What's the rarest or most obscure bike in your collection?

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by pinkshogun

i guess its my 1954 Jaguar. Schwinns' only multi-speed balloon tire (26"/559) they ever made (1954/55) before the Jag became the more common middle weight.....and of course its got steel rim brakes

Man, you have quite the collection of Schwinns.

Nice

[NHAero]

Agree. I had one in college (early 1970s) and it drove me nutz because the rear fork displaced under load and yielded, so when looked at from the rear, the rear wheel tilted. I eventually sold it to my engineering master's thesis advisor, David Gordon Wilson, who had quite a collection.

Originally Posted by palincss

The AM spaceframe Moulton (like yours) was first proced in 1983. The 1960s F frame Moulton looks like this:

[KJMUNC]

Ok I'll play.....have posted all of these individually here before, just not in this thread.

I chose each because they're unique and specific in their own way. Ultimately the Cipo and Boonen bikes are probably the rarest given their personal history/status in the sport.

Clockwise from upper left:

Mario Cipollini's custom Bianchi FG Lite. Stamped "MC" in BB shell. Crazy geo that only Mario could dream up: 58cm TT, 16cm HT, 73deg angles front rear and just begs for a 140+ stem to make it fit right. As raced in Doha/Qatar. His only year with Liquigas and have never seen another although I'm sure a couple exist.

Axel Merckx's custom Team SC. Made by the father for the son....and one of the most iconic paint jobs ever. Custom geo for Axel. Only Axel bike I've ever seen in this scheme with the number hanger.

Sean Yates's Merckx MX Leader: Made for Sean but he didn't like the MXL that much and preferred to race on the Litespeed Ti bikes they started using that season. Verified with factory build sheet as 1 of 2 made for him, so still pretty rare.

Tom Boonen's Merckx EMX-5: custom geo for Tom that wound up then being incorporated into a revised standard offering a couple years later (lower HT, longer TT). He only rode this version briefly before switching to the Belgian National Champ color scheme (Tom has offered to sell this one to me as well); this frame was used in Qatar/Oman and then was his home training bike for the season. 1 of 2 known in this color (other is the bike he rode to 2nd at PR behind Cancellara and is a museum in Belgium)

Gregory Rast's Trek Domane Classics - Apparently his backup for Roubaix as it still has the top tube cobble map detailing all the sectors. Unique model, only a handful made for the Leopard Trek PR squad that year. Believed to be 1 of 2, other is at Trek HQ on display as his actual PR bike.

[Dave B]

I guess most obscure would be my SEVEN Diamas. It was a NOS frameset and headset. Carbon to bass boat red flake, kind of different. I know not everyone likes the bike, but it is obscure.

I have never seen one in the flesh until I bought mine. So, I have that going for me.

[NHAero]

1988, made for a Keirin racer to train on the road (designed to have brakes.) Repainted as original by Circle A in 2014. Running Phil Wood fixed/fixed hub with fixed one side, singlespeed the other. Sugino crankset on Hatta BB, HAtta HS, Ultegra brake calipers with Dura Ace levers, Nitto stem.

[jtbadge]

Either
A: Thrive Cycles fillet brazed canti allroad, from a very talented builder who only sold a few dozen frames and only one with canti studs



or
B: this one-off neon splatter paint scheme Milwaukee Bicycle Co. road frame I just picked up - only seems to be a handful of these in any guise around the internet, and this was a special one-off for a fixie blogger turned influencer

http://benscycle.blogspot.com/2011/0...oad-frame.html

[Spdntrxi]

1986 Look KG86. Mavic SSC equipped... to many Campy versions so I went the French route.

[Peter B]

This.

[Spaghetti Legs]

^^^^

Disqualified - that's a trike!

I'd still like to hear a story about it though.

[Peter B]

Originally Posted by Spaghetti Legs

^^^^

Disqualified - that's a trike!

I'd still like to hear a story about it though.

Acquired from the wife of a good friend after he passed. Appears to be an 1880's vintage velocipede tricycle. My best guess is it was stored in a barn that collapsed onto it and was subsequently rescued.

[oliver1850]

I have Alexi Grewal's and Alex Stieda's Coors Light Serotta Softride beam bikes. Grewal's is built up, Steida's is just a frame. Couldn't find any pics, must be on an old computer.

After sending the Stieda frame to Dave Kirk for repair later in 2020, Dave came to the conclusion that both frames were built for Alexi Grewal. The one he repaired he believes to be the last Coors Light Softride frame built. From another thread on the bikes, it seems that Dave built three of them and Kelly Bedford built one. It's not clear if Grewal had three and Stieda one, each got two, or another team member got one.

[Tickdoc]

Loving this thread. Keep em coming.

[gbcoupe]

Well, that describes most of what I have. Here are some...

[gbcoupe]

Originally Posted by Peter B

This.

This is cool!

A racing trike is one my bucket list. Will probably never happen due to availability, price and space.

[bicimechanic]

This used to be mine. Titanium TT bike as ridden by Axel Merckx at Lotto Domo. Sold to a friend and we built it up close to the spec that Lotto was riding that year. Ti made in the Merckx factory based on the Litespeed Blade.