Bike Boom refurbished bikes

Late 80's Nishiki Century 1988 (?)

2012-03-11T05:43:00.003-07:00

Nishiki Century road bike we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services

The Nishiki Century was in great condition when we got it. we replaced the original dry tires to a couple of miss matched lightly used tires and left the original tape in order to offer the bike for a lower price.The cables and brake pads were replaced as well but the bike had been in an almost untouched condition, for some reason the Nishiki and century decals didn't survive but the paint was shiny without a single scratch. this was an early indexed bike from a 1987 or 1988 equipped with one of the first Suntour Accushift stem shifters.

there isn't much info on Nishiki models, mostly on the Nishiki brand , here's what I found, feel free to ad more in the comments. 1987 catalog shows a very similar bike but with friction shifters. so this one might be a later model (?). a nice wiki page discussing mostly the West coast cycles company which had the Nishiki bikes built imported from various manufacturers in Japan and Taiwan. An extensive Nishiki wiki style fanpage and a vast collection Nishiki bike photos and some catalogs and also an extensive post from bikeforums.net on Nishiki identification and serial numbers. Though this wasn't a complete refurb the girl who bought it was thrilled, she was looking for a ready to ride bike in a limited budget which didn't look too flashy, Boom, exactly what she wanted.

Early-mid 90's Diamond Back Approach Hybrid

2012-03-08T23:50:00.001-08:00

Diamond Back Approach Hybrid we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services
The Diamond back brand is relatively new. it was actually the predecessor of centurion, a brand of WSI an american company who manufactured and exported bikes from japan. in the early 80's WSI introduced the diamond back brand for their mountain bikes and later for the BMX series. throughout the 80's both names were utilized until centurion was dropped in 1990. Great article from sheldon brown on centurion models here. Used hybrids are hard to come by as they are pretty modern bikes, the first ones were produced in the late 80's. Most bike companies started offering several models in the early 90's. They are considered all around bikes and it seems like they are probably the best selling bikes right now. They are so popular that people who don't even know what a hybrid bike is, still want one. Hybrids rarely stay in our shop for more than a couple of days and women's hybrids with an open frame such as this Diamond back approach usually don't survive 24 hours in the shop in the biking season as usually the first person to try them will make a purchase.
We usually replace tires on all of our bikes unless it's clear that the tires are recent replacements or of high quality, these tend to survive for longer period. this Diamond back approach has undergone the standard refurb and was fitted with new tubes, cables and brake pads on top of the tires. More diamond backs we refurbished here and a brief history of Diamond back and its predecessor Centurion and also a wiki page on diamond back

Early 90's Bianchi Avenue

2012-03-07T20:10:00.001-08:00

Bianchi Avenue we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.

This early ninties Bianch Avenue, probably 1993 or older is a nice old school chromoly lugged hybrid with comfortable semi upright riding position. Binachis are very popular in Boston for some reason. This bianchi avenue has received new tires, tubes and cables. Original shifters were replaced to thumb shifters as the old shifters didn't survive. It was in pretty good condition when we got it with relatively low miles. Hybrids were first produced in the late 80's and gained popularity during the nineties but today they are probably the most popular type of bike. People look for a fast commuter or a bike path bike with a relatively upright riding position and indexed shifting. A lugged hybrid like the Bianchi Avenue is a rare bike as lugged bikes were replaced with welded bikes by the mid nineties. Today, lugged bikes are only made by boutique brands like rivendell and small one man shops as they are hand made and usually silver brazed. Other hybrids we sold can be found here and the history of bianchi here.

sold to a student during the yearly rush of September when students come in town for the beginning of the college year. great times.

Late 70's or early 80's Puch Austro Daimler Pathfinder AD

2012-03-03T05:44:00.000-08:00

Late 70's or early 80's Puch Austro Daimler Pathfinder AD we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.

Puch was an Austrian company who manufactured scooters, motorcycles, cars and trucks, apart from bicycles of course. The 70's and very early 80's bikes were made in Austria and the mid 80's models were made in japan for Puch by Kuwahara and Araya. This Puch Pathfinder AD carries the Austro Daimler and Steyr decals and is constructed of 2800 manganese steel tubing. According to this page with lots of informtion on Puch and the austro daimler high end sub brand here this Puch Pathfinder AD, was made in Austria and carried the same look of the more expensive high end Austro daimler models crafted from reynolds 531, the Interten, ultima and Vent Noir. The frame was probably made anytime before 1979 but the components are Mid end Suntour AR which were only introduced in 1981. It might have had its original parts upgraded as by 1981 pathfinders were already made in japan and were of lower quality. We have also refurbished other Puch pathfinders, without the Austro daimler decals, made in the early and mid 80's by Araya and have steel rims and Hi-ten frames. Here's another puch we refurbished at Bike Boom.

this Austro daimler Pathfinder AD is size 19" or 48cm which is the smallest frame with full size wheels made in that era, they are hard to come by and usually sell very fast as they appeal to men and women as well though most of them are sold to women. This one was bought by a nice guy for his girlfriend as they were looking for a quality 10 speed in this size for quite some time and instantly fell in love with this mint bike.

Spalding Blade Re

2012-03-02T04:58:00.000-08:00

Spalding Blade Re we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.
First time I bought a Spalding Blade Re for the shop I was a bit puzzled. It seemed like a department store brand as Spalding is famous for their basketball and baseball equipment, especially the famous quality basketballs, I remember drooling over those orange leather basketballs in the local sports shop. I've seen my share of vintage department store 10 speed bikes (columbia, schwinn, huffy, free spirit, to name a few) but this ones struck me as a quality mid end bicycle from the 80's with it's alloy rims and suntour 7 components, the cranks and handlebars are steel but lots of the japanese brands had this parts mix on their low-mid range offering. The spalding blade Re is definitely Japanese or Taiwanese as it has the standard geometry, tube dimensions, lug work and striping on the lugs. Department store bikes always offer older technology components on their bikes for example 7 speed systems when bike shop brands are equipped with 8 9 or 10 speed systems. The bike has friction shifting so it should be older than 1986 but being sold in department stores it should adhere to the rule I mentioned above so basically think it was sold as a low end bike in the late 80's but had the features of a mid end bikes of early-mid 80's, which makes sense as technology always trickles down in the bicycle business. We don't sell department store bikes but honestly, this one is as good as any Univega shogun or Fuji that was made a few years prior to this one. A few weeks later I found another spalding blade, turns out they were sold in Sears in the 80's. there was also a red women's spalding Blade with cruiser bars that I will feature in the future. Overall, this spalding blade Re is a very nice lugged steel bike with very decent components and in mint condition, I don't think the bike had more than 50 miles on it. Sold to one of the line cooks in Mike's , the neighboring Italian restaurant in Davis Square.

Vanmoof No. 3

2012-02-29T08:43:00.001-08:00

Vanmoof No. 3 spotted near the Bike Boom shop. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.
I have seen this unique Vanmoof a few times but only managed to take photos of it recently as I was shoppping for groceries in Porter square. Vanmoof is a dutch company making dutch style urban bicycles with aluminum frames and unique features such as the integrated front and rear lights in the oversized top tube. they also have another bike the Vanmoof No. 5 with an integrated lock. both of these bikes have a solar powered LED light system built in the tubes and they can also be charged using a USB cable. WOW!
I think this is their OTT or over the top model with the 3 speed shimano nexus transmision, coaster brake, and roller brake in the front.
With Trek integrating bicycle computer sensors in their frames and shimano's DI2systems, it seems like the bicycle world is finally embracing technology. I wonder how well these gizmos will survive years of use (or lack of) and whether they will be adopted by other bicycle manufacturers.

1997 Cannondale H500

2012-02-25T06:25:00.001-08:00

1997 Cannondale H500 we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.
This 1997 Cannondale H500 hybrid was made in the USA in the heyday of Cannondale which was still enjoying a huge success based on their mountain bikes. The 1997 Cannondale H500 we are featuring here was probably brought to the Boston area by a foreign student as this model only came in grey in Europe. This cannondale was also well loved as it has been updated with high quality shimano Deore derailer and crankset. Used hybrids are hard to come by as they are pretty modern bikes, the first ones were produced in the late 80's. Most bike companies started offering several models in the early 90's. They are considered all around bikes and it seems like they are probably the best selling bikes right now. They are so popular that people who don't even know what a hybrid bike is, still want one. Hybrids rarely stay in our shop for more than a couple of days and larger hybrids such as this 20" Cannondale 1997 H500 usually don't survive 24 hours in the shop in the bikeing season as usually the first person to try them will make a purchase. This specific bike was brought to the shop in the morning, fixed in the afternoon and sold in the evening. A young lady was looking for a light hybrid, we offered her a couple but they were not light enough or in her size. We took her number and once this cannondale was finished we called her first. She bought it on the same day. 1997 Cannondale catalog (European version) here

1997 Diamond Back V-link 1.1

2012-02-23T17:39:00.001-08:00

1997 DiamondBack V-link 1.1 we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.

Last week we featured one of the first mountain bikes ever produced, the 1982 Diamondback Ridge runner. 15 years later, diamondback produced the v-link series which and were considered high end bikes at the time, here's the link for the original specs and price and a page with more info on the diamondback v-link bikes. . Throughout the early nineties many companies tried to come up with the best rear suspension design, the customers were aware of that and waited on the fence for a reliable suspension design. Full suspension bikes were rare, unreliable and expensive. The late 90's were exciting times for mountain biking, by 1997 the market has settled down with most of the bikes having either a single pivot or the 4 bars design, which basically reflects today's market as well. Every bicycle company had at least one full suspension bike in its arsenal, it was obvious that full suspension bikes were here to stay and sales roared. Full suspension bikes do not age well for two reasons. The first is that full suspension bikes are meant to be ridden hard and thus do not make a great used purchase. Technology changes constantly and bike riders push the limit of bikes on a daily basis, one always wants to try a steeper hill or a more rocky terrain or a steeper descent. In the full suspension world this usually translates to more travel. Travel is the term used to describe the range of compression of the shocks from complete rest to full compression under load. Long story short, a bike which was used for down hill and aggressive trail not more than 5 years ago is now considered a light trail, cross country rig. Just look at the archives in the specialized website. A Bike which was considered "all mountain" 5 years ago now carries a different name but similar geometry and travel and is considered a cross country bike. The 1997 diamond back v-link 1.1 was considered a cross country (XC) bike with a single pivot design with the Shimano STX mid range group and Rock Shox judy fork

We purchased this bike set up as a commuter with slick and narrow tires it was in great shape with low miles and a very tight rear end. (always check for play in the rear end pivots as this is a good indication for high usage or sloppy maintenance). The integrated shifters were toast which is common for bikes which have not been used for a long time so we put a brand new set of shifters, brake levers, cables and brake pads. We had it in the shop for quite some time in that set up until a nice guy from out of town came with his girlfriend and was looking for an affordable mountain bike to ride the trails around Boston. His girlfriend attends one of the numerous colleges around Boston and he was looking for a way to pass the time while she was in school. We ended up replacing the tires to proper wide and knobby tires and the guy was super happy as the price was also very good for a bike in that caliber.

Schwinn Paramount Tandem

2012-02-21T06:37:00.000-08:00

Schwinn paramount tandem spotted in front of the Bike Boom shop. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.

We ususally post here pictures and info of bikes we either refurbished or belongs to friends or customers of the shop. This Schwinn paramount tandem belongs to none of the above. It was spotted on a sunday, just as i was about to open the shop, i managed to take a few photos and when i came back to admire it, the schwinn paramount tandem was already gone. I'm guessing it belongs to a local couple who came to dine in one of davis squares numerous joints. Here is another schwinn paramount we featured in the blog, that post has lots of info, links and history about the paramount brand and waterford plant.

1992 Bridgestone BB-1

2012-02-20T08:26:00.000-08:00

1992 Bridgestone BB-1 we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.
This Bridgestone BB-1 is a great example of an affordable and reliable commuter. we get to refurbish a lot of rigid mountain bikes and we try to use the mountain bike platform and adapt it to a commuter city bike. this is achieved by replacing the tires to a smooth and round profile tire and sometimes we change the stem and/or add a riser bar. the BB-1 is unique since Bridgestone designed to be a city bike to begin with. It was meant to be a an all around bike that can do a bit of everything. The model name was only used in 1992 and was called the Bridgestone CB-1 (city bike) up until then. It has a more upright riding position than the famous Bridgestone MB series ( MB-0, MB-1, MB-2, MB-3 etc,). In the 1992 Bridgestone catalog they even mentioned how the BB-1 is similar to the CB-1 and that they still had 4500 units left of the 1991 CB-1 model for a cheaper price. Bridgestone definitely had a different view of the bicycle retail world as nobody else especially today would be that honest with his customers or dealers.

1974 Gios Torino Super Record Revisited

2012-02-19T07:05:00.000-08:00

1974 Gios Torino super record we sold here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services
As you might remember we sold this gios torino super record wit full campagnolo nuovo record in "as is" condition. A few weeks later, the new owner, Adam has dropped by with the Gios torino super record after a good cleaning and a few updates.
A new brooks saddle, tape, cables a new freewheel and reproduction campagnolo hoods have been added and according to Adam the ride is very enjoyable. Even though most of our customers are looking for solid, ready to ride commuters we are going to add more vintage high end road bikes to our collection and make an effort to stock them more regularly as the Cambridge, Somerville and Boston crowd , has an ongoing interest in these amazing riding machines.

1982 or 1983 Diamondback Ridge Runner

2012-02-16T22:00:00.000-08:00

Diamondback Ridge Runner we had here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.
This Diamond back ridge runner is a recent find of our good friend Curtis and has yet to be refurbished. One day when people start collecting mountain bikes more seriously like the guys at mombat.org the museum of mountain bike art & technology, the diamond back ridge runner is going to be a must in any serious collection.
In 1991 specialized made the stumpjumper and had great success. In 1982 centurion released the ridge runner as a super high end mountain bike featuring a lugged frame with ornate lugs, top of the line Suntour components and high end Tange 5 double butted chromoly tubing. Diamondback didn't save any money with this bike and the later 1984 model wasn't as high end as this one. The diamondback ridge runner featured ultra long wheelbase and shallow angle head tube and seat tube as they were meant mainly for downhill. The funny thing is even though they were built as sturdy bikes for dirt riding they share a very similar geometry with the English cruisers like the Raleigh tourist (DL-1) and sports and even turn of the century bikes which were meant for street riding.
The bike is currently for sale. I had it in the shop for a few days and every day I found another interesting feature on it. The bull moose handlebar with the angled tubing are quite unique also the ornate lugs and especially the Superbe tech derailer. The superbe tech was suntour's top of the line derailer and debuted in 1982-1983. it had a unique design with a sealed paralelgram and had a unique cable pull but in reality the design failed and was a huge humiliation for suntour which was then the world's leading bicycle components manufacturer. More about the superbe tech derailer in disraeli gears a very informative site with great pictures that concentrate solely on rear derailers and another beautiful and restored 1982 diamondback ridgeline.

Early 90's GT Tequesta

2012-02-14T21:18:00.000-08:00

GT Tequesta we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.
This GT tequesta is a great example of an affordable and reliable commuter. After we perfected the process of refurbishing vintage road bikes (10 speeds) and than english 3 speeds, we took on the challenge of refurbishing the early mountain bikes made from the late 80's to the late 90's. The correct term for these bikes is "Rigid" as they have no suspension, unlike the hardtail (front shocks) and full suspension (front and rear shocks). I have a lot of respect for these bikes as I used to race rigid mountain bikes back in the days when suspension was still considered unreliable and energy waister (the shock absorbs some of the pedalling energy) plus they were not that efficient as the early hardtails did not have more than 2" of travel (the distance the shock compresses).
GT was a strong player in the Mountain bike scene throughout the 90's. This early GT tequesta has a Tange double butted chromoly frame and a U brake in the rear but the location is quite unique, placed on the seat stays unlike most U brakes which were located under the chain stays. U brakes were wildly popular between 1986 to 1988. They were very strong but due to the location under the chain stays they were hard to service without flipping the bike up side down and also were basically mud traps when you actually took it off road. the GT tequesta screams early 90's with its marble violet paint scheme and punk-rock style decals. the goal in refurbishing bikes like the GT tequesta is keeping it under budget as these are the most affordable bikes in our shop. The parts these bikes came with were quite hi tech but not all of them survived, especially the shifters which were early variatons of the shimano rapid fire ("click shift") and were constantly improved every year, but back then were not too reliable. They actually work well if they are being used but if a bike has been sitting for long the grease inside tends to gunk up and the shifters stop working. The shells were also weak and a lot of them crack and break. We ended up replacing the tires to the semi slick and thin type and the shifters which were suntour x-press, one of the worst shifter designs in history in my opinion. We had to replace the rear suntour XCE derailer to a shimano as suntour derailers don't work well with shimano compatible shifters (in this case SRAM MRX grip shift). All the cables, brake pads and some of the housings were replaced as well. GT was a unique company and were readily identifiable due to the famout triple triangle geometry which, in my opinion, wasmostly a gimick. GT merged with schwinn in 1998 and was later bought by the pacific company and than by the dorel industries bicycle conglomerate.
sold to a graduate student in the Cambridge area.

1984 Fuji Espree

2012-02-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

1984 Fuji Espree we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.

I love mint bikes. Who wouldn't? they are time capsules that create a clash between reality that surrounds you and what your eyes are actually viewing. Obviously, you need to know what your'e looking at. Today we have a mint condition1984 fuji Espree. I bought this bike together with a mint shape peugeot mixte, belonged to an elderly couple near Worcester MA. The 1984 Fuji Espree requiered a good cleaning, quick tune up and replacement of cables, tires, brake pads and tape to bring it from the basement it was housed for the last 28 years back to the 21st century.

It didn't have a scratch on it and the fuji decals were still shining and intact.

The 1984 Fuji Espree was a mid end sport-touring model, just under the Fuji Del Rey. It had the fuji valite tubing in the triple butted variation which means the tubes are made to have 3 different widths, the thickest near the joints (lugs) and the thinest in the center of the tube where the stress in minimal. this allows for a light weight frame in comparison to a straight gauge tubing. The 1984 fuji espree has suntour ARX component throughiut and one of the nicest shifter levers in my opinion which cast aluminum and have a ratchet action. I used the classic Fuji website to distinguish between the 1984, 1985 and 1983 models as they had the samecolor and components but different decals from the 1983 and different tubing from the 1985.

the Fuji Espree was sold to a young women who fell in love with it, didn't even want to try another one.

other fujis we featured on the blog: 1989 fuji ace and 1980 fuji gran tourer se mixte

1982 Trek 412

2012-02-09T17:58:00.000-08:00

1982 Trek 412 we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.

this 1982 trek 412 was acquired with a bent rear wheel and no seat tube decals. Apart from that the trek was in excellent condition. I think the fear derailer is not correct (suntour ARX instead of suntour vx-s) and tires were more recent and still supple. We replaced the torn seat and tape, installed new reproduction cane creek hoods instead of the cracked dia come ones (dia compe changed their name in 1996), great product which has only become available recently and compliments every restoration. A new alloy rear wheel was installed instead of the bent rigida rim which was beyond repair. We see this all the time, a great bike with a bent rear wheel which probably was too expensive to replace and the owner decided to retire the bike, a few years later he decides to sell, understanding he would probably never repair or ride it again. It's relatively hard to distinguish the Early trek models made until 1984 as trek did not include a decal for the model number and basically all trek bikes look the same apart from the frame color and the background of down tube decal. I used Vintage-trek.com to locate and analyse the serial number which showed me it's an 1982 and compared the parts and frame tubing material sticker ( ishiwata double butted chrome molibdenum ) to come to a conclusion that it was an entry level 412. according to vintage-trek: Beginning in 1981 or 1982 (and extending through at least 1986), Trek used a subcontractor in Japan to build some frames and parts of frames. The 300 and some 400 series were a complete (unpainted) frame and fork from Japan, but painted and assembled in Waterloo.

the 1982 trek 412 was sold a few days ago to a nice guy who had a 10 speed which was given to him and was in poor condition it was also too small for him. he traded it and was completely thrilled with his new ride, can't blame him for getting excited, it really is a great bike.

Early-mid 80's Takara Outback

2012-02-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

Early-mid 80's Takara Outback we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.
A nice simple bike, this Takara Outback has a mountain bike frame, wheels and Brakes but 10 speed gearing similar to an 80's 10 speed. My guess, as there is almost no reliable information on the Takar brand, is that this was an entry level mountain bike or comfort bike, way before the term was coined. The Takara outback has road bike gearing which tells me it was not really meant to go on the trails but rather serve as a bike path bicycle.
It also has friction shifters which tell me it was made prior to 1986 as Shimano released indexed shifting in 1985 but only for the Dura ace group.This was one of the most affordable bikes in the shop at $160, we had it for almost 2 months and for some reason it wasn't picked up until today when a nice girl came in, took it for a spin and basically didn't want to check out other bikes. In my honest opinion, a bike like the Takara outback even though it's 20 years old, lightly used and refurbished with a few new parts such as the saddle, grips, cables, housing and 2 new sets of brakes, it is still a better choice than a Walmart type bike, priced similarly or even more expensive. We see this almost every day, customers bringing either their department store bikes (in our area it's Schwinn, mongoose, pacific, and some others which I cant seem to remember) or an entry level bike shop brand such as trek Fuji or Giant (which cost them a hefty $350-$450) and all the cheap low end plastic parts just fail miserably and the worse thing is modern parts are expensive to replace, even the low end ones. When I have to tell the customer his parts need to be replaced it always leaves him unhappy as he already spent some money fixing up his bike but it's still not perfect. I'm always impressed by the quality of the old parts especially the mid and low end verity of the 70's all the way to the late 90's. The low end and mid end bike represent the the majority of the bikes sold in the US. I can say this because we get to buy and sell them all the time. I'm glad it went to a customer who can appreciate a nice and simple bike that has been revamped, is ready for a new life and will most likely be more reliable than a brand new bike twice its price.
Another takara we refurbished in bike boom here with some info about the brand

1966 Chrome Raleigh sports

2012-02-06T07:11:00.000-08:00

Today we are featuring here in the bike Boom blog a Unique and quite rare bike . It's a 1966 Chrome Raleigh sports. This 1966 Chrome Raleigh sports belongs to a good friend of the shop and is currently for sale. We have not refurbished It (even though we will be happy to do so) It will probably end up at a collection but we carry many other fully refurbished english 3 speeds and take pride in the process of restoring these fully operating antiques. I wish I could buy a car from that 60's which is that affordable and in the condition of the bikes we sell here almost every day.
If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville, near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.
The 1966 Chrome Raleigh was only available to Raleigh dealers and was originally meant to be a showroom example not to be sold to the public. Over time , bike shops around the US closed and these are starting to surface, especially with the rise in popularity of these great riding machines. The Raleigh sports is probably the most popular English 3 speed ever made and they were sold in high volumes during the 60's and 70's even though the have been imported to the US from the 30's all the way to the early 80's. they were offered in several versions: women's. men's, women's curbed top tube, and also a few models were dedicated for shorter customers: the colt model, and the hump back (camel back) which sported a more compact men's frame. They were also sold under the Raleigh glider model. in the 70's there was also a model called sports LTD. they were mostly made in England but here at the shop we had a few samples made in Malaysia (late 70's). These bikes along side with the more budget oriented triumph, Phillips, and robin hoods, were very popular, especially in the east coast and the Boston area as the importer was located in the heart of Boston in commonwealth ave.

a very comprehensive source about Raleigh sports 3 speeds from Sheldon brown who was known to be an avid Raleigh collector and admirer.

1996 Cannondale H200

2012-01-29T07:10:00.000-08:00

1996 Cannondale H200 Hybrid we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.

This Cannondale H200 hybrid was manufactured in the hey days of cannondale. Cannondale had huge success with it's mountain bikes in the 90's and started making hybrids as well as this market segment was growing fast as it appealed to people looking for a sturdy frame and upright rising position but were also looking for a road bike since most of their riding would be on paved roads rather than single track and dirt.

this Cannondale H200 was a typical find for us, it was stored for a long time and bought from an elder guy who rarely ever rode it. We replaced the bottom bracket, which is usually where manufacturers save money but apart from a few cables and brake pads (these tend to dry over the years and become hard as stones) and a dtandard tune up, it was good to go and snapped by a gentleman who drove from a suburb about 45 minutes away from the store looking for a bike he could ride with his son on weekends but didn't wan't to buy a new bike for a dozen rides a year. When we started selling bikes we thought our customers will be only commuters, students and young professional but as the word got out, we started selling used bikes to family people from the over hundred suburbs around Boston who couldn't find a decent used bike near them and were not interested in buying a used bike and fixing it buy themselves. for us, it;s a great segment of intelligent, educated and experienced individuals who truly appreciate our work and see Bike Boom for what it really is: Honest, affordable, safe bikes and a great alternative to buying a new bike.

Early 80's Univega Super Ten

2012-01-27T08:48:00.000-08:00

Early 80's Univega Super Ten we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.
this bike is a typical restoration, a low mileage bike with great paint. we often change the original wheels with brand new alloy rims which give the bike a whole new life and help reducing the weight.
Steel rims usually develop dents in the rim wall which are hard to get rid off and we often end up replacing both wheels, even if only one is damaged. We also replaced tires, tubes, cables, brake pads, seat and tape.
Univegas were very popular in the east coast and we find and refurbishe a few dozens every year. they were well built machines, the oldest ones are from the late 70's and most of what we refurbish are from the early 80's. Univega was a a brand of bikes made in japan and strictly imported to the american market by Ben lawee who was the importer of motobecane. When motobecane ceased production ben lawee started importing bikes from Italy under the italivega brand and later imported bikes from japan under the univega name. They are always great bikes to work on. All the parts are standard threaded, parts are readily available and interchangeable with modern ones. They are also well made and lots of great specimens are out there. Once restored they are beautiful and reliable bikes. later models, of mid 80's have very nice geometries resulting in a great fast commuter. The older ones such as this univega super ten have a comfortable touring geometry. Bought by a Tufts student looking for a fast bicycle to commute to class.

1994 Cannondale M300

2012-01-22T08:21:00.000-08:00

1994 Cannondale M300 we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.
This is one of my favorite refurbs we did this year. Throughout the Ninties, mountain bikes based on this frame brought cannondale it's fame among mountain bike riders and later to the road bikes scene. Admitedly, cannondale started i'ts bicycle business with road bikes (they made trailers and riding gear at first) but were a very small bicycle company before the mountain bike boom of the 90's. More on cannondale's history from MOMBAT. Cannondale has a huge following and a vintagecannondale.com is great website with old brochures and serial numbers info, a must for every vintage cannondale fan.
This M300 was cannondale's entry level mountain bike and when we received it, we were not surprised to observe that most of the original, low end parts have been replaced over the years with mid end ones. The famous fat tube frame though was in perfect shape, with just a few marks. We ended up replacing the cockpit (stem and handlebar) to a more upright riding position and replaced the rear wheel with a brand new one and a newer matching front wheel. Finally , new 1.5" semi slick tires were installed, which resulted in a fast, light and upright, effortless riding position. A great bike for a short (2-5 miles on average) daily commute, campus ride or "ride to the subway station and park" kind of bike. Most of our customers commute fits this description, and being our most affordable bikes makes them very popular around here. Modern mountain bikes are considered slow for road riding since they are heavy due to the thick tires and suspension but also because they are equipped with a small front chain rings (crank). In the late 80's and early Nineties they lacked suspension forks and came equipped with a relatively large crankset (48, 46 or 44 teeth count on the large chain ring) compared to modern mountain bikes from the late 90's and on with only 42 teeth on the large chain ring. this means these bikes, though not racers can actually achieve relatively high speeds.
Today, a proper mountain bike must have at least 3" of front suspension , so the new version of these rigid mountain bikes converted to city bikes are called by the leading bicycle companies, "city commuters" or "comfort bikes", which are basically a hybrids with round profiled mountain bike wheels (26", instead of 700c) What can I say, Marketing can perform miracles.

1974 Gios Torino super record

2012-01-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

1974 Gios Torino super record bike we sold here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bicycle repair services.
Most of the bikes sold at the Bike Boom shop are fully refurbished with new parts and tuned up but on occasion, we have customers who are interested in restoring the bike themselves, choose their own color combinations, components and style. We have many bikes that are waiting for their turn to be restored and we invite you to call and ask about any bikes as your future projects. we can also customize any bike according to your specs. This Gios torino super record is an example for one of these projects.
This is one of our finest finds up to date, apart from the hubs, It is fully equipped with Campagnolo Nuovo Record, the wheels which originally were nuovo record laced to nisi or mavic sew ups have been replaced with Suzue hubs and wolber super champion gentleman rims. We suspect it has been updated in the mid-late 80 to the current continental clinchers. This wheelset was a good value item back in the day. Cinnelly stem and handlebar and cinelli unicanitor suede saddle and a super nice gios torino pantographed, engraved campy nuovo record seat post. Another interestong feature is the gios torino lettering on the bottom bracket Admittedly, this is no garage princess, it had been serving it's purpose and the frame and components show it but it was super straight and had no major rust issues apart from some scrapes in the paint. We chose not to refurbish this Gios and let the happy owner make it his own. more gios torino pictures here and an elaborate history source here. The Owner promissed to drop by with the bike once he is done restoring it and we will revisit this exquisite bike when he does.

late 80's Schwinn Paramount

2012-01-10T09:17:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Bike Boom blog. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bike repair services.
Today we chose to show a beautiful bike that belongs to a fellow biker who came by the shop to inquire about a "snow bike". In Boston, it's quite common for bikers to have a nice bike for the sunny months and a winter beater for the snowy, freezing salty, grimy months. When you own a bike of this caliber you can appreciate why it's smart to buy another one to ride only 3 or 4 months a year.
This red beauty is a waterford made schwinn paramount made with columbus SLX tubing and fully equipped with vintage Dura ace, according to the owner, he pieced it together from parts he found on the web, mainly Ebay. Paramount was schwinn's high quality division for many years until in 1992 schwinn lost it's assets including the paramount name. More about schwinn paramounts from the waterford website , form sheldon brown here and classic rendevouz here. I forgot to ask the year and model but I think it's a late 80's, early nineties model.

1990 Trek 330

2011-12-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

1990 Trek 330 bike we refurbished here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer professional bike repair services.

Here's the original brochure from vintage-trek.com a great website for info on classic steel treks.

We replaced the rear wheel, seat, bottom bracket, crankset (shimano 105) and the brake hoods and the standard stuff, tires, brake pads, chain and cables. it has a nice indexed handlebar shifter which was popular in that era and works great, I wish we could get these today. Even though it was is an entry level trek, it has a Tange chromoly double butted frame.It is very light and nimble and gives a great ride especially due to the upgraded crankset. It was bought by a guy who's girlfriend bought a road bike from us earlier in the season. really nice couple.

Bike Boom on Boston Globe's Best of the new 2011

2011-12-19T06:32:00.001-08:00

We were voted "Best of the new 2011" on the Boston globe's Sunday magazine. Yeah !
http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2011/12/18/best-boston-shopping-and-services/I2euyEC0spDt8mQI9djPWL/story.html
The Bike boom team would like to thank all of our customers, we would not be here without you.
we are already preparing for next season with great new bikes and Tune ups for your winter beaters.
Lots of new and exciting plans and goals for next year !

Early-Mid 80's Takara Advantage

2011-12-12T05:41:00.000-08:00

Mint Takara advantage touring bike we refurbished Here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer competitively priced professional bike repair services.

Great representative bike of the early 80's with a Lugged 4130 chromoly frame and alloy components with suntour shifters. Takara was an american company building bikes in japan to be marketed solely to the US cyclist, similar to nishiki, univega and shogun. They were not as popular as the univegas and shoguns here in New England but we still manage to find a few every year. They had a whole range of models such as the prestige, custom 12 and others.

From oldroads.com, probably the best forum for vintage bikes on the web: "Takara bicyles were made to spec for an Oklahoma firm, Takara Bicycle Co. The company survived well into the 80's and possibly beyond. Though not confirmed, the bicycles were probably made by Kawamura, the same company that manufactured Nishiki. Ads showed base and immediate models. Road rests from the period vary in opinion from "average" to "outright bargain", depending on the model, though they had nicer than average paint" .

1984 or 1985 Shogun 1500 touring

2011-12-07T08:38:00.001-08:00

Beautiful Shogun 1500 touring bike we refurbished Here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer competitively priced bike repair services.

Shogun was a bicycle company who operated during the 80's and manufactured bikes in japan to be sold strictly in the US, similar to Takara, Univega and many others.

A classic touring bike with a long wheel base and multiple brazeons for carrying heavy weight. Bicycle touring was very popular in the late 70's and early 80's. Every respectable brand built touring bikes at that era some of the famous models include the Trek 520, 620 and 720,miyata six ten and one thousand, univega grand tourismo, and motobecane grand touring, but also the raleigh alyeska, Bridgestone RB-T, T500 and T700. What makes a touring bike different from a road bike? the long wheel base and relaxed geometry plus a heavy duty frame, rear hub and rim which usually had a higher spoke count. In the early 80's they were the first bikes to be equipped with a triple crankset. Later, towards 1984, with the introduction of cantilever brakes, all touring bikes were equipped with them to allow the use of fenders and wider tires. This beautiful, very good condition shogun 1500 had the Tange 2 chromoly tubing, and came with the shimano Deer head group which basically was the first shimano Deore XT (700 series). Bought from a gentleman who toured with it across Europe in the late 80's and decided to sell since he wasn't using it anymore.

Very cool bike, bought by a Belgian students who came to study for a semester in Harvard.

1987 Peugeot Iseran p6

2011-11-29T10:08:00.001-08:00

Beautiful peugeot iseran P6 we refurbished at Bike Boom. If you are not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Somerville MA, close to Cambridge and Boston. More about Peugeot and a great source and catalogs here. This bike is slightly different then the one shown in catalogs, mainly the brake levers (non aero instead of safety levers) and shifters (down tube instead of stem mounted). We love the Peugeot for being lighter than any other brand, especially ones that were in the same price bracket and had similar components. Peugeot used its proprietary HLE and 103 carbolite steel aloys, they were not chromoly but are definitly lighter than japanese chromoly frames, even the double and triple butted ones. Peugeot used the Internal brazing technique without the added support and weight of lugs. This method saved the weight of the lugs and also gave a very clean finished look. Once refurbished, Peugeots rarely stay in the shop for more than a few days since the first customer who tries one will usually end up buying. sold to a student in MIT.

mid-late 70's Raleigh Sprite

2011-11-25T08:08:00.001-08:00

Beautiful Raleigh sprite we refurbished at Bike Boom. If you are not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Somerville MA, close to Cambridge and Boston. This bike was bought together with the men's version of this white elegant beauty. As sheldon brown says: The upright "all-rounder" handlebars, and mattress saddle made these something of a precursor of the modern "hybrid." but in fact these are relatively heavy bikes though steady and stable. Definitely one of the most elegant bikes I've seen. At some point in it's previous life Shifting was upgraded from clunky stem Shifters to early nineties thumb snifters, A trick we used on other sprites which modernizes them and creates a better user interaction. It's not a known fact but british raleighs had unique bottom bracket thread per inch (TPI). Though there is a solution for the problem when you need to replace the bottom bracket or spindle, it still can slow down a project. We only buy when the bike is in excellent condition, meaning very low mile bike, such as this women Raleigh sprite example. Bought by a young Cambridge men as a gift to his girlfriend, super nice guys.

Puch Brigadier Reynolds 531

2011-11-25T08:03:00.001-08:00

Beautiful and unique Puch Brigadier we refurbished Here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer competitively priced bike repair services.

Puch was an Austrian company who manufactured scooters, motorcycles, cars and trucks, apart from bicycles of course. The late 70's and early 80's bikes were made in Austria and the mid 80's models were made in japan for Puch. This Puch brigadier is quite interesting since it is made of the famous and highly coveted Reynolds 531 manganese steel tubing which at the time, apart from Italian brands, every single brand used for their high end bikes. So why is it unique? well, the bike is equipped with mid end components, stem shifters and safety levers which are the mark of low-mid end bikes. My guess is that it was Puch's way to market their bikes in the heavily populated low-mid market of the bike boom, by offering high end frames with a mid end price tag. sold to a french exchange student in MIT.

1971 Phillips English 3 speed

2011-11-25T08:02:00.001-08:00

Early 80's Peugeot Corbier

2011-11-18T09:03:00.001-08:00

Beautiful Peugeot Corbier we refurbished at Bike Boom. If you're not familiar, bike boom is a used bike shop in Somerville MA, close to Cambridge and Boston. the frame is made of the proprietary 103 carbolite Peugeot used for the entry-mid level road bikes and was surprisingly light. the bicycle looks welded but as a matter of fact, its lugged with inner lugs, a technique other french manufacturers used, especially motobecane. This produces very clean joints.Equipped with Sachs shifters and derailers and a nice Nervar alloy crank and weinman side pull brake.

1977 Panasonic Sport

2011-11-15T08:53:00.001-08:00

Beautiful 1977 Panasonic sport we refurbished at Bike boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a Used bicycle shop in Davis square, In between Somerville and Cambridge close to Boston MA.

We specialize in restoring used and vintage bikes and mostly cater for the huge student and young professionals community in the area.

History of the Panasonic brand here and here from yellow jersey and japanese bikes in general from the great Sheldon brown.

A typical entry - mid level Japanese bike, this 10 speed Panasonic of the late 70's, has a Hi tensile lugged frame with a mix of steel and alloy components, Suntour shifters and derailers. We cleaned it, and refurbished with new tires, tubes, cables, handlebar tape and brake pads. when we were done with it It looked as if it just stepped out of the showroom. Panasonic was one of the leaders in the bicycle manufacturing industry and built bikes for the schwinn brand under the "world" sub brand. later , in the early 80's they were replaced by Giant. Panasonic still makes super high quality bikes which are relatively expensive to import to the states and are sought after by savvy cyclists.

1986 Nishiki Olympic

2011-11-13T09:21:00.001-08:00

A very unique Nishiki olympic we refurbished here at bike boom. More information about nishiki here and here If you're not familiar, Bike boom is a used bicycles shop in somerville MA, close to Cambridge and Boston. the bike has a 27" rear wheel and 24" front wheel to accomodate the 46cm frame. In the late 80's and early 90's many small bikes were produced in this manner mainly because the lugs used to make the small bikes were identical to larger ones. the size of the frame would mainly change according to length of tube but the lugs dimensions and geometry remained the same. Since there is just not enough room and toe clearance for a standard size road wheel, builders had to use a smaller wheel. later, in the late 90's and today, the slanted top tube and compact design were introduced due to the enhanced use of TIG welding which allowed many more versatile bicycle geometries. Terry is also famous for using this funny bike or clown bike geometry and small front wheels as they were marketed for women who often need smaller sized bikes.

Mid 80's Motobecane Sprint

2011-11-12T08:16:00.001-08:00

A mint condition Motobecane we refurbished Here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and somerville , near boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes.

I chose to show this specific Motobecane because it's quite rare, at least I haven't seen another one yet. We come across the Mirage and Super Mirage models very frequently (at least 10 in the last year) but this one is quite rare.

Has a lugged carbon steel frame and a mix of Suntour components and Weinman brake calipers. Even though it's not made of chromoly, it's pretty light. Also has the unique rubber bar wrap that encases the brake levers which I have only seen on Motobecanes.

Motobecanes, although french were mostly outfitted with japanese parts, which were cheaper and higher quality than the french sachs and simplex components at the time.

In general, Motobecanes are always a good choice when it comes to restoring vintage light weight ten speeds. the craftsmanship is superior and so is the paint work. They are usually lighter when compared to similarly priced Japanese bikes.

Try to avoid the early to late 70's motobecanes as they were outfitted with french cottered cranks which are harder to find in your average LBS. Some of them had a french Bottom bracket, which is fine, because you can get them easily today but some have Swiss bottom bracket threading which is impossible to find.

the problem is you never know until you need to service them. If the bottom bracket s in good condition we refurbish but if it's already loose when you examine it, I would pass. I

1982 miyata six ten 610

2011-11-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

A very nice Miyata 610 ( six ten ) we refurbished at bike boom somerville. the bike has a different triple crank then the original and also the dia comp, aero brake levers are probably not original as well.

here's the 1982 miyata catalogue . A classic touring bike, just before they were fitted with cantilever brakes.

Triple butted chromoly , lugged frame. we replaced the chaim, freewheel, tires, tubes cables, brake pads, handlebar tape, and installed brand new alloy wheels.

Sold to a harvard student.

Miyata was one of the best japanese manufacturers and fabricated their own tubings. They also put the best parts in comparison to other manufacturers like fuji, univega, etc., even on the low end bicycles.

In general, miyatas are always a good choice. we have come across many miyatas and we will add them to the blog in the future.

1987 Lotus Excelle

2011-11-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Lotus Excelle, Ishiwata triple butted chromoly lugged frame.

Lotus was an american brand selling japanese made bikes (Tsunada and Ishiwata), to be sold only in the US, similar to Shogun, Univega and many others.More about lotus here and a 1981 catalogue here, and a great lotus fan page here.

they started making bikes in the late 70's and stopped in the late 80's. they are usually mid to high end bikes and this is a beautiful example. sold to a student in boston college who came with his friend, who bought a Fuji del rey.

Jeunet Franche comte

2011-11-05T06:56:00.001-07:00

Beautiful, mint condition, Jeunet franche comte. built in the early-mid seventies. Check out another french bike boom era bike we restored.

the bike is very light considering it has a steel frame and still rims. has the standard simplex derailers and sidepull brakes package that is so common on entry-mid level french bikes from the bike boom era. we usually dont sell older french bikes unless they are in excellent to mibnt condition, due to the problematic french bottom bracket issues,

but this one was probably never ridden more than 100 miles in it's whole life. French ten speed bikes are among the most rare bikes right now since for a long time, french bottom bracket were un obtainable, thus every bike that showed up in a bike shop was scrapped. the ones you do manage to find are usually in great shape or mint, like this one. Today you can find s high quality french bottom bracket for at velo orange.

The bike was fully tuned aup with tires, tubes, cables, Handlebar tape and brake pads,

Mid nineties GT Force

2011-11-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

Pretty rare bike from GT, before they were bought by Pacific who owns schwinn as well

GT were and still are well known for their unique looking triple triangle frames, featured on their mountain bikes.

Early welded aluminum triple triangle frame with an 80's road bike geometry and chromoly fork.

We refurbished it with new tires and tubes and new lines and were even able to find an original 3 speed RSX shifter since the one that came on it was broken. pretty common on Early shimano STI systems

The bike has full Shimano RSX group, even the hubs. From an era where bikes were equipped with full groups from shimano, Not like nowadays where only the Derailers and sometimes the shifters are shimano and the rest is cheaper or lower quality brands, especially on the more expensive parts like the shifters and crankset. RSX was later discontinued and replaced by sora and tiagra which are of much less quality.

RSX had also relatively small Chain rings, the largest being 46 teeth.

We also installed the rack for the customer who was looking to replace a beat up Univega.

A very nice and light bike overall.

Early-mid seventies Gitane mixte

2011-11-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

This Beautiful early seventies Bike boom Gitane has been overhauled and refurbished here at bike boom somerville. Gitane was a huge french company at that time competing with peugeot and later motobecane. More info about french bikes at sheldon brown

Bought in Cambridge in relatively good shape. We did change a few original parts. first we moved the shifters to the stem and added modern brake levers and grips and white cable housing.

The early french mixte bikes have a different geometry in comparison to the japanese mixte bikes which are much longer.

White bikes are harder to restore since they show any dirt or scratch. this one was very clean and the decals were bright and intact.

brakes are mafac racer with modern cantilever brake pads and a french cottered crank. simplex front derailer. the rear has been changed from a simplex to a suntour

Gary Fisher Tassajara

2011-10-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

Early nineties Gary Fisher Tassajara Mountain bike

This was a really fast, mid end cross country machine at it's time. It has a very light chromoly frame and shimano STX discontinued group, it was under the deore LX, Deore XT and XTR.

Made by Gary fisher which, at that time was still not sold to Trek. All the fisher bikes had a Hale of quality, being designed by the man who basically invented mountain bikes.

the derailleur is very similar in design to the Shimano RSX road Group.

has Shimano rapid fire 3x7 speed integrated with cantilever brakes.

we received it in mint condition and was bought for a freshmen student in Harvard by her father and mother.

The bike is all original and apart from tuning it up and a couple of cables we didn't really have to do much to it.

we have many more mountain bikes in our archives which we will share with you as the bike boom Blog continues.

Check us out on www.bikeboom.net as well and our facebook page

Giant Quasar

2011-10-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

Mid-late 80's Giant Quasar. A super nice 10 speed (actually 12 speed) we had in the store earlier this year. had very low miles on it, we gave it a tune up and replaced cables and bar tape. Great paint. Has indexed suntour shifters, derailers and a sugino crank.

This is one of the first giant branded bikes after giant stopped producing bikes for schwinn.

In the early 80's schwinn hired giant, which was a tiny bicycle company in taiwan, to manufacture light weight bikes for them. before that panasonic made bikes for schwinn. By the mid 80's schwinn was in bad economic shape and moved production back to the US. Giant, which was a huge factory by then, had the knowledge and started producing light weight bikes under their own name.

Today, Giant is the 2nd largest bicycle manufacture in the world, Merida being the largest.

Benotto triathlon

2011-10-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Benotto triathlon. this one has an intereting mix of parts, dia comp 500 brakes, and suntour ARX derailers. beautiful lugged oval frame construction. we had another one, earlier this year which came with Modolo brakes and rare suntour SVX indexed derailers. Benotto was an italian company that moved production to Mexico, where this bike was made. Even though it was made of HI ten steel , its suprisingly light and weighs like a typical double butted chromoly frame. Also has a nice dia comp stem, which I've only seen on a Soma before. Received a complete overhaul and a new rear wheel since the original had a rusted nipple and a flat spot. even though it was probably made between 1983-1985 it had 700c wheels. Brand new CST Czar tires as well.

1974 Fuji Tourer

2011-10-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

1974 Fuji Tourer. Original brochure is available at classicfuji.com, a great website with all the catalogs until they moved production from japan to taiwan in the early 90's http://classicfuji.com/1974_07_Tourer_Page.htm

A very early Fuji with cottered cranks from the 1973-1975 bike boom. We completely overhauled it with brand new alloy rims (originally came with chromed steel rims). we also replaced the fork with a new Tange fork since the original was slightly bent. New tires, tubes, cables, brake pads, chain, 5 speed freewheel and handlebar tape We sold it to a nice guy who bought a "not so great" schwinn on the boston craigslist which wasn't in his size and needed tons of work and parts.

The original paint job is very unique and was in great shape. has suntour gt and suntour spirit derailers and shifters and weinman center pull brakes.

80's and late 70's fuji are still readily available but the early ones are pretty rare. this one is the oldest we had in the shop. Fujis were always better made than other ten speed and together with the miyata brand had the best frames and paint jobs of the era, in my opinion.

here are other fujis,a mid 80's del rey and a 1980 gran tourer SE mixte we have posted on our blog.

Dawes Galaxy

2011-10-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

Dawes galaxy that came into the shop as a trade for a motobecane fixed gear / single speed a few months ago. Has Reynolds 531 tubing with ornate lugs, very light bike. we put new continental tires, new lines (cables and housings), new brake pads, handlebar tape and gave it a full tune up. Pretty rare english made bike which was privately imported from the UK. has suntour ARX parts.

1980 Fuji grand tourer SE Mixte

2011-10-13T12:58:00.001-07:00

Fuji grand tourer SE mixte, here's the original brochure from classicfuji.com :

completely original apart from the handlebar tape.Came in to the shop in really good shape, has new tires, tubes handlebar tape and cables.

has suntour comp v and vxs derailers, original ukai chrome rims, beautiful fuji branded sugino crank, nitto bars with a women's specific saddle.

1989 Fuji Ace

2011-10-13T12:46:00.001-07:00

1989 Fuji Ace 60cm, completely original. Has suntour Edge components with 4130 chromoly double butted ishiwata lugged frame.A very fast bike, pretty unique since it has the same geometry as the fuji team and club bikes but with lower end components.

A classy 10 speed (actually has 12 speeds...) from the golden era of steel road bikes, even has the aero brake levers to complete the clean look.

Concord freedom 12 deluxe

2011-10-13T12:41:00.001-07:00

Concord freedom deluxe 10 speed. originally had steel rims which we upgraded to alloy rims.

beautiful paint and detail, has an interesting Alloy shimano Selecta crank which is held on by one screw only.

has an aftermarket fork. we gave it new cables, tires, handlebar tape and brake pads.

Rides very well. These are not to common and apart from this model we have also serviced the Mixte version which had better suntour ARX components. Made in early to mid 80's

Centurion Cavaletto

2011-10-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

Mint condition Centurion cavaletto. Paint is flawless, the bike was ridden for probably less than 200 miles

made in early to mid 80's

More information on the centurion brand here: http://sheldonbrown.com/centurion/index.html

A classic lugged tange chromoly frame, 10 speed with original alloy rims and suntour components

Cannondale SR400

2011-10-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

Cannondale SR500

2011-10-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

Cannondale sr500

1986 Bridgestone 450

2011-10-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

Mint condition 1986 Bridgestone 450,

Bianch SS sport

2011-10-09T11:37:00.000-07:00

Fuji del rey

2011-10-09T11:11:00.000-07:00