Follis Road Bike Update/Restore
09-22-15, 12:34 AM
#3
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Rebuilt for a friend for his fathers upcoming birthday. Originally purchased by his father in college. Had been sitting in storage and was in poor but very salvageable shape when i got it. The bike was in an accident and had a cracked rear rim and had sat, presumably, since that accident.
Simplex Lugs and Vitus tubing. Complete Simplex Super LJ drive train and an "updated" 1970's Stronglight square taper crank and new Velo Orange GrandCru bottom bracket (original was a Stronglight cottered set), Sram chain. Wheelset is an 2015 FSA Omega 700c 10spd with a 7 speed Shimano Cassette, friction shifted, with Shimano style floating pulley conversion on the Simplex rear derailleur. Mafac Racer brakes and levers were an upgrade done by the original owner, new KoolStop Eagle pads and Jagwire Ripcord no compression housing. Deda Elementi Mistral perforated bar tape, Cane Creek Hoods, Velo saddle, and Schwalbe Lugano 700x25c tires. Original paint and decals have quite a bit of patina, but looks bright after some hand buffing and waxing. The blue accents were hand painted by the original owner as well.
09-22-15, 09:10 AM
#4
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Very nice! Our family had a similar looking Follis for years. I'm not sure where it came from, but a friend of mine had it and used it when we rode the 1st RAGBRAI in 1973. He sold it to my brother a year or two later and we had it around for many years (no longer though). The one we had had a very similar paint job and decals, but was built from Reynolds 531 (main tubes). The only component even back then that I would guess was original was a Nervar cotterless crankset. I think my friend got it from someone from the local bike shop; it had some 1st gen dura ace stuff on it (hubs, RD, brakes) back then.
09-22-15, 04:00 PM
#5
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Bikes: 1959 Capo Modell Campagnolo; 1960 Capo Sieger (2); 1962 Carlton Franco Suisse; 1970 Peugeot UO-8; 1982 Bianchi Campione d'Italia; 1988 Schwinn Project KOM-10;
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That IS nice!
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Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069
"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." --Theodore Roosevelt
Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069
09-22-15, 04:18 PM
#6
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Rebuilt for a friend for his fathers upcoming birthday. Originally purchased by his father in college. Had been sitting in storage and was in poor but very salvageable shape when i got it. The bike was in an accident and had a cracked rear rim and had sat, presumably, since that accident.
09-22-15, 04:50 PM
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Thanks for the kind words everyone! Its is a great ride as well. Unbelievably quiet and incredibly smooth. Feels as good as any modern bike I've ridden but has that great vintage feel with the downtube/friction shifters. The indexed freewheel and floating top pulley conversion make for a really smooth, quiet, and accurate shift with the friction system. I have done this twice now with the Super LJ's and both turned out very well and i would recommend it on any older der/fw cassette.
-Kevin
-Kevin
09-22-15, 04:52 PM
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This is a beautiful bike; great job.
09-22-15, 05:11 PM
#9
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You should replace the shifters with the actual LJ shifters, i.e., retrofrictions...
early version
later version
early version
later version
09-22-15, 06:42 PM
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Beautiful bike and great job bringing it back.
When I first got back into cycling about 10 years ago, I found a lower-end Follis model that had been left out for the trash, and I had to save it from that awful fate. It was too large for me, and I passed it on to a taller friend, but not after I spent a good amount of time searching the web, and finding out there wasn't a great deal of information about them, unless it was about their tandems. About the only halfway useful reference I found was here.
When I first got back into cycling about 10 years ago, I found a lower-end Follis model that had been left out for the trash, and I had to save it from that awful fate. It was too large for me, and I passed it on to a taller friend, but not after I spent a good amount of time searching the web, and finding out there wasn't a great deal of information about them, unless it was about their tandems. About the only halfway useful reference I found was here.
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