Help me identify the year of this GAZELLE Tour Special.

hello everybody!! I just purchased this frame second hand, and I built myself a fixed gear bike, as Rotterdam is all flat and I need no gears for city commuting. I've found catalogues online, but not from the period of this bike. I think it's from 1978, until 1981, both years included, but it would be awesome the exact year of my new baby.

This is the current build, although I already got a Flite and a chromed pedal clips, not showe in this photo.

Color is supposed to be: amoerblauw

according to the serial number, is supposed to be 1980, but according to Reynolds decal, from the reynold website, is supposed to be from 1981 or later...

Serial numbers aren't that accurate, and the reynolds decal seems original to the bike so I'd guess 1981 going by what you wrote. Especially since Amoerblauw seems to be discontinued as a colour option after '81. Although I find it hard to tell from baikalblauw.

It might be a nephew to my '81 AA also riding in Rotterdam.

thanks a lot!! yes, it could be be baikalblauw. I think mine is not AA, also my fork needs a long reach brake, or tune a normal one (i had to do it). I also had to drill the fork to use a recessed bolt for the front brake. My fork is more traditional, with a tall crown. Yours is more racy, and with reynolds decals. mi fork has the diamant crown, according to that great web dedicated to gazelles retro.

Thanks for the tip that the serial numbers are not that accurate.

Waht model is yours? tour d'avenir? campion mondial? mine is tour special... seems a bit shorter in the horizontal tube, no chromed rears and a more relaxed fork...

They're quite different models: nephews, not brothers . Mine is a 1981 Champion Mondial AA with all chrome options available at that time. Made in Gazelle's special racing workshop from double butted Reynolds 531, frame, stays and fork. Yours is a touring frame with the main tubes from plain gauge 531. Stays and fork are regular tubing. Still looks nice though and should provide a relaxed ride with some oomph when needed.

Exactly, you nailed it!! Thanks a lot for the help! I researched a bit more. Mine is not even the AB. According to Gazelle catalogs, and the reynolds decal, this might be a 1984 model, or later. 1983 and previous catalogs had older reynolds decals, like your frame. So I guess mine is from 84, or later. Color must be baikelblauw (although mine has black lines in the edges of the lugs with the tubes... Can be a Randoneur frame, or a Semirace... In Marktplaats.nl it's frequent to find lot of Tour d'Avenir model from Gazelle, but that bike is not included in the retro-gazelle website... hummmm... The research must continue!!!! ;-)




I really like how both the support for the rear brake cable housing and the support for the shifters in the frame are removables.

As I had too much toe overlap, I get for a shorter clips, but I think it was a bad idea. I will have to switch to the 165mm cranks or lear to live with that toe overlap, but for trackstanding is quite annoying. Perhaps I should keep on searching for a longer top tube frame... I also wanna get a longer stem.

Toe overlap isn´t really something I´d expect with a frame that has touring geometry and eyelets for mudguards. Couldn´t it be that the forks have been bend backwards slightly in a head on collision? They look like they go back from the headtube a bit in the side picture, but that could be an optical illusion.

maybe, I will check it, but i don't think so. I think the top tube is shorter than normal for this size. Being a touring bike I suppose they were looking for a less stretched position, and also size is kinda smallish... I guess that is why, but then I have a sidi 46 shoe size so... I guess I will have to get myself a champion mondial size 56 to avoid the issue ;-)