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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