Summaries

TranslaTion tiina aLestaLo

Leopard – the Finnish Elite Road Bike Restored Not many road racing bicycles have been made in Finland. Leopard, made by Tauno Lönnqvist’s bicycle shop in Tampere, is a true rarity, a racer to the bone, assembled of Italian tubes in Finland. Leapard had a race team of its own at the end of the 1970s.

Olli Jokinen speaks on pp. 11 – 16 about how he used to dream of a Leapard, standing behind a shop window of a bicycle store. A couple of years ago he managed to get a bike that matched his size, though in a poor state. It had probably belonged to Asta Forsell who rode it in Finland’s national team.

The restoration was a slow but careful process. To finish the frame he needed to fix rusty spots, put on decals and a light layer of paint and varnish. The decals resisted paint, but the problem was solved with instant glue. Nearly all of the original Campagnolo components were usable after clean-up. Only the gear levers and the Cinelli stem needed replacing.

Instead of old tubular wheels, clincher wheels with Mavic rims and Record hubs were assembled of parts typical of the time. For the rear casette he found an old Regina whose chirp brings memories to Jokinen’s mind.

As is customary, Jokinen chose the interfaces to his taste. Leather seat, brake hoods, and pedal straps need a lot of time and riding to get an antique look and feel.

Cooperation and mutual aid with an internet community (yksivaihde.net) was essential for a succesful restoration project. Both component and competence shortages were solved mostly thanks to peer support. My Phillips A couple of years back, Jussi Suomala’s heart jumped when he saw a Phillips Sport Tourer hung on a farm museum wall. The bike was just like the one he’d gotten from his father at the end of the 1940s: drop handlebars, narrow saddle and saddle bag – a fine vehicle.

Jussi explains on pp. 19 – 23 how his father had bought the bike second-hand in the thirties. As a young gymnastics teacher, his father had ridden the bike between three schools, two sports grounds and home, his briefcase folded neatly over the top tube.

When the wars were over, he needed a rack for carrying his firstborn daughter. The horns were turned upward and brake levers removed – he had, after all, also installed a coaster brake. As a little man, Jussi himself got to sit over the handlebar. There’s also a story about Jussi’s father catching him from suspenders after a sudden braking, then pulling him back on his ‘seat’.

Entering school, Jussi’s sister got a brand new ladies’ Raleigh, but Jussi had to do with father’s old Phillips. He got to know it thoroughly by taking it down to pieces and putting them back together. The tools and components didn’t always fit back as expected, but luckily there were already good bike shops in Helsinki, Karunka and Fillarikellari, which helped Jussi develop a sense of bike maintenance.

From repair and maintenance started adding on equipment. Phillips gets a Simplex shift and accessories, wheels are fixed with shiny finger nuts, and the rack has to go. Sister’s Raleigh works as a model for further rearmament. Soon the bike has brake levers and rim brakes, mirrors on both sides, mudguards, father’s old lamp, and looks like a Harley-Davidson. The final touch comes with a pennant on a string, and the bike is aptly christened Jussi’s Christmas tree. The downside is you can no longer cruise at speed.

Soon enough, a new recreation started. Bikes were ridden like motorcycles in Helsinki’s waterfront forests, in pits and mud. Jussi’s bike needed readjusting: all extra had to go. Mudguards were clipped, drop bars exchanged to a V bar made of water pipe, and the final touch came with a silver paint over the frame.

But then, Finnish motor cyclists started making a name in TT races, and the bike went through another metamorphosis. Old paint off and reflection red on; new aluminum mud guards were trimmed, water pipe bent downward and shortened, and the bike got new brake levers and rubber handgrips. Boys rode the streets of Helsinki in crops, at speed, without cars on the way, at times chasing each other and at times taking off on a longer ride towards Porvoo.

In the sixties, the Phillips underwent one more transformation: all the usual equipment, including a baby seat in the handlebar, was reattached. The wheel had come full circle. Pikajalka 35