vw02

My dad had an old 10 speed that was sitting in a garage for the last 20-30 years. He had moved onto newer and newer bikes but never got rid of this one. Its a 70's Frejus frame, he can't remember what year or model it is. The drop outs on the frame and fork and derailleur guides are campy. He said its special because of the faulk tubing? another word for double butted i think? He built the rest the bike from parts. I forgot to get a picture of the bike as it stood before I got to work on it......needless to say everything was full of rust and grime. Here's the frame, hes painted black a few different times. I have no idea what the original paint was.


Some detail of the rust




I got to work on stripping the frame and cleaning and mildly wet sanding some parts to get a little shine back. I used a combo of tin foil and lemon juice, nevr dull, 1500 grit, simple green, and oxalic acid....i never knew the mess this would create.


Frame ready for oxalic acid


After bath and framesaver applied inside ready for paint


Knew a guy who does body work on the side out of his house. he gave it a light sandblasting, and a little sanding to improve the surface w/o me even asking. the color is corvette white i guess......i hear it adds 50hp paid $50, the chrome lugs were horribly pitted, so i decided it would just be waaaayyyy easier to just paint them...they really looked horrible before.

vw02

I decided to make it a 5 speed, i really think front derailleurs are just pointless. my mtb is a 8 speed as well. i like the simplicity. also why i chose the lone front brake too w/ no hoods. Im using the bike to get around the U of MN campus/city, so the simplicity and comfort is key. And i wanted something a little different. So after 2 months of getting random parts and rebuilding things here and there....here she is.







All the parts are original except the tires, brake lever, bar ends (bamboo!), bar tape, chain.
Stem and bars: Cinelli
Derailleur stuff: Sun Tour Cyclone
Cranks and BB: Stronglight
Seatpost: campy
Headset: campy
I have no idea what the wheels and hubs are, there's a super faded sticker in french on each wheel, thats all i know.

Thanks to all the help i've received on here!
I know its not all replica classicish like most bikes on here, but let me know what you guys think!

GrayJay

Great looking build, cool to see that you revived a family heirloom. I have never had sucess running single chainring without a front derailer ( or cyclocross chain-guards) the chain falls off the front too often.

cb400bill

Falck is an Italian brand of steel used to make bike frames.

https://italiancyclingjournal.blogspo...ian-steel.html

cycleheimer

Looks great! How did your dad like it? A B.F. thread is a nice tribute, BTW.

DiegoFrogs

It seems like not having a rear brake has no affect on comfort, but possibly some affect on simplicity. However, I think that not having a redundant braking system is a poor trade-off for the sake of safety.

dbakl

Sure its a Frejus? Frame details unlike any Frejus I've seen...

Maddox

I like it. Sometimes I wonder why more Singlespeeds aren't five-speeds.

vw02

my dad's stoked on it, a little confused about why id want 5 instead of 10 gears and one brake...haha

i love the single chainring set-up. i dont know if i could ever commit to a single speed. w/ the mtb i have a little jump stop from N-gear to keep it from skipping off...i know what you mean though.

yeah, its a frejus. my dad lived in switzerland for a little bit and im pretty sure thats where he got the frame.

as far as the single brake goes....i dont do too much road riding. more urban setting or some long rides on trails.

GrayJay

MTB jump stop and a outer cyclocross style chainring guard together would do a good job keeping the chain on in the front. I tried running a single chainring on a time trial bike and had trouble with it falling off during races, costing me much more time than it ever saved. Last straw was when I tried to flick it back on with my finger on a downhill during a race and I impaled my fingernail on a chainring tooth after running over it with the chain.

Single brake could be very dangerous if you were to break a cable on a steep downhill or heading toward a busy intersection. I have had a cable break, having the second spare brake was much appreciated.

cycleheimer

"You don't need it until you need it" ... kinda sounds like something Yogi Berra would have said, right?