
This is Sparta
I’m welcoming a new bicycle to my stable! Well, new to me:

Karen brought this 1982 Sparta Windsor omafiets to Edmonton with her when she moved from Vancouver – but its place as her daily ride has been supplanted by her Linus, thanks to its lighter weight and ability to attach a trailer for her toddler. I’m well past the toddler stage now, so I jumped at the chance to ride with drum brakes after all the rainy weather we have had this summer.




It came to me with a Sturmey-Archer AB 3-speed drum brake hub with a 82/6 date stamp, front drum-brake hub with 5/82 date stamp, 80s-style plastic Sturmey-Archer trigger shifter, a full chain case, a chromed Steco front pannier rack with a spring-clamp, a rear rack with a wire basket, a Royal vinyl mattress saddle, a frame lock, Pletscher kickstand, and front and rear lights wired to a plastic bottle generator (currently not working). The paint is a bit scratched up from years of use but it still polishes up nicely. From these photos on Flikr it would appear that originally it would have also had plastic skirtguards (jasbeschermers), bungee straps (snelbinders) for the rear rack, and a chromed bottle generator instead of the plastic dynamo now on it.




I’ve already made a couple of changes: I swapped out the vinyl saddle for my Brooks B67S, and once I had adjusted the saddle to my height, the wire basket no longer fit properly, so I swapped it out for the antique egg crate I’ve been using on the DL-1 (which, in turn, looks handsome with the black wire basket installed). I’ve also installed a mirror to the handlebar (it’s Evo’s clamp-on Canadarm mirror), and removed the water bottle holder. Now to replace the bottle generator and find some bungee straps and skirt guards!

How does the ride differ from my Raleigh-built 3-speed roadsters? Well, the posture is a smidgen more upright, because the handlebar stem is longer. The seat position is similar, and the shifting is, of course, identical (although the plastic shifter feels a little different). The braking is reassuringly responsive. There is currently a small pedal rub against the chain case that will need looking at (probably the axle got a smidgen off-centre the last time the bottom bracket was repacked – maybe that has to do with the non-cottered cranks?).
P.S. – For those keeping track, this has precipitated another bicycle switcheroo. Fiona is buying the DL-1 (Eliza) back from me, since the Sparta is taking its’ place. I also will no longer need Trudy (the ’72 Phillips 3-speed), so I am trading it to Nicki and getting Mary Poppins (the ’66 Phillips single-speed loop frame) back from her. Winnie (the ’51 CCM-built loop frame) is also looking for a new home.