Classic & Vintage - favorit bicycle from Czechoslavakia?

It's a longshot, but does anyone know anything about Favorit bicycles? I bought my frame second-or-third hand in the mid 80s, the story was (I dunno if I believe it) that it was left behind by the Czechoslavakian '76 olympic team in Montreal to pay for the trip home. The serial no. starts with 73 so I'm guessing that's the year. No, it's not going on Ebay! I learned to race on it, dinged it up a little, now I want to restore it, but I know nothing about it- when I got it it had an ugly black paint job, but beautiful wrapover seatstay, thinned out lugs, pinned construction and weighs about what a 531 or Columbus SL frame should weigh, english threads. Original components were a mix of Campy NR, Maillard, and Stronglight with a leather saddle (looks like an Ideal 90 stamped "favorit") though I doubt they were all original. Rides like a dream, but I'd like to know more about it-

Czech manufacter of bikes etc. started in the 1870's Yeah thats right 130 years old.
Made alot of bikes for the Canadian market early 70's. Problably manufactured their
own tubing and some components. Many of their bikes were originally kitted out with
campy NR.
Marty

They also made their own copies of Campy stuff like Zeus. They are still in business in the Czech Republic, or at least until a few years ago.

In the '70s some of us teens were into both bicycles and motorcycles and spent a lot of time staring at things we couldn't afford in various shops. One somewhat odd place in our upstate NY town sold Czech CZ and Jawa motorcycles; CZ had some success in the the motocross world. At one point this shop had some Favorit road bikes for sale which, in retrospect, seemed like quite usable machines. Fairly light, and with a bunch of Czech components, including Barum sew-up tires (same brand as on the CZs), but as Campy-obsessed kids we weren't too interested.

I always wonder what happened to some of these companines, e.g. is there any connection between some contemporary Czech products (Tufo tires, Fort frames) and the past?

Joe

My father has one Favorit bike. 10 speed. No other details. He buy it new in late '70 or early '80s. He still loves it. He was always telling me: 'that bike is remarkable, and it's better than many 'brand' names'. Really, bike goes very good. It has very good brakes, but has some problems with trancemition rear.

There are also 9 mm handguns manufactured under the 'CZ' brand and, if am correct, also from Checkolosvakia (sp?).

There you go, you can ride your Favorit with your CZ 9mm and prevent the 'Breaking Away pump in wheel' thing from happening... :-)

Wow, my ex-girlfriends father helped build bikes for the Czechoslovakian cycling team many years before the 76 Olympics. He fled during the Soviet invasion and ended up as a refugee here in Canada. He built both of us bikes when we were in our late teens.

Gordon P

I am originally from Prague, then Czechoslovakia. When I was a kid, I always dreamed of owning or even riding Favorit, which was the bike of the racing team of the "Peace Race", which still goes on (Praha-Berlin-Varšava). I don't know if other countries teams used them. Last I checked, they faded away. They were manufactured in town called Rokycany (http://www.travel.cz/guide/52/index_en.html). (The best known today are Morati titanium bikes, in entirely different part of the country.) Favorite bikess are sort of the PX-10 era and older, and that class bikes - made for racing.

As far as the CZ goes, it translates into "Czech Armory", and gun collectors are very familiar with them. (http://www.czub.cz/). That company also manufactured motocycles, which were very competitive, until the Communist Government nationalized and stifled the industries, and all these companies, including Favorit, Jawa and CZ faded away. I used to have excellent mechanical engineering instructors from these Companies, that taught me during my high school and early college years. The products from the 50's and 60's should be very collectible. (http://www.cybermotorcycle.com/euro/brands/cz.htm).

Barum was a tire company, which was taken over by Michelin I believe. They still exist and sponsor a ralley: http://www.barum.rally.cz/2005/start_gb.htm

I hope this gives yo a little background....

Favorit still produces bikes. I see a lot of low end favorit bikes on the streets of Riga. I have no idea if they are still producing high end frames.

Fort and Author still produce some high end frames in the Czech Republic.

You must be right. The company did crash few years back, but was acquired by "Bike Technology & Public Relations" in 2002. I don't know who owns them now, but the stock still appears to be traded and bikes are still advertised: http://www.czechbike.cz/akce.htm. It is now advertising non-competition city, track, children's and similar such bikes. In my pasts visits in the Czech Republic, I didn't see any of these new bikes, just few remaining old racers. These new ones are certainly not the prestige brand of my youth.

I recently bought a Favorit Special track frame and fork. I'm in the process of building up the bike now. It's very hard for me to find any information on the bike specifications. I was wondering if you could help me out with some of the sizes for the components, such as the seatpost size, BB threading, and headseat size. thanks a lot for your help,
-Jack

I recently bought a Favorit Special track frame and fork. I'm in the process of building up the bike now. It's very hard for me to find any information on the bike specifications. I was wondering if you could help me out with some of the sizes for the components, such as the seatpost size, BB threading, and headseat size. thanks a lot for your help,-Jack



Jack, I am in the process of restoring a mid 60's? Favorit Road frame. I too seek info on it but I can tell you that mine is Italian bottom bracket and english headset (must be the taps they could get). It's been a while since I played with it but I think the seatpost was 27.2. Here's some pictures of it in sandblasted and primered state. I'm curious if your's looks similar and if you have any pictures of the bikes decals etc. Thanks - Steve
43257

43258

43259

43260

Zen,

I was a long time Favorit owner. My Dad bought this beautiful 10 speed for me in the early 1970's. It had a light weight double butted frame and all light weight components. The shifters were on the the lower tube so you had to be in a racing position to quick shift. It was different from any other bike anyone in the neighborhood had.

I rode the bike all the way accross Long Island, north to south and east to west. One day I got a flat and only them learned that the tires and tubes were metric size. Back then you couldn't walk into a bike shop and purchase a metric replacement. Certainly not on my allowance! The solution was to keep the quick relaease hubs, but respoke the entire front and back rims with new spokes and a set of used aluminum rims, I picked up at a garage sale. I couldn't just change over the rims because the brakes would not line up, as I recall. What a job that turned out to be!

Anyway, I loved that bike and had it all the way through college when it was stolen from my dorm in Stony Brook University, while I was on summer break. If anyone bought a white Favorit bike with leather straps around the inside of the hubs (a trick I learned to keep them clean) please contact me. I'd love to get my Favorite Favorit back.

Joe

That brings back memories: When my folks went back to Slovakia in 69 to see the relatives (my families come from Rakovec and Kamionka - hope I got the spellings right), I asked them to try and pick me up one of the 531 tubed bikes. No luck, dad was able to find a seller, but couldn't find anyone in the government bureaucracy who was willing to take the time to do whatever the bloody paperwork was needed to ship one over. Even having an uncle who was a minor Communist party official didn't help.

Still would love to own one, unfortunately the one's I've seen on eBay have been 58cm frames - for the $250.00 being asked they were a bit tall for me. Have picked up a few parts from the guy who was selling them, and a Favorit seats are on virtually all my vintage bikes. Heavier quality than a Brooks, and half as expensive.

There are also 9 mm handguns manufactured under the 'CZ' brand and, if am correct, also from Checkolosvakia (sp?).

There you go, you can ride your Favorit with your CZ 9mm and prevent the 'Breaking Away pump in wheel' thing from happening... :-) mmm.....cz 75b in 9mm, one of the finest designed and built handguns ever. also the second most popular behind the 1911. sorry, way off subject, but i had no other useful info.

Here's a Favorit head badge that sold recently on eBay.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7/k4drd/Bicycles/FavoritCzechHeadBadge.jpg

The CZ-75 was the first of the 'Wonder Nines', high capacity, (15+1) light, and SA. (L & L)

Pragotrade was the distributor for Canada, (and the U S ?) and had some nickel plated. (mine)

My suggestion would be to contact their Trade Mission; they have been 'favourite import status',

since the mid 90's.


Regards,
J T

Never seen any Favorit derailleur bikes down this way but came across plenty of Favorit coaster brakes (same company I guess). Some seem to like them but all the ones I saw must have been worn out, they were fairly useless.

I recently bought a Favorit Special track frame and fork. I'm in the process of building up the bike now. It's very hard for me to find any information on the bike specifications. I was wondering if you could help me out with some of the sizes for the components, such as the seatpost size, BB threading, and headseat size. thanks a lot for your help,
-Jack

get thee to a bike shop

mmm.....cz 75b in 9mm, one of the finest designed and built handguns ever. also the second most popular behind the 1911. sorry, way off subject, but i had no other useful info.

Hey - it was useful to me!

I picked up an new Favorit from a lady who owned a bike shop that closed in the early 70s. It is an 8 speed, yes that's right, a four cassette in the back. It is a 9 out of 10 and never been ridden. All original.

Zen,

I was a long time Favorit owner. My Dad bought this beautiful 10 speed for me in the early 1970's. It had a light weight double butted frame and all light weight components. The shifters were on the the lower tube so you had to be in a racing position to quick shift. It was different from any other bike anyone in the neighborhood had.

I rode the bike all the way accross Long Island, north to south and east to west. One day I got a flat and only them learned that the tires and tubes were metric size. Back then you couldn't walk into a bike shop and purchase a metric replacement. Certainly not on my allowance! The solution was to keep the quick relaease hubs, but respoke the entire front and back rims with new spokes and a set of used aluminum rims, I picked up at a garage sale. I couldn't just change over the rims because the brakes would not line up, as I recall. What a job that turned out to be!

Anyway, I loved that bike and had it all the way through college when it was stolen from my dorm in Stony Brook University, while I was on summer break. If anyone bought a white Favorit bike with leather straps around the inside of the hubs (a trick I learned to keep them clean) please contact me. I'd love to get my Favorite Favorit back.

Joe

Hi Joe !

I bought my 10 speed Favorit in 1976 because it was cheaper at this time, but i'm still using it 32 years after. All my friends were bying popular marks like Peugeot but the frame and all parts were not has tought and solid has the Favorit. Of course the bicycle was heavyer but believe me the rides were better and enjoyed all of them. I have a lot of difficulties to find new pieces for replacement so i'm thinking of selling it or buyng another one to fixed mine. If someone propose me a good price, i will look at it.

For those who are interrested, i'm living near Montréal, Qc

J.P

Is there somebody who woould like to sell or buy a 10 speed favorit (1976).

Let mo know...

I bought a 10 speed favorit special yesterday for 20 euro at a bike auction just because i liked the look of it and it didn't seem too banged up. it's lovely really, all the original brakes and everything. fixing it up now but i'm just confused about when it was made. how would i tell from its serial number? another problem is that the serial number is almost worn off. i think the first two digits are 86. is that the year it was made?

Hi everyone,
I have 2 of these Favorite bikes NEW IN BOXES if anyone is interested in seeing pics.

Well, just cracked the seal on one of the boxes and grabed this out:

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/vv360/whatwheels/5767eaf8.jpg