Monark racer from 60/70s.

Thanks! Will definately inspect the chain and sprockets. I think I found new tyres now: Vittoria Rally 28x25.

Will try to fit them myself.

Looks a decent frame, late 50's, nervex pro lug set, unusual to have round forks.
Please lower the handlebars about 2 inches, I thought it was only americans who put them up to dangerous heights.

BTW I too have a Monark, it was my first "real" road bike but I have now converted it to a single speed. It's funny because now looking at this bike it is 2 cm too big for me yet I rode this machine for almost ten years.

keithglos":23lqqda4 said:

Looks a decent frame, late 50's, nervex pro lug set, unusual to have round forks.
Please lower the handlebars about 2 inches, I thought it was only americans who put them up to dangerous heights.

Click to expand...

Will do! Thanks!

Any tips on an effective "to-do-list" to breathe life into this bike again? It´s been standing still in the cellar since just before 1990. I mean like what do to to get it up and running, especially tech-wise, in a time-effective way and without destroying anythink or fixing things that are already working, etc... I guess lot´s of projects have stranded because one tries to do everything all at once, without know what one is doing...

Welcome Jupan - you have an interesting and possibly very satisfying project there. As a to-do list, I would start with all the 'moving parts' i.e. bottom bracket, headset & hubs. The idea being that these are likely to be the most awkward. Get them all operating nicely and then the remaining work is fairly simple and far less time consuming so you end up completing more jobs more quickly and you can see the end of project coming towards you. Doing the little jobs first only to then find one of the bigger jobs is horrible will only make the project frustrating. Best of luck & I hope to see you posting more pictures as you progress

I've been working on the bike from time to time and now it's nearly ready. I'm waiting for the cotter pins. Then I'll finish it. I didn't want to paint it or do anything to "fake" it's story. Every scratch is in my opinion part of the true story behind the "Blue Flash", as it's model name is. It has won the Norwegian Championship in the 70s, it has been touring several thousands of miles and it was left in a dark and moist cellar to die... I didn't want to erase those battle scars. What I did was gently using steel wool and soap water to remove the loose rust. When it dried up I gave it some transparent, penetrating anti-corrosion oil on the rusty parts. I've changed the wires, handlebar tape, cable tubing, tires and some spokes. Otherwise I've only cleaned and lubed it.

I hope you'll find it interesting to look at the pictures.

Regards, J.

Removed the extras:



Handlebars are not pretty:





Saddle is pretty dried out:



The face of an old warrior:



"Flight steel":



Front derailleur it totally stuck:



Rear derailleur is working but looks bad:



I put most of the parts in lemon acid:



The saddle is coming back to life:



Handlebars are cleaned up:



New life:







It's working again:



Looking better:



Slowly it is getting somewhere:

That is hardcore preservation! I like it. Goes without saying, but if you have bare frame metal, keep an eye on it and give it some love. Someone some time went the extra mile painting that BB shell.
Any info on the frame tubing? Seatpost diameter? I guess Monark is a Scandinavianian make. Varberg is in Sweden. Probably some good quality steel in that..

Thanks! In those areas where the paint is gone there is not bare metal, but bare rust. I oiled it to prevent it from rust more. But the steel is good I think. High quality in the Scandinavian bikes from this time. Yes, it is Swedish.
Tubing is Reynolds and lugs are Nervex. Campagnolo derailleurs, Universal brakes and Stronglight pedal arms. The saddle is a Brooks B17. Rims are for tubular tires so I put a set of Vittoria Rally on them.

It's looking better than it did last year! Glad to see you've kept the original patina. It's only got its original paint finish once.

Where did you obtain the Universal lever hoods?