noahsmonark

My first build! Non-faithful restoration of a Monark Special Racer from ~ late 1950's. I'd always wanted a classic road bike but could never afford a nice one, then a relative offered this for free. The bike was about to be thrown away, I fell in love with the looks and went for it, although the condition was rough. There's some info and history on these bikes at cykelhobby.com w/ pictures.

I started on this project as a complete newbie, it took me a year on and off, plenty of trial and error - and a whole lot of silly questions on these forums (massive thanks to everyone here with a special shout out to juvela for all the help) - to get it on the road. It was more work than I would've thought...

The build is discussed in length here: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...ing-model.html

I used 90% original parts but had it re-painted (though the rear derailleur and break levers are from mid-to-late 1960's - slightly later than the rest). Of course, you can tell it's 60-ish years old and it's not perfect (dented and slightly hoppy rear rim will need to be replaced at some point, saddle has seen better days and unfortunately no-hands riding balance isn't really up to par, I will look into fixing some of these during the cold winter months) but considering my almost non-existent budget for the whole project and really poor prior knowledge on bikes, I'm just super happy about how nice it turned out in the end and I absolutely love riding it. I realize it doesn't have high-end parts on it or anything, but to me it runs like a dream <3

Here's a few bits of info and pictures.

It weighs about 10-11 kg - the frame is Swedish aircraft steel ("flygstål")
Altenburger calipers, Weinmann levers, Huret Allvit rear derailleur, Simplex front derailleur
Original 1950's Brooks Saddle, bar tape is Brooks microfiber (not a perfect match, but ok)
Aluminum wheels, tubular tires, Fratelli Brivio hubs
Newly zinc plated fork (originally it was chromed)
Fauber one-piece crank

noahsmonark

This was the starting point:

qcpmsame 

Very nicely done sir, what an absolutely beautiful bike this turned out to be. Staying true to the original shifter arrangements gets you some extra C&V points and cred as well. That blue is so strikingly deep appearing, you must have spent a bit of time getting everything right about the process and the finished look. I hope that @styggno1 spots this thread soon, he has had some great threads about Monark bicycles in here, and he commented in your original thread.

Bill

noahsmonark

Thank you for the kind words - the whole thing took lots of figuring out to get it right, but totally worth it in the end. Really happy about how the blue color (RAL 5011) turned out as well.

Yes thanks to him I found the whole cykkelhobby -site with loads and loads of useful info

bikemig 

This bike is beautiful. I've restored a few bikes but nothing quite this painstaking. Nice, nice job.

StarBiker

The color is great. I like neutral colors.
Bike manufacturers need to get back to basics.
Best of luck with it.

John E

That looks stunning. I have been surprised before by the number of Swedish manufacturers who used Ashtabula cranks, which one normally associates with American bikes.

Would the original rear derailleur have been Huret, or a Simplex bandspring to match the suicide shift up front?

I concur that the simple paint scheme and superb choice of color contribute to a great look.


Keeping the original wingnuts and half-step gear ratios earns points in my book.

3speedslow

Absolute stunning! The Brooks and its condition, the paint, the tape colour used!

Love that there is a family connection with the machine. Has the relative seen the pics?

Q though, why not reuse the fenders it had in the before pic. Those are awesome?

Great job.

noahsmonark

Wow, I really appreciate all the lovely feedback here. Thanks so much.

It's a wacky looking bandspring/plunger derailleur that has "Cyclo" and "Sport" written on it I still have it should I ever need it, but I figured I'll just go with this newer one in this case, as it seemed to fit nicely and I've seen pictures of other similar era Monarks with the same Huret derailleur, I guess it was a common replacement back then.

Yes he was quite surprised indeed, haha! And I totally agree with you, family connection is a big plus! The fenders are cool (as well as the pump holders) but I wanted to go for a real simple and "light" appearance, at least for now.

John E

You got that right. The standard treatment for any problem whatsoever with the old Simplex/Benelux/Cyclo pull-chain bandspring units was replacement with a Huret, sometimes a Campag GS, as I did on my old Armstrong Sturmey/Cyclo 3x4 conversion hybrid transmission. (Anything was an improvement.)

The 1960 Schwinn Varsity pictured in "The Dancing Chain" had the Huret transplant before the photo was taken.

styggno1

Very nice job! Congratulations.

It reminds me of my own struggle and approach when I started out restoring bikes many years ago. The satisfaction in resurrcting a bike on a shoestring is wonderful.

I do not know if you are awere that some reproduction decals can be found - in Australia:
CYCLOMONDO - Sweden

Some of the decals shown are very close to what you need even if the set is meant for later Monarks. The downtube decals you can use and maybe part of the "Flygstål". You can deal with Greg in total confidence.

frameteam2003

Swedish bike have an early connection to American bikes. Western wheel works/ Crescent was bought and shipped to Sweden and even when built in the USA they used Farber cranks

noahsmonark

Cheers! And I appreciate the tip on the decals, good stuff. I was going for a single-color look here, but this is still very good to know in case I ever change my mind - will definitely bookmark this.

StarBiker

I would leave that bike alone with the exception of the minor mechanical tweaks. It looks much better to me with that head badge, and nothing else. It has a very classy look. Leave the decals off.

noahsmonark

I agree. My aim was a simple blue-brown color scheme for this, with the Kool Stops bringing a nice little orange highlight (at first I wasn't really sure about the shoe-exposed continental pads but then changed my mind and loved how it contrasted with the blue) and a darker / less purple toned blue than in the original to give it some old lady charm.

Wanted to stay with blue though, the Swedish 'Blå Blixten" means "blue lightning" afaik and just felt it was right for the bike.

Already got that no-hands riding balance problem better - by just turning the front wheel the other way around.

greg3rd48 

Wow that is a sight to behold. You have done some meticulous, thoughtful handiwork and it is so unique. One of a kind.

noahsmonark

Thank you! Very much appreciated.

Couldn't have gotten it right without Bikeforums.

b dub 

Great looking bike. I agree to leave it alone. One thing I’m missing and really curious about is pictures of the rear derailleur set up (unless I missed it).

juvela

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poster explained in earlier thread that in "as found" condition cycle came with a Huret Allvit rear mech.

he states that he also got the bicycle's original rear mech, a Cyclo, from the previous owner.

in its "completed" state the machine still wears the Huret Allvit.

the shift lever is Huret.

the gear block is Atom 66 5V.

is there some other information you seek?



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b dub 

noahsmonark

Cool I actually just sold that Cyclo Sport derailleur of mine a few weeks ago, I had to clear up some space and figured I will not be going back to using a plunger derailleur with this bike, better hand it over to someone who has some actual use for it. The Monark is a combination of original parts (I recently had it checked, based on my frame ID number that the bike should be from in between 1951-1953) and a couple of replaced parts which are from around the mid 1960's - the brake levers, the freewheel and the derailleur.

juvela

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The fact that it once wore a Cyclo rear mech paired with a Huret shift lever suggests that one or the other piece was not original to the bicycle.

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tim.hoffine

What kind of paint did you use on this bike? I'd love to replicate that color!

noahsmonark

The color is RAL 5011 "steel blue" - the bike is powder coated and the paint still looks amazing with the original shine intact, but the coating doesn't respond to scratches that well imo.

Bike is doing good, some parts have been upgraded since the original post inc. wheels (original hubs, though) - and is being ridden a lot these days, couple of shots below, taken on film. One thing that does not show on these pictures that well - Brooks leather and Brooks microfiber faux leather do NOT match at all in case anyone out there is wondering (the bike now has a new Brooks saddle and the more I ride it, the lighter color it gets and its current color is almost identical to honey color, not brown - while the microfiber bar tape remains exactly the same; dark reddish brown.

After these pictures, I have swapped in a new 6-speed freewheel in place of the old Atom.