I did it again - I bought a bike because I felt sorry for it. The machine in question is a Batavus Course from the mid-80s. Strangely enough, it's only the second one of these I've seen, which is wierd. South Carolina should be lousy with them!
Minuses - the seatpost is stuck. It's stuck so thoroughly that the plastic head (!) snapped off with the saddle, leaving the squared section poking out. Time for more ammonia and a bench vise, I suppose. 57cm, c-t, with a 56cm top tube - fits me by modern standards, a touch small by my current tastes.
Pluses - Reynolds 501, which isn't 531 - but it ain't gaspipe, either. Cool metal headbadge. Huret Rival derailleurs and Weinmann 605 sidepulls (anybody got a spare barrel adjuster for one of those?). What appears to be an ATAX stem with SR bars.
Strange note on the bars - the areas between the tape and the stem were covered with aluminum tape, almost like some sort of muffler tape. I'm wondering if this was stock on the bike ... almost dumb enough to be.
Oh, well. I'll play with it a while, perhaps build it up with parts on hand. It may become Cirque or eBay fodder. Who can say? It's cheap amusement, anyway.
Russ Fitzgerald rfitzger@emeraldis.com Greenwood SC
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