application of a liquid sealant in case of a puncture on the road is a bit troublesome. And I would like to avoid carrying spare tub all the time. Other option seems to be Tufo S33 tubs - I have one in the front of my fixed bike and like it a lot, plus they have removable valve cores. But they're all black, so not looking as good as Conti or Vittoria.

Any suggestions? Maybe there are some cheap tubs with tan sidewalls and removable cores that I've missed? Or it's not really that important and I should just put a spare tub under my saddle and not worry all that much.

EDIT: Schwalbe Milano seems to be solution :)

+1 for Schwalbe milano, my brother has done 2 L'Eroica's on them without incident.

+1 for removable valve core and liquid sealant. I've been running original 1970's Wolber 290's on one of my bikes filled with Stan's sealant - when you get a puncture you may have to stop and pump a couple of times before the sealant finds & seals the hole, so keep the faith (bringing the hole to the bottom of the wheel helps with gravity-assisted sealing!)

If you do go for Rally's or other fixed core tub you might consider pit-stop

Great build by the way, I've never seen yellow benotto tape looking so classy

I've ordered Milano tubs. They're even cheaper and lighter than Giro / Rally, have removable core and get quite good reviews (at least for their ride quality). Thought people tend to puncture them easily but I guess it's a classic case of YMMV so I'm optimistic.

BTW - I managed to remove the freewheel "peacefully" :)

And about the tape - unfortunately it looks better in the picture than in reality - I wish it had this "orange-ish" tint in real life. To me it resembles a lemon peel, texture is similar too. Nevertheless it looks great, IMHO.

Aaaand a fun fact - judging by the early estimations, Gazelle might be a bit lighter (or very close in weight) than my track Romet. Gaspipe tubing vs. Reynolds 531 innit, I guess :P

kudo's on the restauration work ivosmo. really much effort put into it, looking forward to the finished result!

Great thread! Good job on polishing! Are you considering a respray for the frame?

Great thread.