ekstarr

Hello friends,

I have a fantastic late 60's Mondia Special that I have been building up. I bought the frame off of craigslist and I LOVE the patina, so I am not looking to do a full / original restoration. Currently I am running it as a fixed gear.

Unfortunately this weekend a car pulled out in front of me while I was traveling at full speed with a loaded trailer. I could not stop and t-boned the car. The fork is now bent beyond repair. Obviously this will be a difficult part to replace and find matching patina. I would be okay with finding a similar build quality chromed, lugged fork to replace the old one with. But I thought I would ask here first, if anyone has an old Mondia fork they are willing to part with.

Also, a couple of questions. Did late 60's Mondia Special's originally come with 27" wheel sets or 700C? I am currently running 27's, but have a hunch that 700C's probably belong on this bike.

Thanks everyone!
Eric

due ruote 

Sorry about your bike; hope you are OK. Can you post a picture of the fork? Are you 100% certain it's beyond repair? How about the frame - did you check that out real well behind the head tube?

Michael Angelo 

Sorry about the bent fork....you only had one brake on a bike that tows a trailer????

ekstarr

haha, thank you for your concern fellas. i would agree that towing a trailer with 1 brake is not ideal... but it happens rarely and usually on a bike path on the beach.

as for the bike fork, i've used a straightening tool to get it as straight as possible, but the head tube portion seems to be off as well... not just the blades. there's a bit of friction when turning to the right. when i ride "hands free" i have to lean my body pretty heavily to the left just to go straight, it drives me crazy!

unworthy1

I would guess it came with 700C, but not 100% sure.
You may wait a real long time before you find a genuine Mondia fork, but they used a fairly common Vagner crown with Reynolds blades, so there are a lot of vintage brands that would work as replacements. Even if yours was FR threaded, you can still use a Brit fork swapping out the top race and nut (and stem).
Matching paint is another can of worms, but it could be done (and easier on a fork than entire frame).
Sorry about the crash but don't give up.

dbakl

They typically came as complete bikes with sewups in the early 70s, with Mafac brakes. Later a simpler frame was sold as a frame only. I think a early Mondia had a Nervex crown, so look for something from a Paramount or PX-10.

randyjawa 

Based on what I see in the fork picture, I would repair that in a heart beat. Any exerienced frame shop can repair that problem, in my opinion. However...

If the fork is bent where the steering tube enters the fork crown, forget the simple repair. I never repair such damage, and write the fork off right away. There is no way of knowing if the steering stem/fork crown joint has been compromised, or not. If compromised, the fork might fall right off one day, and that will happen only when you are riding the bike. Ouch!

Road Fan

I would cease and desist with the fork straightener, because you are adding cold-setting cycles to metal that has already been stressed. Take the fork to a frame expert to see if it can now be put right.

A front impact often transfers pretty high stress to the frame at the lower head lug. You really need to give that area a sensitive inspection, using sight, touch (feel for rippling and paint aberrations), and some close-up photos posted here. The down tube can show rippling where the lug ends or where the butt ends.

MKahrl

It may have been built as a sport tourer with 27" wheels. I have a '71/'72 Mondia parked outside my office that has fender/rack eyelets on the fork tips and rear dropouts and the clearance is set up for 27" wheels and Mafac centerpulls. The fork crown is identical to a Paramount.

unworthy1

If that's from an early Paramount it's probably the "cut No.5" crown with the slightly more ornate lower blade sockets...there were several French and British brands that also used this crown as it was included in the full Nervex Pro lug "package". But not every builder bought or used that whole "package" since one could also buy just the 3 main lugs and substitute much lower-cost crowns and BB shells.
Nevex also sold a "cut No.7" crown that probably cost less than the Pro and had slightly different "chevons" on the top, plus a simpler "Rounded "M" cut on the lower blade sockets.
Not sure what options you could find on Mondias...or Juvelas...
You might look up Craig Griffiths who has a "swiss bikes website", he might have a line on a replacement fork.
https://www.swissbicycles.com/category/mondia/