CV-6 

Nice looking Gazelle. Enjoy the ride.

pastorbobnlnh 

What!!! @jimmuller, no tubulars!!!!!!

I do like it! Now if we can convince Sharon to ride her new Terry, maybe our summer New England get together ride can be a C&V criterium. But I'll only do so if @Ed. keeps the sleigh bells!

jimmuller 

No tubulars (yet). Those wheels and tires are pretty close to tubulars though.

Sharon has been liking the Terry on a trainer too.

As for Ed.'s bells, they would be essential if we rode today:

vintagepedals

magnifico biseklita!

Pars 

Really nice looking! Enjoy!

JJScaliger

Very nice Jim! I think Gazelles are super cool!

non-fixie 

Non-aero, French fit. Just the way I like it. Well done. Looking forward to the ride reports.

ThermionicScott 

Great-looking bike, Jim! I don't know if I've noticed or commented on this before, but I think we'd be able to hop onto each others' bikes and ride without much trouble. The Gazelle is set up almost identically to my '87 Bianchi.

rootboy 

That is one pretty bicycle.

noglider 

Wow, 22-1/2 pounds is pretty light!


Perhaps @Italuminum or @non-fixie can provide us with a recording of how to pronounce the name correctly. I heard it recently, but I don't want to try myself.

Ed.

Are you ever the optimist!

She's a beauty, and I've the bells, but until that 6' high snow drift melts, I'm not riding any where!

jimmuller 

@Italuminium (at least I think it was Italuminium - I'll have to dig up that link) did a week or two ago. He posted a video of what looked like a news report from a race or ride someplace. I couldn't tell exactly because the guy speaking was jabbering away in what I assume was Dutch. But when he got to the name of the bike his pronunciation was clearly French, exactly as it is spelled. Incidentally, on the TT it is spelled "champion mondial", all lowercase.

All I need now is for the snow to go away. And some instructions in English on how to use those muskets.

Added:
See post 2433 in this thread:
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...y-98.html#2433

Italuminium

He, I should borrow a camera somewhere and do a repo on these CM's. Combining work and hobbies and all that.

jyl

Beautiful bike, you really got a clean one - paint and decals look perfect. Must be frustrating to be snowbound with a freshly built bike. Isn't there a high school gym where you can do laps or something?

jimmuller 

Thank you, and everyone else too. The decals are in very good shape but the paint has its share of scratches and places touched up with a mismatching white. I figure the touch-ups were done by a PO rather than by the seller; otherwise the seller would likely have done the other few spots too. I consider that part of its history.

Even with the paint issues, it does look great from 10ft away. When I'm riding it nobody will get any closer to me than that!
They'll never catch me or I'll never catch them, and the latter is the more likely possibility.

Frustrating, yes!

jimmuller 

I finally got to ride this bike today despite the 35degF weather.



Just took it around the neighborhood to get a feel for the handling and to dial in the saddle and bar heights. It is very quick, very responsive. Quick to turn is certainly a function of the geometry, quick to accelerate is probably due to the wheels (which I had built originally for the Masi). As I recall, the Motobecane is like this but this Gazelle is a bit lighter, I think. Then again, with all the snow around I haven't ridden a bike in maybe 45 days, so my memory certainly needs recalibrating. But this bike? Yow! It's a serious keeper!

non-fixie 

Sounds good!

pastorbobnlnh 

You are experiencing PUE, or Pent Up Energy, from too much winter. . Right now a Barbie Bike with 12" wheels would feel good!

CV-6 

Well....it is a Gazelle.

jimmuller 

Gazelle report:

Today I rode the Gazelle on my commute, its first "serious" ride. I'd previously ridden it for a simple 45min ride around the neighborhood, with one moderate climb. My commute is more aggressive, the usual route about 16 miles with about 700ft of climbing each way, and I'm usually hammering reasonably hard. So today's ride was a true test.

On the return I tried a shortcut to avoid one particular stretch of road but I'd misunderremembered a map and ended up taking a long cut instead. It added 3 marvelous miles and another 310ft of climbing. Not a bad day!

My first impression is that the Gazelle is a screamer. It is happy running fast, and to judge by what gears and cadence I was running it was faster than I'm usually going. It likes to accelerate too, possibly due to the light wheels and tires.

The handling seems pretty neutral with quick steering. My Masi seems to have a psychic connection to my brain because it knows exactly what I want without me telling it. The Motobecane seemingly will over-cook any turn if I don't pay attention, but doesn't take offense at being corrected. The Gazelle seems to fall between them, not quite as psychic as the Masi but naturally cooperative.

It currently wears Veloflex Master tires, 23mm which I ran at 140psi. They feel almost like tubulars. It has quite a bit of road feel, maybe a bit harsher than most of my other bikes but not uncomfortable. On smooth new pavement it glides smoothly at speed. I used high gear a few times today too, 52/14, which I rarely do my other bikes.

The gearing took some getting used to. The 52-38 chainrings and a wide range 6-spd 14-34 FW give it a reasonable 1-1/2 step crossover. My Masi has the same FW but only 1/2 step crossover with 47-42 rings. My other bikes with 1-1/2 steps have compact doubles and smaller FW steps. The Cyclone GT handles the FW okay but the lever requires a subtle touch! The low gear is a click lower than my other bikes so it would be the choice for a steep hill.

Bottom line - Its a bike to ride fast and far!

Velocivixen

I tried counting the cogs but am not sure how many there are. You did mention freewheel, so maybe 6 or up to 7? I ask because I see the Cyclone RD & wonder how many cogs it would cover.

Nice build.

jimmuller 

Thanks.

The FW is a 6-spd, 14-16-19-23-28-34. The Cyclone GT RD seems to have no trouble with the range or large cog. It might be near its limit though; I really don't remember. I would have checked total range, large cog, and chain length when I built it.

Henry III

Looks awesome Jim but I'm really digging the barbie bike.

jimmuller 

Thanks. (And thanks, Pastor Bob. My image is ruined. Then again, it was ruined from the beginning, so never mind.) The barbie bike was one of several at Pastor Bob's dump which most of us modeled during his Hills & Lakes ride a few years ago. It handled okay but was a bit small for me. Maybe with a longer seatpost though...