Lattz

Oh man it finally happens... or am I dreaming? Long i wanted to post Schauffs (even if not serious racing lo pros) thinking might not be so well known over the pond (its not an underestimation of the knowledge of the forum member rather my dumbness of not knowing the history of Schauff well enough). Well i was wrong...anyhow Ill be back...

Lattz

Wow, I did not expect that the post will trigger such a discussion, but I'll try to express myself better next time.
1., the Thai guys' bikes are really cool whether or not they are original, as I wrote I think they are but today one can never know. Even if they would be repros, this is no cheapo work it is obvious, but assume everything is orig straight from Milano and they must have costed several livers.

2., With the Russian kid, yes, I wanted to remind, that in the collapse of SU many things have "disappeared", being stolen or simply neglected by their owners, who sold them for quick money or exchanged them for other goods. So the pic is not about the kid at all, its about where the pic was taken. He could look like a beggar, but if the same pic would be in Berlin, New York or Milano, the involvement of $$$ must be assumed, just like with the Thai guys. (On a way lower scale but this happens already due to Covid, I see bikes in the EUR100-250 range, which normally cost 5-600. For 100-250 you anyway can't get any road bike here in Germany) It is also a thing we should not forget, that these bikes were not always highly regarded (extremely expensive) collectors' items. After they did their job as "work horses" in the sport, they just simply became outdated, beaten up sport equipment for a short period, when only real fans would care about them. But one thing is for sure, around the collapse of the SU, it must have been way easier to get a Laser or Rossin or Colnago or anything else, than any given time in Western Europe. My country is full of stories (and things) what the Russian soldiers simply left behind or exchanged for low value goods when they went home. If these 3 Lasers are original? Most likely, as we know their olympic team was a VIP client for the best italian boilders incl. Cinelli. Can they be fake? Sure, as there are plenty of videos of russian guys playing Chewbacca and solving everything with a welding gun, be it a Windows Blue Screen of Death or Hyperspace Engine or converting any low value bike to a Takhion you name it. But based on the above, again, for some it was just easier to get the real ones.

Lattz

Yesterday ended without me posting the Schauffs. So let's start, this is already an exception from the non-serious thingie, originally I didn't plan this but its so pretty it has to be here. This one was part of the famous Embacher collection. Really nice as most of his bikes.

Lattz

Here's on more Schauff Trophée Lancôme designed together with German Pursuit cycling legend and world champion Rudi Altig. I personally like it, not only because its really "Moser La Hora"-like (no negative feelings here, most bikes got inspired by that), but it looks nice in this color. As it was designed to promote the the fashion brand, I doubt it was a racing machine, but I'm sure it made the lucky ones who mnaged to get one really happy.

Lattz

This poor one (not confirmed if Schauff but most likely - German forum members welcome to add info) has a personal attachment. It was kicked around on the streets for years and was a returning conversation topic with a colleague that we should save it before the the city trash company picks and scraps it. Afterall we were not sure what is it but certainly something rare if not unique.The day he made up his mind that next day is the day, it disappeared.... just to turn up tied to a bike rack next to our office with other unlucky ones and they are there ever since then (bottom pic.. like half a year ago). Schlaraffia, the company on the "disc" wheel is a mattress company who (not sure why) advertised themselves with unusual looking bicycles. Besides the obvious that this was a kids or youth bike I guess not many lo pros were made in this category. Actually the white powdercoated drillium Weinmann brake levers and spokes gave a nice touch to it. That handlebar is also somehow cool, and of course bonus point for the aero bottle cage. Can be that its a kids bike but well made for cool kids back then.

xiaoman1 

Is it just me...the head tubes/top tubes and bottom tubes, as well as the decals, seem different....
Ben

Lattz

Hi Ben, which one do you mean?

xiaoman1 

again the dreaded dbl post...sorry

xiaoman1 

To my eyes the bikes in both pics are different top tube head tubes etc. etc. Are we discussing different phots/bikes?
Best, Ben

martl

There must be a few dozen of those around if not more (possibly one for each shop "Trophee Lancome" owned) and they show up frequently on german classifieds with often humorous descriptions and even more humorous price tags, if the seller thinks he has a genuine racing bike at hands.
For example, this fine specimen is supposed to bring 450€:



and this guy wanted 1350€ without the wheel cover: https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-...72038-217-4542

I used to collect the most hilarious samples from such classifieds and had them put on a website for classic bikes i ran. Earned me an angry telephone call by Mr. Schauff himself one night
He had a point as, while definitely nothing any pro would ever have ridden in a real race, Schauff did a pretty good job to recreate the looks on what i'm sure wasn't a big budget.

Lattz

The credit goes to Embacher, who not just collected all these nice bikes, but made sure to show them to the public with really nice photos.

Lattz

Yes, I have also noticed, that many think, that they own THE THING, I think, this bike might be lowest priced bicycle which can get a kid on low budget anything close to Lo Pros, it also gave me sleepless nights a few months ago, when a frame and wheels popped up at ~80ish EURs, but then... collecting all the parts... would end up much more expensive as getting a more or less normal one in the 3-400 range, but then do I really need another problem? As a imaginary lottery winner I would find space in a hangar for one, for sure, I like it, but for my everyday commuting needs in regular human-mode I already have more bikes than what I would need. If something comes, that needs to be a bit more special OR cheaper OR more useful.

Lattz

I think, I've started the problem, by assuming that even Cinelli Lasers could have exchanged owners for low price when SU went down. Beside that I like such theories so no probs for me.

xiaoman1 the point of the discussion was not that the Thai guys paid NASA equipment price tags for the same bikes a random Russian dude might have gotten for peanuts, just generally that we all know how high priced Lasers are, and I added the other pic of a random Russian dude and the assumption, that at the collapse of SU, not every valuable thing was expensive as well.

martl

Current state of affairs with my Maxisports Thierry Marie build. Correct wheelset with correct decals installed..

martl

Thank you! The color scheme is due to the Castorama team, not my idea.



I got the frame naked and getting the exotic parts was a 10 year hunt now. I know what Apoggios and mantas sometimes go for but thats not what i paid in both cases, the saddle was a pile of bits without the saddle (and the hardware to mate shell and saddle), and i recon the Manta was comparably cheap because its missing its decals; but those are easy enough to reproduce.

Lattz

Oh la la... thats a nice selection!

Lattz

Oh man, while I like "special" bikes, I've always considered these seats and especially the Manta HB as "lil' bit too much for me". But this is really woaaaa. I like when someone can make something out of things I normally don't like, be it a painting consisting of colors or bike/anything else made from parts I dislike or at least not straightforward like. Gut gemacht! congrats! And a huuge extra applause for the dedication for collecting the fitting original parts bit by bit over years/decade. My old Vespa Sprints know this, I bought them as a kid, and well, now I'm closer to forty than to thirty (but still a long way to go).

Lattz

Pure awesomeness upto every centimeter (inch, yeah why not). I am normally rather into Italian bikes, but this is hot as hell. besides I really like everything about it, if one thing to be mentioned on top is the color. I need something like this for my Rossin(?), bluish silver or vice versa, its eye watering beautiful, elegant and simple.

EDIT: forgot to mention the biggest pro.... Its road legal here in Germany as well!!

Lattz

Hi there! Thanks, on my side of Germany its really manageable, we are fine. I recently discovered night riding through the city, and even if its not as artsy as the pic above, it has its charm without the cars (even the worst things have some good side effects, they just don't make up for the bad ones) with the nice weather even late nights. Absolutely entertaining and relaxing can recommend to anybody who lives in a small enough area, where the roads are totally empty from 8PM.

martl

can confirm that. I live on the coutryside atm and its a cyclists dream - almost empty roads, even the cars practice distancing weather was nice, too, the last two weeks. (I'm not blind to the personal tragedy and economical disaster this causes, but i see no reason not making the best out of a horrible thing)

Thanks for the kind words regarding my Maxisports. I like to give myself tasks that are bit above the -agreedly also satisfying- "standard" 'let's find a nice 80ies frame and slap some Superrecordo or C-Rec on it' (nothing wrong with that if you're looking for a looker that's also a rider). my Zunow is another example of this, as are the Cambio Corsa bike or the Osgear one. Exotic TT stuff clearly was the most difficult so far, i don't know if its the peak (buddy of mine went to restoring pre-1900 stuff....)

xiaoman1 

Not TT's per se but nice images none the less.
Ben

PeloPic: The team training camps start in the next weeks, so now is the time for bike fitting and wind-tunnel testing. The Dutch LottoNL-Jumbo team were in the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands to work on their aerodynamics – Individual and team time trial tests.

Lattz

Oh sorry, I thought I mentioned it before, the German transportation rules require two independent brakes on bicycles. In the last weeks a Takhion frame for literally peanuts gave me sleepless nights, as it was really cheap, but the track version.
While I see most fans are specially searching the track rather than the road version, for me I could not justify the spending for a bike I can't ride. And while I was even thinking of all handymen in the area who could change the dropouts and the brake bridge, and maybe add a few braze-ons for RD and cables, ultimately I had to admit to myself, that A., all these just make the budget worse B, I would rather have my arms cut than modding a frame like that. It was huge sadness but also a big relieve when it disappeared from the classifieds, but I'll still not forgive myself for not buying it (have similar issues - not with brakes- with my Rossin(?), but answer B applies there as well).
So applause for this Koga as well for having 2 brakes besides being super awesome in many details.

Lattz

I guess if I quoted anything classic it must be accidental as my cinemaric knowledge mostly exists in our alien language ... but these photos are true classics would be challenging to dislike. Shame on me but despite i really like classical fillms somehow Ava Gardner remain mostly under the radar... but this needs to change.

Lattz

Sneaked in through the staff entry as the lil brother of one of the performers....



Actually this also looks like a black sheep here...

Lattz

Actually I try to fix a glich on my bucket list and get over a full end-to -end reasing of the rhread as in its early days i was an occasional reader. I just got to the part where you VTTfan posted the same Zunow picture as i did above. (The perfume bottle Schauff I met yesterday again same pic as mine posted by @martl). Bu that was eyactly why i wanded a full re-read so i wont bore anyone to death with reposts. A bucnch 'o files got the kickout from my VTT folder i planned to post. Actually these Zunows are nice bikes even for my sensitive eyes (Im not a fan of "papagayo" paint schemes but every now and then something comes which is an exception. That red-blue on the bottom pic is a much more interesting bike actually. The lug work is fantastic and only few builder used the front fork as monostay. I love it!