Gazelle Special, 1998, racing red

08 Dec 2016 15:29 | Geplaatst door Marcel |

Since this fall I own a semi-classic Gazelle Special as a touringbike. The Gazelle Special came after the Gazelle Champion Mondial AA-Special, which was made from 1969 till 1995. For a while during the 70s and 80s about one third of roadbikes sold in the Netherlands was a Gazelle. Steel roadbikes were made by Gazelle up to 2002. After this it was only aluminium and occasionally carbon and titanium. Nowadays Gazelle doesn’t make any roadbikes anymore, they leave that up to sister companies like CervĂ©lo and Focus.
This is the Trapezium-frame which was made from 1998 till 2002, with thicker tubing around the bottom-bracket. The front fork has a bend and threads which was made up to 1998. That makes it probable that this bike is from 1998.

The previous and first owner got the frame as serviceframe for a cracked aluminium frame. It was built up with the parts from his old bike, a Shimano 600 groupset and Mavic rims. The Shimano 600 headset is still in the frame.
Now the bike is built up with a Campagnolo Centaur 9-speed. Not completely period-correct, the group is from 2002.
The rims are Campagnolo Omega with at the front an Omega 19 and on the back an Omega 20. This leaves room for improvement.
The rest of the parts are made up of a Selcof aero seatpost, a Fizik Aliante saddle, a 3ttt Record 84 quill stem and a Cinelli Nerve ergo handlebar.
And yes, the tires do not match. Plan is to first use this set and then get a nice set of classic tires.

Update november 2021

Now with updated photo’s (top 4 photos). White bar tape, Grand Bois Papillon rims and Vittoria Corsa tires.