styggno1

I have had my fair share of Crescent 92320 and Monark 90320 thru the years. They are somewhat of a staple vintage race bike over here in Sweden. I believe this is my 19: th...

Before getting this frame I have not had one in the collection for many years. I could not resist it when it came up for sale for a song at a local bike site. The pictures showed a untouched 90320 frame in splendid condition. Missing a rivet for the Monark headbadge and it had only a Campagnolo headset forkrace mounted. I checked my inventory and realized I had all the parts needed and nothing better to put them on for now.

Got it home and gave it a good rub and wax treatment. The paint and decals are very nice! I will not even touch up the small paint chips there are. My experience with these bikes tells me this one was made when the builder had a somewhat good day. It is better than 95% of the ones I have had and seen. This still puts it at the bottom in build finish when compared to the rest of my collection. Telling it like it is - will not make me popular among my fellow countrymen... A competent race bike but no Mona Lisa.

I put this frame as an early 70ies based (losely) on its serial, and set of decals. And I will build it as such.

It will be a nice complement to my Masi "Monark" Ferretti team bike - sort of a brother from another mother (and father)... ;-)

Rub and wax


Luckily I had an extra rivet for the headbadge


Cleaned up mostly NOS headset parts (English thread) and a NOS BB (thick rifled cup, French thread, 120 axle).


Long version


Parts put on - together with a wheelset that is going on another bike - but they look the same as the ones for this build.



NOS Mafac Racer, NOS Record seatpost, a very good condition Idealé 90 and an OK Silca with Campagnolo head




Will see what happens tomorrow. It is hot over here. Lot of Pims and mint juleps under the apple tree...

branko_76 

Beautiful Bike !

non-fixie 

I am too lazy and too cheap for this level of excellence, but I dig what you're doing. Subscribing!

styggno1

Thanks!

I would better add that I got all parts, except the frame of course, for this build in the 80ies and 90ies... The Mafac boxes where laying in the hundreds at a shop here in Stockholm. "Take 5 and pay for one!" Same with the seatpost. At one time I believe I bought 10 or 15 of those too. Knowing this - please consider this build a budget build. I was on a budget back then - these were cheap parts for a long time.

Wildwood

A chandy is nice on a hot summer day.

Pims, but substitute a nice mint tea. Sun 'cured' tea not boiled. For summer heat endurance.

Nice parts bin.
And LOVE the colourful frame. With wide tan walls.
Good taste extended to brands less 'enshrined' is respectful of the heritage, in this case. I would put my Falcon in that category, perhaps for the company's longevity. Billato perhaps for an Italian.

But be careful when riding it, you are marked - as a staple vintage racer - to kickback a phrase.

qcpmsame 

Subscribed, good to see another Swedish themed build, and direct for Sweden too

Bill

jackbombay

You had me at the Nervex lugs!

Sandstrom

Wow, thanks for sharing. That frame looks very nice. The paint and graphics just scream Sweden!

Skoal!

The Golden Boy 

Gin & Tonic #1 - refreshing!
Gin & Tonic #2 - This is going well
Gin & Tonic #3 - I'm really good at this
Gin & Tonic #4 - what's this for???
Gin & Tonic #5 - ummm...
Gin & Tonic #6 - where's my ******g hammer?!?

styggno1

Today I got into hard liquor. I sort of had to. Cleaning part is tedious work. It gets better with "Gammel dansk" (Old Dane). Did I mention I am on holiday?



Saddle and post in place with a Mafac brake cable stop at the seat bolt. A Campagnolo pump peg and cable clips. Saddle height is unadjusted.



NOS 175mm crank with NOS "no peg" big ring, slightly used small ring.





Sorry - my wife calls on me for the evening drinks in the garden...

styggno1

Mojitos got me thru this day.

I had to tidy up an early 3ttt Record stem.



Two mojitos later it looked better.



An early non anodized 3ttt bar to match. I noticed the bulge being a bit off center and had to set it up 3 mm to the left to get the bar centered. The camera angle makes it look more than it is.



Clean and restored 1971 NR derailleur - new springs for both the parallellogram and the chain tension. And some other small bits an pieces.



NOS Regina Oro chain and freewheel. TA bottle holder. Record pedals, Christophe clips and M.A.C straps.



Total 5 Mojitos. A good day.

Only the brakes, levers and some red cotton bar wrap left for tomorrow.

squirtdad

Drinking.....so it started as a Midsommar build ???? I seem to recall (barely) O.P. Anderson and Beska Droppar being involved the one midsummer i did near Göteborg many years ago

styggno1

You have a good memory - considering having beska droppar and O.P Anderson... I assume you got off easy being a foreigner. My favourite schnapps are O.P, Aalborg Jubileum and Skĺne. The Norwegian Linie and Löjtens aquavit are both OK (but do not let the Norwegians know). But with the right combination of fresh potatoes and pickled herring I will drink any aquavit. I draw the line at vodka. Vodka is something to use for washing your hands during corona times. Vodka is technical alcohol. Aquavit has some flavouring to it - and that is a big difference.

Well - today I finished the Monark Super Continental 90320. This was an easy build. The frame came almost ready for build up. Just a good cleaning and waxing - some small detailing. The parts I already had and even if I had to clean and polish some of them - this was a walk in the park. One could argue that after 18-19 of these Monark/Crescents it should be easy but you would never know. Things turn up that you do not reckon with. With this one it was the NOS Mafac brakeset. The levers were for a handlebar of another diameter. I had to source parts to get it working. Luckily I have a stash of parts to draw from - but it took a couple of hours to find them and get it right.

Mafac: s in general is not something I have a great experience of. I have always had a stash of long reach (formerly know as normal reach) Campagnolo Record brakes that I have used when building these bikes. This time I wanted to use the Mafac Racer set. It was a charm to set up after the debacle with the levers.

I went with red cotton wrap, which is both "catalogue correct" and otherwise fitting the bike´s colour scheme. I wrapped it as the mechanics at the time did - over the half hoods. There was a reason why they did it like this. It holds the rubber hood in place better. I have built this bike as a racer - which explains the brakelever positioning. This was the way they were supposed to be positioned (on a racer). And at my age (56) I am still flexible enough for it to work.








This was a short build thread but I hope you have enjoyed it. Even if I have some problems with the frame build finish - there is no way around the fact that this bike´s exact likes were ridden to both amature world championships and olympic medals by the Fĺglum-Pettersson brothers. A circa 50 year old Swedish classic in very good condition - resurrected and saved for the future.

And I have lost some brain cells during the build - but I have had fun!

PS - had a nice dinner with my wife and my brother and his wife - to celebrate the bike´s finished build. I hereby declare they could not care less. "Oh - you have built yet another bike..."!



I am used to it. And I guess I am the abnormal one.

styggno1

Took it for a 50 km sort out trip today. Worked as a charm. Raised the stem 1 cm (so much for my statement about being flexible...). Took some pictures in the sun.

This bike makes me happy.

This Monark/Crescent (MCB) does not suffer from the infamous toe clip overlap at 59 cm frame, 175 mm cranks and large clips. There is a millimeter to spare. As I wrote earlier - this frame was built on a good day.

Spaghetti Legs 

Very pretty build! I congratulate you on getting all the parts in the proper place. I once did an alcohol fueled build and put the crank on backwards.

tyler_fred

Very nice.. The bike and wrap are so vibrant. Beautiful, beautiful build..

non-fixie 

That turned out beautifully!

Nice to be able to see what new MAFAC brakes look like. Which is very clean, rather than highly polished. Thought as much.

orangeology 

drinking ftw!
what’s your polishing method on the stem and etc? (other than sipping mojitos?) looks gorgeous after!!!

styggno1

Thank you! My "method" is handheld 320, 480, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500 grit wet sandpaper in that order - then a polishing compound called Autosol (mildly abrasive). With the stem I stopped at 1000 or 1200 grit as they were not polished to perfection originally.

Mojitos and sweat does the rest. I take care not grinding at corners or otherwise altering the form of the item.

orangeology 

Autosol, indeed! thanks!

styggno1

The Crescent ads from the 70ies have got quite a following. Crescent and Monark bikes at this time was the same apart from the decals - the two brands joined forces in the early 60ies.

I believe the "cyclists" to be very different though. Today this would not "fly" here in Sweden but at the time it did. All over the world...
I must say I am partial in Monarks favour. In 1972 I was 8 years old though and did not contemplate on girls at all. The models, if they were 20-21 at the time, would be about 70 years old today I guess. I hope they are well and live a good life. Their old modeling career choices still make me smile.




And then to a totally different Monark girl. On the cover page of an old Swedish bike magazine - Anna-Karin Johansson riding for CK Ceres (a renowned bicycling club in Sweden). This is the real deal Monark girl. Three times Swedish champion.

obrentharris 

Brent

Narhay

Very cool. Appreciate the thoughtful and spendy build. I have family in Hallstavik so hej!

Fahrenheit531 

Thanks for the coolest build thread I've seen in a while. And know that there's a little bit of Monark envy over here in the Arizona desert. Nicely done.

Jpreichardt

What a dream bicycle!
Congrats for the top quality assembly!!