Hi there, this is my first posting. In Zagreb, Croatia, where i live, there is a huge second hand goods fair held weekly. It's a spectacular mixture of usless trash and a few priceless antiquities you can stumble upon. Recently there has been an amazing amount of beautifull old bikes being sold there at absurdly low prices, usually by totally cluelles people who probably buy them wholesale with a ton of old garbage from people's cellars. Anyway, being a regullar visitor to the said fair i try to buy as much as i can fit in my basement - recent acquisitions include a mint condition early 80's Puch Mistral with full shimano 600 for 60$. Bike didnt' look like it was ever ridden. The whole setup was trully amazingly light for its kind - maybe 7.5 kg. Some pics here:
http://www.inet.hr/
I know, that adjustable stem is sore for the eyes, but the person for whom it is intended just couldnt' ride in agressive position the original stem forced upon you.
Well, that puch was a sweet deal, and i just brought it up to brag a little. :-) Nothing misterious about it except maybe its state of preservation. It probably doesnt even strike a chord with you people because it's allready showing many signs of modern depravity - like those brake levers and a dull machine paintjob :-). But last week i found something much more preplexing. Here it is:
http://www.inet.hr/
Well, let's start with obvious: its a Tigra Professionell. The nuovo record on it is year-marked 71'. The paintjob is hand made and quite nice. The lugs definitly look like Nervex pro. The crankset is Nervar and the brakes and levers are weinmann. The condition is not exactly "mint" but quite repairable. I payed pitifull 35$ dollars for it. What remains a mistery: the reynolds decal on it is damaged, bu it seems to say just forks. From what i could gather from this list or other rare mentions of Tigra on the net, earlier professionell models had full 531 tubing? How can i determine if this one has? Anybody dares to guess what kind of threads are on this bike? (i dont have the nescesary removal tools for the sugino BB) What are your thoughts on the quality and build of this frame (what you can see from pictures at least)? Can anybody tell me something more about the history of the Tigra brand? It seems awfully neglected on the internet - i couldnt find a thing about it anywhere except here on this list. I would also need some practicall advice - i love the way this bike looks and i intend to keep it for myself and ride it. I would like to preserve as much of it's original spirit as possible while modernising it a bit. Since i live in a hilly area i would like to put a modern triple crankset and clippless pedals up front, but i hear there might be problems with a square taper lenght? Is it a chainline problem or it simply doesnt fit on it? Any thoughts on that? The wheels are sitll perfectly centered and tensioned but i simply hate tubulars. Any recomendations for suitably styled and easily obtainable modern hook type rims? The paintjob needs a lot of repair in some places. Any advice on preserving the decals in the process? Are there any guides on that matter out there on the net? Anything else you can think of to say about this bike and it's intended fate?
Thanks for your input,
Grga Franges
Zagreb, Croatia
Europe