First off, I do name my bikes. Not every bike earns a name however- some bikes are with me for too short a time. Some bikes aren’t satisfying to ride. Some bikes can’t stand the test of time.
Any good bike needs to fulfill several requirements- First off, it has to look good. It has to get me excited to ride. It has to have a form factor that works for the riding I like to do, and it has to be flexible for when I want to go to the grocery or take it bikepacking, or occasionally down a black diamond MTB run (definitely by accident). It has to be stable and corner predictably. Not many bikes can do it all, and making a good bike is very difficult.
Yet some bikes can do all that and more. Some bikes feel alive. Some bikes have a soul. And the most special bikes make you forget you are even riding. You are floating, flying, soaring. Francis was that kind of bike.
Francis was a 1967 Gazelle Champion Mondial. Made from Reynolds 531 tubing, the Champion Mondial was an attempt by Gazelle management to make their company seem more exciting (up to that point, they had focused more on utility bicycles in the dutch market). In the mid 60s, they released the frame and sponsored a team, and a legend was born.
My personal story with Francis started much later, in late 2015. The road bike I’d worked for two years of high school to buy had recently been crunched by a car, and you know how they roll in Michigan… hit and run. I wanted something I could race without fearing for my life, and train on without fearing for my wallet. My budget? $150. College is tough.
2015 was tough for other reasons too. I was overcommitted with coursework (22 credits!) and extracurriculars. Then I broke my leg. I got the flu. I failed two classes. I went through a horrible breakup. I got in a fight with my family, and I was dead broke. I couldn’t even get around because my bike was toast. While sitting in my crappy apartment wallowing in misery, I read a great article in PezCycling: the CheapOh. The writer basically espouses a variety of cycling hacks to help budget constrained riders. Sounds like the right thing for a college student with limited funds.
In retrospect, I really should have taken a picture of the craigslist ad, because this bike was NOT in good shape. It was done up with mustache bars, flat pedals, kickstand, reflectors, etc. as a city bike- but I recognized that the bike underneath was a purebred. A quick google search to confirm and I was off to Lincoln Park in a friend’s car. $120 later plus a new handlebar and stem from the basement of the cycling house and I was ready to roll.
It’s strange- I had initially imagined Francis as a bike that would just be a stopgap- something I would use until I could make or buy something better. However, I was quickly won over by the unbelievably smooth ride, the telepathic handling, the smooth, elastic, zippy road feel, absolute traction under power, and most of all, the charming, endearing way in which it made every ride just that much better.
I expected to be at a disadvantage in racing- after all, I would be competing on a 50 year old steel bike weighing almost 10lbs more than my competitors’ carbon machines. Turns out, the legs and the head do the bike racing, and the machine just enables you. Francis may be old, but he is fast as hell. I bounced back from 2015 to have one of my best seasons ever in 2016, and upgraded to category 2 off a string of podium places and wins.
Francis was also an adventure bike. Some of my best memories are of pushing my limits- really long rides, very difficult conditions, terrain that should not be attempted on a road bike, and some truly breathtaking bikepacking trips. Francis was there with me through all of it. No matter the conditions, no matter what life was throwing in my way, I knew I could always throw a leg over my bike and count on it to get me through, to make me feel happy.
My grandpa always says that there are only two constants in life: Change and Death. Eventually it comes for everything, even for the best of us.
I was fortunate enough for a few short years to have the best bike ever. When I got this bike I was in a very dark space mentally, and just this last weekend I got married to my best friend. This bike has been with me through the most dynamic five years of my life. I guess all I can really say is “Thank you. I will never forget.”
OTB Engineering 