I got this bike a while ago, these are the only nice pictures I can find now.
It is of a minor almost unknown Portuguese make, I am in Northern Spain and so it was rather local here. I can read AJAR on the top of the seat stays.
So, what it’s got:
- Coronado crankset (I find it beautiful and there are no plans to "improve it")
- The Simplex rear derailleur in some pictures one day decided to crack, so now is on a longer cage Campagnolo Centaur 10 speed (it was from a triple crankset) [picture 10]. As I got the bike with a Shimano generic rotary cassette with shorter gears, the short cage derailleur had some interference on the bigger cog during a swift shifting, cracking [picture 9]
- Simplex delrin downtube shifters, that will soon be replaced with Campagnolo Record I already bought as soon as I repaint the frame.
- The black no name seat post you see in some older pictures started developing some very annoying saddle tilting so it got replaced by a vintage Selle San Marco one
- CB caliper brakes and Sulky levers.
- Shimano front derailleur: I guess the delrin of the original Simplex did its job, but this happened to the PO.
- Rigida alloy wheels
- Gurpal hubs
- Campagnolo skewers
- Kenda 28×700c threaded tan sidewall tyres
- No name MKS Sylvan clone pedals
- Originally it was a pink bike, but the PO painted it B&W.
As soon as I got it, I enjoyed myself in the Drillium art. The weight saving was a bit (about 12 grams on the small ring, 50g down to 38g which is 24% less), but I was not interested in that. If anyone has an interest in this, I can write up a post on how I did it, it took a week of brainstorming until I found a way to make precise holes with just a punch, a standard hand held drill and a clamp.
As it is not a bike of great value, I just make it up as it pleases me and enjoy it.
As already mentioned, I want to repaint it: better and in the same "colors", adding also a logotype O R C A (killer whale), in a serif character, to put on the white section of the downtube, with a made up logo on the head tube: it’s a big bike (58) and there’s plenty of space there.
Slowly I want to improve it with better period correct components like bottom bracket, headset and stem (but not the rear derailleur, I will keep this, it looks fantastic and works a marvel) and one day I will replace the frame altogether to get some Italian one, with Columbus tubing and original paint.
At that point I will be able to rebuild up this bicycle with the older components replaced previously, and maybe sell it, or pass it to my son, for when he will be bigger.
by ElStellino