If it's cheap (and you have room in the garage) buy it. The Soviet block made all sorts of knockoffs of dated French and Italian designs. The quality varied from OK to horrible. As in almost everything else (American troops in Vitenam often preferred captured Czech-made AK-47s to their own M-16s) the Czechs made the best of the Eastern European manufactured goods. Favorit was probably the Soviet bloc bike best known in the West. Favorit probably made a range of bikes, so it might be a UO-8 semiclone, but it could be a pretty good semi-pro model. Definitely a bit different, though.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Don Wilson <dcwilson3@yahoo.com> wrote: A thrift store has a old ten speed Favorit with drops and a full Favorit grupo (really, I'm not kidding). It says made in Czechoslovakia. Anyone ever hear of a Favorit?
It might also be known by the name Rapido Favorit. The head badge says Rapido (Skoda-Jawa Co., Montreal). The rest of the bike is, however, emphatically stickered with Favorit. No sign of 531 tubing, but the lugs are kind of fancy in a Peugeot Uo-8 kind of way.
The entire bike looks licensed from some French company. The Favorit center pulls look like Mafacs Racers. The Favorit brake levers look like Mafac levers. The Favorit front derailleur looks like a Simplex. The Favorit rear derailleur looks like a metal Simplex. The Favorit chainwheel with cottered cranks looks like a million other French bike boom bikes.
Alas, the pedals are gone, so I can't date it by reflectors. And the purple metal flake paint looks a little too new for early seventies. Maybe the commies were behind the curve in Czechoslovakia and still producing 60-70s bikes in the late 70s.
Again, anyone know anything about these critters. I want to say no to this bicycle in the worst way, but...my greatgrandpa was from Prague and I've always felt I ought to have a Czech bike. Someone tell me this is another piece of crap bike boom bike of no significance whatsoever and that I should skip it.
Don Wilson Los Olivos, CA
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