Bike in the spotlight: Gazelle Champion Model AB

The racing bike in the spotlight this time is a 1979 Gazelle Champion Model AB frame that was completely rebuilt by owner P.J. Francke, who is no novice when it comes to rebuilding vintage steel racing bikes.

The bicycle was carefully disassembled, all parts cleaned and re-greased, the frame repainted in the original design and here and there some parts were replaced.
Het resultaat is prachtig met een fiets uit 1979 die direct uit de etalage van 1979 van Jan Wagenmakers, rijwielhandelaar uit Oostkapelle (Zeeland) lijkt te komen.

Below you will find an overview of the many hours P.J. Francke spent on the Gazelle:

• The bike is completely stripped.
• All parts have been thoroughly cleaned, lubricated and readjusted.
• The frame has been repainted in the original design. The holes for the brake axles have been drilled out to allow mounting with Allen bolts.
• The handlebar tape has been cleaned in soapy water and replaced with new caps.
• The following parts have been replaced:

– Both outer tires (worn).
– Both inner tubes (worn).
– All outer cables (worn).
– Both brake cables (worn).
– Both derailleur cables (worn).
– Brake levers (the original ones could be replaced, but these Super/Nuovo Record ones were in stock anyway).
– Brake lever rubbers (worn).
– All four brake pads (worn).
–  All four brake pad holders (severely rusted).
– Both rubbers of the brake tensioners (worn).
– The brake axles have been cut to size, fitted with new thread and Allen bolts instead of external 10 mm hexagons.
– Chain (worn).
– Bottom bracket (unfortunately it was completely worn out on the right side).
– Outer chainring (worn).
– Steering head lock nut (rusted and had to be sawn off).
– Saddle (worn).
– Seatpost (ugly and not original, so replaced with an authentic Campagnolo Super Record).
–  Pin pins (the original ones were somewhat rusted and a little bent).
– Water bottle cage bolts (heavily rusted).
– Toe clip straps (rotten).

Frame and components

Below you will find more information about the bike and the components themselves

Brand: Gazelle

Model: Champion Mondial AB frame 59 cm (center-top), with drilled holes for the brake axles for mounting with Allen nuts.

Year: 1979, painted over in the same design: ivory white with black transfers

Serial number: 3217684

Material frame: Reynolds 531

Country of production: The Netherlands

Owner: P.J. Francke

Components:

• Handlebar bend: 3TTT Competizione model Gimondi, 42 cm center-center, with original Benotto white handlebar tape
• Stuurstang: 3TTT model 78, 11,5 cm
• Headset: Campagnolo Record
• Brakes: Campagnolo Record with Campagnolo Nuovo Record grips and brown silicone rubbers
• derailleur: Campagnolo Record, front and rear, with Simplex commandeurs, Sedis Grand Tourisme GT7 chain silver, gray Tackx derailleur wheels for 5-6-7 speed
• bottom bracket: Campagnolo Record, 1,370 x 24 B.S.C (brede conus!)
• Bottom set: Campagnolo Super/Nuovo Record, 52-42 Super/Nuovo Record chainrings, 170 mm crank length
• Saddle: San Marco Concor, zwart
• Seatpost: Campagnolo Super Record, 27,2 mm
• Pedals Campagnolo Record, with original Campagnolo toeclips (L) and pull tabs. Black leather toeclip straps.
• Wheels and hubs: DT-Swiss double-butted chrome steel spokes and Mavic MA40 anthracite-colored wire rims, Maillard 700 Sprint pinion 6-speed 13-21, Vredestein Fortezza senso Superiore 23 mm wire tires and Michelin Airstop butyl inner tubes with 40 mm valves
• Hubs: Campagnolo Record, 36-hole low flange

Hennie Kuiper and the Frisol – Gazelle cycling team

The bicycle this article is dedicated to is painted in the same design as the bicycle on which Hennie Kuiper became world road champion in Yvoir in 1975, after having also won the national title in Hoogerheide two months earlier and again four months before that in cyclocross.

The bicycles of Frisol-Gazelle, the team Kuiper was contracted to that year, were now of the Champion Mondial type. This was the designation Gazelle gave to its top-of-the-line racing bike after Dutchman Harm Ottenbros, racing for Willem II-Gazelle, won the 1969 world professional road race title in Zolder.

The person responsible for this name also played for this team in 1974 and 1975.

This Champion Mondial is identical to the model the team rode in its final year of existence, 1977. Jan Raas won Milan-San Remo and the Amstel Gold Race on it, as well as the Tour de France stage to Limoges.

Fedor den Hertog was also successful in the Tour: wearing his national tricolour, which he had taken over from his teammate Jan Raas two weeks earlier in Beek, he won the stage to Rouen.

Paul Wellens completed the team's success in that Tour by winning the stage to Morzine.

In addition, the team had already won two stages in the Vuelta with Cees Priem, the first of four consecutive national champions to ride for the team, and Fedor den Hertog again.

That year, the all-ivory white with black transfers design of the previous three years was abandoned in favor of a version with a Frisol green head tube and seat tube cuff.

Meanwhile, the finish had become entirely Campagnolo Record, having started with Zeus components in 1974. The Frisol-Gazelle bikes were further equipped with Arius saddles and Cinelli handlebars.

In addition to the conventional black or white handlebar cloth, you also saw the stone-red handlebar cover in the form of a ribbon, but sometimes also as a one-piece cover.

P.J.Franck had the following to say about this: “In 1981 I put together a similar constellation, but with tubular rims and the normal (poorly shifting) Campagnolo shifters, and raced on it for two seasons.”