Which groupset for this 1975 Gazelle Champion Mondial?

[Gazelleer]

No, certainly not the wrong way to go! It's just that Shimano doesn't pop-up in my mind when building a Gazelle.

When asked, I always advise against respraying a Champion Mondial. Never gets better than a half decent original.

Yes, I am Dutch but not related to any cheese

 

[Gazelleer]

Moved to other topic

Moved to Stringfellow1946's ESA Colnago Mexico topic

 

[TGR]

I was advised my someone 'related to cheese' so use whatever components which were good and came to hand. He worked for Gazelle and knows far too much!!! The VX bits suited the whole build but the option of older bits was too hard for me to resist. He said that whatever was best at the time would work.

Interesting you say 'half decent', mine is a bit rough but i suspect that it was originally red and it has faded to an orange. The finish is now a matt finish but there are a lot of bad bits. For a painter to match the paint with the matt finish would be a nightmare and we do not have any bike painters here so that would increase the cost and the difficulty of getting it right. I really love the patina but and not toohappy where the paint has bubbled and gone rough but i will live with it.

Bed time here, good luck with your build,

Richard

 

[ata]

No, certainly not the wrong way to go! It's just that Shimano doesn't pop-up in my mind when building a Gazelle.

I have to agree, it's certainly not unheard of, but much more common on Batavus and Koga frames. My AA from '81 had contemporary DA 7200 shifters, brake calipers and wheels, the rest was more modern. So I concluded it must have been outfitted with Dura Ace when bought and fitted it out with as much contemporary DA parts as I could manage (it helps that I have no special place for Campagnolo in my heart, I'm struggling right now to get an NR derailleur to behave on a champion mondial cyclocross I'm building up) . So Dura Ace is certainly an option.

I prefer the Japanese option for he frame by the way, but that's personal. I'm always reminded of this bit in Back to the Future:
Young Doc: No wonder this circuit failed. It says "Made in Japan".
Marty McFly: What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan.
Young Doc: Unbelievable.

 

[Gazelleer]

In the seventies the Japanese already made some technically innovative stuff. Suntour's slant parallellogram derailleurs of course, even though at the time I did not value it for the innovation that it really was. A second big innovation of the seventies was Shimano's cassette hub. Both solutions are still used in todays components.

Would be kind of cool to make a bike with all first versions of major innovations like a Suntour slant parallellogram derailleur, Shimano cassette hub, Cinelli M71 clipless pedal (although the Look PP65 was of course the first successful one with its handsfree release mechanism). But which brakes were really innovative? Magura HS77 hydraulic rim brakes? Probably not... Dura Ace 9000 basically takes us back to the Mafac centerpull construction with its low main pivot points...

 

[KermitGKona88]

Personally I would go for group No.1 with the saddle from group No.3

 

[Gazelleer]

What about an alternative French option with the Stronglight crankset, Mafac brakes, Ideale saddle, Laprade seatpost and Huret Jubilee derailleurs (not that I have any)? Or should Jubilee derailleurs only be combined with equally light CLB brakes?

 

[KermitGKona88]

I love Jubilee derailleurs I would fit them in a heartbeat CLB or no CLB, do like the idea of the Simplex, Stronglight, Mafac French gruppo though

 

[Gazelleer]

...more and more options emerge, and as always the anticipation is half the fun...

 

[lewisfoto]

Re:

What about an alternative French option with the Stronglight crankset, Mafac brakes, Ideale saddle, Laprade seatpost and Huret Jubilee derailleurs (not that I have any)? Or should Jubilee derailleurs only be combined with equally light CLB brakes?

Galli titanium brakes! I have a set in blue...