Arctic Cat Bicycles
 

Has anyone heard of the bike Artic cat imported from France (Stella)? I have seen 3 models, a 5 spd, inexpensive 10spd and a racing bike that came with Sew-ups. I guess the Stella factory burnt down and the Bikes were not selling well so they went away.
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I had the 10-speed back in '81. I think it was a '76/77. Weighed a ton. Steel everything, cottered cranks. I put up a thread many moons ago to find out who made it. Very uncommon but certainly not a classic.

Artic Cat was originally a Canadian sold (not sure where they were actually made) snow mobile. I used one a few times in the early seventies. The company then got into bicycles, in a small way and for a short time. It is entirely possible that the bicycles, the entry level ones, anyway, were made in France. Many of the Canadian Tire Super Cycle ten speeds were of French origin, based, primarily on the Mercier of the day.

Not really positive about any of the above details, just basing my comments on memory and remembering what happened is not easy at my age.

Arctic Cat was made in Thief River Falls , Minnesota. Ski-Doo was Canadian.

I have seen Canadian Tire ten speeds that were made by Bridgestone (Kabuki at the time).

An Arctic Cat ten-speed would be fun to have. Park it next to the John Deere ten-speed!

I forgot about that and you are bang on absolutely correct. Did not mean to mislead, but Arctic Cat was sold in Canada in the early seventies, as I recall. Remember, I am old and can't remember!-(

"Very uncommon but certainly not a classic."

I Think the base model won't be, but the orange one made with Columbus tubing & Campy Drop outs is definitely one. Record derailleurs puts it far above the PX10. more on par with the Motobecane Grand Record.

Artic Cat sure is a strange brand name to use on a bike.......
But I guess you can pretty much use any name on a bike back in the 70's boom years, and they will still sell like hotcakes....

Have owned and thrashed a few Arctic Cat sleds through the years. :)

Someone had metioned (in my old thread) the bikes were made by Stella with the A/C decals as a promo.

There's one for sale right now.....Budget Bicycle Center - 1970s Stella Arctic Cat Road Bicycle 58cm

My Dad did advertising for them and brought me home one of these as my first real 10 speed. It was stolen and I've been mad about it ever since. And I have never seen another.

Good to see Budget is still charging fair and reasonable prices.

Not to mention the overall grime, bar tape repair w/electrical tape, mismatched parts, etc. Apparently detailing a bike for sale - and performing a tune-up or overhaul - are not in their vocabulary.

That is one very small granny chainring.

I bought one, new, 1970's. I still have it, it's the bright green one.

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you might wish to browse and include your example in this forum thread -

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...lla-bikes.html


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