Hey all,

I picked up this old green Jan Janssen from the market not too long ago. I would like restore it to pristine quality, however it would be great to know more about the age, model, and tech specs of the original stock build. I have a bunch of pictures so I've actually put together an Imgur album:

Jan Janssen - Imgur

The decals towards the end are my own recreations, accurate to 0,1/0.1 mm (I've been thinking of prostituting my Illustrator skills on this sub-forum). They'll be used for the re-painting and re-finishing. Maybe they are also helpful for ID purposes.

Any insight is greatly appreciated! Thanks guys!

P.S. No, but really, how great is this headset decal? I saw it and I had to buy the bike:

Jan Jansen won the tour back in 1968, and when retired start rebranding Belgian frames (and later Japanese ones) under his own name. From the get go he equiped them mostly with Japanese parts, thinking that the stingy Dutch would love the good value of the Japanese components instead of the high zoot Italian parts. He surely was right about that!

This one looks like one of the early ones; quite old fashioned decals (even for the time) and early shimano 600 parts. I assume the parts are original; they look right for the period and are typical for JJ builds. The saddle is an obvious replacement, look for a nice Araya, Fujita or Kashimax replacement: don't bother with finding an exact match, most bikes I've seen of this type have quite horrible saddles with a quilted-look cover.

The components and frame style (my hunch is that it's one of the earlier Belgian ones) put in somewhere in the early seventies.

the headbadge is indeed the epitome of cool: sunglasses are kinda JJ's trademark. As of last year, he was still rocking them

Looks like a Flandria, from the early period. Janssen switched to Vaneenooghe later, because Flandria did not live up to his expectations, quality-wise.

Cool bike; I especially like the finish and hope you give it the the old clean-and-polish rather than a repaint. From the construction, it looks like the components are better than the frame, so I wouldn't make grand plans and drop too many guilders on this one.

And yes, that is an extremely cool headbadge :cool:

• she is fitted with quite an early SR Silstar chainset. these have one usage snag it is good to be aware of. they were made with extra thick chainwheel spacers so that the bike could run small c/w with small cog and not have the chain rub on the inner face of the outer c/w. this makes the chainset have the unfortunate tendency to trap the chain between c/w's. make sure to use only full width derailleur chains; no sedisport.

  
  

IIRC, I think Jan Janssen also sold Vitus 979s(?) under their brand name...

He did. As well as the 992:

I think it's just a matter of time till a star pro (or whole team) will be the first to sport google glasses during a race......
That would be really cool too!........... Unless the UCI bans them.

It can be a bit tough to see in the photos, but the metallic green has faded and flaked to a sickly greenish grey in many places so it's not looking so hot. The decals are also pretty scraped up. Since I took the time to recreate the decals carefully, I will probably repaint it/have it repainted in the same colour, which I've Pantone matched (same goes for all decals). Also, there's a lot of surface rust (nothing more serious though) so I'd like to strip it down, go at the rust with WD40 and a steel brush, and then wash it and galvanise it with a self-etching primer for protection. The goal is to look exactly like the original, but not 40 years old.

To everyone else: Thank you so much for your insights! I have also spoken to the Jan Janssen shop about IDing it since they were very excited/willing to check it out, so hopefully the puzzle comes together from two sides.

Hi there, that looks strikingly like the Jan Jannsen Super prestige I have. Mine is in a gunmetal grey (I'll post some photos when I get home). I think it is 1974ish built with shimano 600 drivetrain components. Mine had some chrome 27in wheels but I've had to replace them as they were warping beyond saving. I've no idea what saddle is meant to be on it as mine is one of the ghastly quilted ones. I'm considering trying to get replacement decals and a respray to keep the frame alive but I've had no luck getting them. If you've got a way to make the decals I'll happily but some off ebay if you're willing. Hope that helps.

Hey Ian,
I saw your pictures passing by while solving the same problem. I have exactly the same bike with exactly the same decals, can I order theme somewhere?

You can always try the manufacturer at info@janjanssen.nl. I've contacted them before regarding an eighties Jan Janssen TdF bike and gotten a very friendly and elaborate reply from Jan Janssen jr.

Greetings Ian. I've just picked up this Jan Janssen frame on ebay. It has the same decals as your except the model is Professional, and it appears to be a higher grade frame, with Campag dropouts and nice lug work. Did you print up some decals, and if so what style and what printer did you use? Would you be able to make a set for me? I can provide a pic of the Professional decal once it arrives. I can go to one of my regular decal guys but if I don't need to reinvent the wheel it would be easier. Please reply to me at rdf1249@aol.com.

thanks
Bob Freeman
North Bend WA
USA

Interesting! I don't recall ever having seen this model before. It looks to be from the 'Flandria period'. The model name doesn't quite follow the pattern of events won by JJ. Any indication what tubing was used?