jamesdak 

Well I swear this is a disease. Just moved on my lovely Lemond Ventoux to make space and then this morning I found myself on the road heading to see another bike. I mean it is Swiss and I’ve never had a Swiss bike so like I needed to do this, right?

Anyway, long story short, price was cheap bike looked pretty good and well, I need to try out a Swiss bike. So yeah, I bought it.

It’s a Ocshner bike without any kind of model indication. Columbus tubing decal and Cinelli Italian Bottom Bracket Shell. 27.2 size seatpost. Nice work on the lugs with decent thinning for the points. The only sloppy looking work I noticed on the bike was the FD braze on. Has the usual cosmetic paint chips to be expected but the paint still has a high sheen and it a beautiful metallic red. Stamped on the BB as a 55 but I’d call it a 54 cm by the measurements. Decals are under clear coat except for the Swiss decal on the back of the seat tube. My brief research indicates these were contract built in Italy. Oh and Campagnolo dropout front and back. Back measures more like 126mm but I slipped a 130mm wheel in easily. Only one set of bottle cage braze-on, chain hanger, but no pump peg. Drilled for recessed brakes.

Parts on it:

Brakes – Dura Ace BR-7402

Front Derailleur – Dura Ace FD-7410

Rear Derailleur – 600 RD-6400

Levers - 600 BL-6403

Hubs – 600 tricolor, rear is FH-6401 and front is HB-6400

Rims – Campagnolo Omega Strada Hardox with the V-profile. 32 spokes which are butted

Cassette – 7 Speed Hyperglide 13-26

Bottom Bracket- Campagnolo square taper

Headset – Stronglight

Crankset – Sugino 75 170mm with Shimano SG 53/42 rings

Shifters – Rear is not clearly marked other than Shimano 600 with a friction and Index setting. The front is where it gets “interesting”. It’s a Dura Ace lever but clearly says SL-6400 on the inner rings.

Pedals – PD-6402

Handlebars are some kind of Profile Designs and the riser stem is a mess.

Seatpost – Kalloy 27.2

Tires – Bontrager T1 700 x 25 -

Saddle - Flite Titanium

It has a plastic pump peg on the seat tube that I took off for now. Also some kind of ring with a magnet around the one size of the front hub. I took that off too. No signs of rust inside the frame and no dents or other structural issues. I did run my inspection cable camera down the seat tube and no signs of any rifling. So maybe Columbus SL or similar? The wheels sure seem like a matched pair but the rear wheel has all silver nipples while the front alternates silver and black.

I have sent off an email to the company to see if they can share any info on the bike. And now the hunt begins for more info on these. Gonna be storming all weekend supposedly so going over this will give me something to play with.

And now the "pic or it didn't happen" shot. Taken just how I picked it up. Also weighed it at 21 lbs 7 ozs as in the picture.


Quite a few small chips when you get close but from a few feet away all you see is glorious red sparkle!

VtwinVince

Very cool, I can see why you grabbed this. I'm looking for one in 60cm since my last name is Ochs.

John E

Any relation to Phil Ochs, one of my favorite folk/protest singers?

delbiker1 

I have an Ochsner that I purchased new in 1992, though that is not the model year. I do not know what that is. Mine was originally blue and came with 6 speed indexed 105 components. It has been rebuilt including stripping and powder coating the frame/fork. I have done a fair amount of research and most of the info I got was from members of BikeForums, including Bianchigirl and Madhonk. There is another member, whose name I cannot remember, that is a fan of Ochsners, that also had info. There is an Ochsner museum in Chicago that I contacted a couple of times, but got no response.

Orthon Ochsner was an importer of various things, including one of the early importers of Campagnola. His grandfather, maybe it was his father, was a Swiss racer. From what I have learned, the frames/forks were built in Italy and the bikes built up in Chicago. The red ones are the higher end and the blue the lower. It seems the red frames are Columbus SL and the blue aelle. They do have small, faithful following, and are known to be nicely built, fine riding bikes. I love riding mine, thought it is too big for me. Mine is stamped as a 57, but the geometry is more like 56.

I have done various searches looking for more info, including serial number info, but with no luck. There are numerous threads here regarding the bikes.

Recent picture of the bike rebuilt
I do not have any pictures of the original build. If you find a source for more detailed info, I would certainly be interested in knowing that.

jamesdak 

^ I remember commenting on yours a year or so ago. I've been reading all the old threads on these. I just wish the timing was better for me. Winter storms have already started and I don't normally take the steel bikes out once the sand and chemicals start going down on the roads. It may be a while before I get in a test ride....

Mad Honk 

Great find and a good buy!
The red frame was a Columbus build frame with SL tubes. The 27.2 is the give away on the tubing set. You have a great bike that was the same as bikes made for the tours under the Royal badge. I currently own two of them and they are great riding bikes. There is a lot of history for the Ochsner line but you have to look it up. Smiles, MH

jamesdak 

This matches some of what I've found researching yesterday. The red does appear to be SL. The seatpost size and smooth interior seat tube support that. I've seen the "Royal badge" come up a couple of times while researching these. Is Royal a specific brand or what? Having trouble cross referencing that.

The Kalloy seatpost doesn't let me get the setback I need for the saddle. So I crudely measure the seat tube and head tube angles. Seem pretty steep from what my mechanical protractor showed. 75 for the seat tube and 74 for the head tube. Swapped over to a Fizik SLK carbon post for now since it has a lot of setback. It's also black with red and white logo/trim on it so it matches the bike pretty well. Topped off with a Fizik Kurve saddle for now that is white with black edges and red rails. That sort of ties into the look too but maybe not so much so once I sort out the bars and rewrap them. First change has it down to 21 lbs and 4 ozs, woo hoo!

If the icy roads clear today I'll go to town and source a couple of metallic red paints to see if I can find something close to touch this up with.

unworthy1

Never spent too much research time but I did know the red frames were SL and the blue Aelle, also that they were built in Italy despite how proud of his Swiss heritage Orthon was and how much that pride was promoted.
So 2 questions just to save me some Google-time:
Anyone know who the Italian contract builder was?
Are they Italian threaded (BB and steerer) as I would expect?

jamesdak 

The BB is for sure. I'm not certain on the steerer yet.

jamesdak 

The world outside is covered in a frozen crust this morning so I've been hacking away at this and other bike stuff. The rear wheel has one spoke that had no tension and a pretty good hop in it. I suck at wheels so I took them off to take to my favorite LBS today to go over. If the wheels check out OK then I'll decide if I'll keep them on and build around them or go with something else.

For the heck of it I threw on some Mavic's I had laying around extra. Even with heavier junk tires on them they dropped he weight of this to 20 lbs 6 ozs. I was able to get the right saddle position now so later today I'll pull those bars and size it for the stem. Rough check seems like I'm going to need a 90-100mm. Figures as I have plenty of 120mm's on hand, LOL

Anyway, how it's sitting right now with the modern wheels, C.F. seatpost, and Fizik Saddle. If I stick to all black on this I may swap in a Fabric Scoop I have that's black on top and red underneath. I just wish the roads were clear so I could take this out and get a feel for it.


This may get full Dura Ace 7400 on it. I have two pretty much mint group sets on hand.

delbiker1 

Looking good jamesdak ! I think the lowest I got my blue one was a few ounces under 22 lbs. I really hope you get a get a chance to get out on it soon. I think you will be pleased.

jamesdak 

So the Sugino 75 crank is throwing me. Everywhere I look says it's a track crank and yet here it is set up with a road double. Someone's "hack job" , common mod, what??

I mean I guess with the right crank bolts and a longer spindle you could do this easy enough but have never thought about it.

Mad Honk 

James,
I doubt it was a hack job. Most of the Ochsners were sold as framesets with the build left to the buyer. Many of them found today sport a mix of components as they were inexpensive bikes for shop workers to get that had a history of quality. My first one was a frameset that got a complete set of blue label Sun Tour parts for the drive train with Dia Compe pro brake set, and Campy hubs with GP4's for wheels. A mash up for sure but very ride-able. Smiles, MH

jon c. 

I bought one of these recently as well. Mine is the blue, so the lesser Columbus tubing, but I'm pleased with the ride.

My understanding was that most were sold with Campy bits because Oschner was already importing Campy at the time he decided to have the bikes made.

VtwinVince

LOL John, you have no idea how many times I get asked that. Apparently no relation, although some of my dad's ancestors did emigrate to the US after the Civil War.

bargo68 

Nope-it's for real. They came stock on the 1986 Schwinn Peloton as well. Takes a special bottom bracket, though, so I hope yours is still fine cuz they're spendy.
Nice bike, BTW!!

jamesdak 

Just to provide and update to those researching these:

Finally got around to pretty much finishing this up. Wheels are in rough shape when I got them and they took two trips to the LBS to get sorted. Very rare problem with this as the rear came back to me with the dish messed up the first time. Just catch it until I got home but once I took it right they made it right. Went back a forth on what to do with this but realizing I've got to stop putting too much time, effort, and money into these. So that said.... I cleaned, degreased, and lubed all the parts.

Replaced cable housings and cables. Brake Levers had some road rash so I originally tried to use a really nice looking set of Dura Ace ones I had on hand. But found out the left lever was binding for some reason that wasn't apparent. So I grabbed a nice shiny set of Shimano 105 levers I had and mounted them up. Brand new black Nitto Pearl stem and black Nitto seatpost were used to dial in my fit. Went with white SRAM cork bar tape finishing it off with some nice black and red tape details to pull it all together. A little red bling on the end of the bars goes well with the black and red SRAM bar plugs. Originally went with a black Fabric Saddle with a red underside but wasn't feeling it. So for now it's wearing a white Fizik Kurve saddle that is one of my favorites. The black edge and underside of this saddle combined with red rails works well on this. I also put a set of Continental Gran Prix Classics tires with latex tubes on it. Finally black bottle cage and black pedals to round out the cosmetic stuff.

I haven't put the new chain on it yet as I want to ride it first with the current 13-26 cassette. Sort of thinking of putting a 13-28 on it and then it will get the new chain I have for it.

So right now without any real light parts on it, minus the saddle, I've dropped over a lb off of it from when I got it. Today as in the pic with the white saddle it's 20 lbs, 4 ozs. That's good in my book for an old steel bike, Columbus SL is good stuff. This would be easy drop off another pound or more simply with modern wheels, lighter tires, and maybe using one of my Thomson seatpost. No reason to do that though so.....


This is how I set it up yesterday with a black saddle.

Changed to this one this morning. Looks better to me.

Finishing tape detail

Ugh... need to straighten that.

After I shot all these picks I took some paint polish to the frame and then some spray wax. Paint has a lot of blemishes from use over the years but I bet it was a really beautiful paint job new. Such a nice fine sparkle in the red, must have been something special to look at for the first owner.

rku615

Interesting looking frog leg table or stool. Nice.

jamesdak 

LOL, another project I need to refinish. Duck stool I found one day antiquing.



I'll be repainting this once it get's warm.

rku615

It's a definite keeper!