Last week was a blast. I started my new job as an art director over at Milk. Very different from where I worked in the Netherlands before. First of all I don’t have to remember 75 names of my colleagues, 15 will do for now and I can finally ride my bike to work again! If that wasn’t enough I went for a nice 75 kilometer long ride last weekend as Sunday turned out to be dry ánd sunny. It was a bit cold and I got some comments on the fact that I was wearing shorts, but “they are just a bit cold the first 3 kilometers”. This time I didn’t forget my camera and took some nice pictures in Staatsforst Ville near Hackenbroich.
Since yesterday there has been a new bike in my posession. It’s a really weird meltinpot of all kind of brands and ages. The frame is probably from 1975 (since 75 is stamped in the head tube) and most of the parts are also from that period. Except for the back wheel: it has a Fiamme rim from the 50′s and an old french Pelissier Model Plume hub. I think the bike has been costum made by a bikeshop in Doetinchem called ‘Pedaleur’. Worht mentioning is the bottom bracket lug, I think that is a Nervex Pro lug, allthough the other lugs aren’t.
I’ll post up a nice list of all the parts later, for now you’ll just have to do with this gallery.
I am currently bussy disassembling the whole bike and all its parts, make a list of all the parts brands, models and year of manufacturing. After that they get cleaned, polished and the whole bike will be put back together!
Rember the ’78 Koga Miyata Gent’s Luxe I sold at the end of 2010? Well, yesterday I received a very nice e-mail from the buyer who lives in Berlin. Turns out he is using it with pleasure and by the looks of it, also takes really good care of it (just look at that garage for god sake!). Always nice to get some feedback from buyers and it pleases me to know that bike is taken care of and is being used too. Also, the other two wheeler doesn’t look bad neither. This man has taste I tell you!
PS: Dutch readers may notice the reference in the title to the Dutch 1999 National Song Festival entry, for everyone who doesn’t: Double Date – An e-mail to Berlin.
Great documentary about intellectual property, remixing and what happens when you put those two together… Sit back and enjoy!
Everyone who owns (or thinks he owns) a Koga Miyata bike from 1978 will have run into the fact that the specifications sheet for that year isn’t online on the Koga website. All the other years are represented with a brochure showing all the different bikes and their spec sheets except 1978. For that year only the folder with the pictures of the bikes can be found.
Untill I received a comment from Mr. Dekker. He told me he was just starting to take his Gent’s Touring (GT) from 1978 apart and asked me if I was interested in the spec sheet. Of course I was! He mailed me some scans that I put together in 1 PDF-document. It can be downloaded below (and also shows the Road Mixed and the Silver Ace):
1978 Koga Miyata Gent’s Touring Specifications Sheet
I also asked him to mail me scans from the complete booklet so that it can be added to the Koga website, but I haven’t heard from him since. Mr. Dekker in case you read this would you be so kind to mail me those scans? Thanks a lot!