First I have to share this amazing resource for Takhion information - lots of fascinating documents, info, and photos there to oogle over.
With a lot of help, I found out more about the red beauty that I carried home on Monday. Though I was certain it was a Takhion, I had no idea what model or year it was, nor what it used to look like before someone rattlecanned it.
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| It's not a particularly pretty paint job. |
This is a Takhion Aero from either 1984 or 1985, and either an Experimental Road Racing model (ЭШ-001), or a Bicycle Road Racing Aerodynamic model (ВША-001). In it's past life, it probably looked a lot like this:
Now it's a slightly different story. Sometime during its life it was stripped of parts and paint and sprayed red, with the painter even spraying paint in the headset bearings.
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| The bearings held up to the abuse surprisingly well. |
Most people feel bad and adopt pets. I feel bad and adopt frames. So now that I know what this frame looked like in its heyday, I believe it deserves a truly proper restoration.
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| At least the bars were kept with the frame. |
This frame is headed out for stripping and repainting back to its original state - it will be fully restored to the best of my abilities (and what parts I can get for it).
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| With any luck, I'll soon have a cap for this guy as well. |
I have one other frame I need to wait for before I trek out to the powder coater, so in the meantime here a few "before" photos.
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| Paint filled headset internals. |
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| Takhions had proprietary shifting levers, and a proprietary mount. |
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| Clean, classy lugs. |
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| Columbus dropouts. This is what threw me off - I've never seen a Takhion that didn't have the serial stamped on the dropouts. Apparently this is rare. |
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| Classic bottom bracket with the signature and the serial number. |
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| Paint in the BB shell. Really? |
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| The handlebar mounts are in good shape! No paint on those, at least. |
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| Different fork lugwork than I've seen. |
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| Smaller frame, but not tiny. 56cm center to top. |
I can't wait to get this frame back to its original glory!
Wow!!! I'm looking for Takhion for more then two years. You are blessed man.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it is in good hands.
Can't wait to see progress.
Good luck.
Thank you! I'm hoping it turns out we...I should know soon!
DeleteIt took me four years to find my first Takhion - don't give up!
That is a REALLY interesting bike. Why was the concept not adopted more? It seems like in today's weight-obsessive narrative that riders would clamor for that sort of innovation.
ReplyDeleteWas the frame geometry terrible?
It actually was played around with a bit in the eighties (Rossin, Colnago, Cinelli, Textima, and a few others had similar designs) but the UCI eventually introduced rules that changed a lot of design ideas and conventions. With the rule changes, over time bikes like the Takhion and other lo-pro designs sort of faded out.
DeleteThe geometry is well engineered, and each frame, fork, and bar combination was made to fit a specific cyclist. It's certainly an aggressive position, but not so much that it's uncomfortable.