New-to-me Batavus Champion - first restoration job

Hi, just joined this forum and I'm loving all the cool vintage racers on here. Truly some amazing bikes and a knowledgable crowd.

I just bought this pretty much trashed Batavus Champion. It's VERY dirty, has bar tape peeling off, busted tubes/tires, wheels need truing, cassette + chain needs replacing, cables need replacing some surface rust on rims and saddle post, bottom bracket needs cleaning + new bearings etc. etc. etc.
Needs a general overhaul, to say the least!

Good thing is it's fairly light, a perfect size for me and there is no frame rust. AND it cost what equals to around $60 (Including a brand new $30 lock...) and was two blocks away from me.

It looks like this as of now:



My goal is to get it to look something like this:



The next couple of days I will be taking everything apart and cleaning it down. Next I'll look at new parts. I'm on a pretty tight budget - hoping to stay below $100 for all the new parts.

Any ideas to parts or inspiring pictures of classic red road bikes are welcome!

Re:

Those two bikes are worlds apart!

Batavus are great bikes and yours has plenty of potential. Strip clean it all. New tape, chain (maybe freewheel) tyres, cables and saddle and that will look great. Quite big clearances on the frame so when you replace the tyres I'd go for 25c minimum more likely 28c.

Personally I'd highlight the white graphics with white saddle, tape and cables.

Like Tel says, there are a few differences between the two bikes. The Chesini looks like a criterium-style bike, with tight geometry that comes with that. Quick and agile, but also a pretty nervous ride, would be my guess.

The Batavus, on the other hand, is a touring-oriented frame, with more relaxed frame angles and ample clearances for tyres and mudguards.

The Batavus is a great sports touring bike, and I would suggest to build on that strength. Get some nice lightweight 28mm tyres and mudguards to make it into a close to perfect all-weather tourer, instead of a wannabe racer. Save that for a second project

I'm a fan of the latter style, if only because those bikes get ridden much more often. Here are some examples from my stable for your inspiration (and my showing off, I will admit):

Re:

So... I have stripped down most of the bike and it's a mess. There's so much black gunk everywhere, but with some elbow grease, it's starting to look clean and neat.

I've been ordering parts - Panaracer Paselas, bar tape, new cables etc., and now I'm looking for a new rear cassette.

The current worn-down cassette is a 5-speed Shimano. The rear derailleur is a Shimano Adamas AX. I have only worked on old Raleighs with SA hubs before, so this have me baffled a bit.

I'm not sure what cassette and chain size I should get. Can anyone help me out here??

Pictures of the process are coming soon!

Re:

Are you sure its a cassette and not a freewheel? Afaik Shimano only did 6+ speed cassettes (could be wrong of course). A picture tells a thousand words failing that the name of the hub and any information from the sprockets will be great.

As I said - I've only worked on old Sturmey Archer 3-speeds. So all this cassette/freewheel stuff is new to me. This is as much a restoration project as a new learning experience, so frankly I haven't looked into the difference between a freewheel and a cassette.

However, I can tell you that the freewheel is 5 sprockets from 14-22 teeth. It's covered in so much ingrown dirt that the only thing I can make out is "Shimano" and "Product of Japan". Is that any help?

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Not a great deal in all honesty!

It's very likely a freewheel looking at the bike in which case they're fairly widely available in 5, 6 or 7 speed

Okay, I got some more gunk scraped off, and it revealed what looks like "UG via" which suggests that is a Shimano Uniglide freewheel.
I can't seem to find much info on replacement of these, and they aren't made anymore AFAIK.
So can I even replace this with a new freewheel without having to get a new hub/wheel?

Re:

Google tells me that shimano did make 5 speed cassettes, which would also be uniglide. Need a picture to be sure but yes if it's a freewheel you can get a modern replacement off the shelf.

If it's a uniglide cassette there are options but they're not as straight forward.

Are you sure it needs to be replaced? Despite being old it may not even be worn. Could maybe get away with what you have...

Alright, so I took a few pictures so you can judge better. Both to see what it actually is and if it needs replacement or is usable.

The previous owner told me it was no good and needed replacement, but then again, the bike hasn't been used for a good 15 years, cables were stuck and the wheels are not ridable in their current state, so how would he know?
I just took his word for it because I don't know much about it.

But I really appreciate that you are trying to help!