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[OM] IMGs: It's a Huffy!

Subject: [OM] IMGs: It's a Huffy!
From: Chris Trask <christrask@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 6 May 2015 06:45:21 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
     For Christmas of 1957 I got my first bike, a Huffy Convertible.  Back then 
a Huffy was a decent kid's bike, but now they are associated with junk bikes 
for WalMart and other department stores.  That bike accompanied us on a 3-year 
assignment with HQ US Army Europe, in Orleans, France.  While there I got to 
see what French kids had for bikes and I wanted nothing more than one for my 
own.

     I rode that Huffy up to 1973, and shortly thereafter finally bought a 1975 
Motobécane Grand Touring, which I still have.  The memory of the Huffy faded 
away until recently, when I learned that at one time they made a decent road 
bike.  I didn't pursue that very much, but two weeks ago a frameset for it 
showed up as a donation at the non-profit bike shop where I volunteer as a 
mechanic, and the hunt was on to restore it.

     The model is "Concours Professional", and it seems that they made it for 
just one year (1984), in one size, and one colour.  It showed up at the time 
when the Golden Era bike craze was collapsing, so it did not make much of a 
splash amongst the well-established manufacturers who were faltering from 
rapidly declining sales.  While researching this bike to learn what components 
were needed for restoration, I was amazed to find that Huffy sponsored the 1984 
and 1988 US Olympic cycling teams:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huffy

and they won a number of medals:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_at_the_1984_Summer_Olympics

     Very little is known about the Concours Professional, but I did learn that 
it uses a Motobécane frameset (my favourite brand), Dia Compe brakes and 
levers, SR handlebars and stem, Suntour VX derailleurs and shifters, Araya (or 
Ukai) rims, and a Sugino crankset.  I did not like the OEM Sugino crankset, so 
I used a nicer Sakae SX, and I used a Suntour Compe-V front derailleur as that 
is my preference for Suutour drive groups.  The restoration is nearing 
completion:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/64004640@N03/17390093591/

and here you can clearly see that it is indeed a Huffy:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/64004640@N03/17390094221/

     It seems very strange to be riding a Huffy again after 43 years, but I'm 
more than happy to have an example of their single effort to make a decent 
bicycle, even if it is made of 100% off-shore parts.



Chris

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro 
     - Hunter S. Thompson
-- 
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