The Flying Pigeon Project

Shanghai Phoenix- Feng Huang

My very first encounter with a brake-rod roadster was in-fact with a Phoenix. The famous Shanghai brand which started in 1958 and was the 3rd of the "Famous Four" bike makers in China. However, my encounter was NOT in China. It was in Moshi, Tanzania, where many a local was mounted on large framed, double-bar, fork-trussed, 28" wheel roadsters!

As I was later to learn, Africa is a huge and important export market for Chinese brands.

Phoenix is a very large concern and makes bikes and eCycles of every possible kind, but of course it is their brake-rod roadsters in which we are interested. These come in the exact same sizes and varieties as Flying Pigeon, Forever or any of the other roadster manufacturers. Parts will interchange, and of course this was intentional and back in the bad old days, necessary. Still, that doesn't stop there from being a high level of variation when it comes to the details. Take a look at the following picture of 2 men's 28" roadsters (and one barely seen 26" women's roadster). You immediately see the differences: different decals, different grips, one has a chain case the other doesn't, different seats, fork trusses on one, but not on the other...etc...etc...etc.

So how do you identify a Phoenix from the other Chinese roadsters? First and foremost,THE LOGO. The most beautiful and elaborate logo in all of bicycling.

 

The Feng Huang (Phoenix) is the legendary Chinese king of birds. This is different than the middle-eastern Phoenix or Firebird, with which it shares an English name. The downtube logo is a long, multicolored Phoenix coming to rest on a Lotus, tail feathers resplendent behind it. A nice touch on an other wise, staid black bike.

The Phoenix headbadge (taken from the corporate website) is similar, but picked out in gold over a field of scarlet.

Not all bikes are worthy to wear the Phoenix however. The second roadster in the first pick has a completely different downtube logo which can be seen

below. The headbadge is also different, but shows the bird at rest. 

 

Phoenix also has a flanker brand called "Feide", which better suits some bikes.

But of course the elaborate Phoenix logo is not appropriate for all bikes, even if they do wear the Phoenix name. Modern style bikes look...well more modern. I have to say...I like the traditional flair better. How about you?  Phoenix Bicycles

Sport Bars

A curious feature of many of the older bikes at Panjiayuan are that many of them have low, sporty type handle bars. A good example is on the "Zhongguo" bike posted a few months back. Here it is again. You can see that the handlebars sit only a few centimeters from the top headset.

 
Now strictly speaking, the Zhongguo bike is a bitsa bike as are many of those sporting low bars. Where the low handlebar set originates is a mystery, but they seem to follow two patterns. The first type has the conventional bars seen on most Chinese roadsters that have a rise toward the grip. These simply have a shorter stem and shorter braking gear. An example of this type can be seen below.

Both types of bar seem to have the typical one piece handlebar and stem combination.The second type of sport bars features an absolutely flat handlebar. The Phillips below provides a good example.

These flat, no-rise,  type of bars also have a strange secondary feature in that the front brake stirrup is a U shaped wire, and not the standard pressed steel affair. While this may seem "sporty" it looks rather flimsy to me. Also, note that the brake levers also have no bend. The example below showing both the flat bar, brake levers and U-shaped brake wire,  had some branding on the headset but it was indecipherably eroded. So again no closer to finding the origin of the bars.

If anyone has any idea as to the origin of the various sport bars, please drop me a line.

Red Flag!!

Of the Chinese old line "Big 4" bicycle brands Hong Qi or "Red Flag" is surely the least well known. They are made in Tianjin, but have lived in the shadow of that town's better known brand, Flying Pigeon.

Recently an older example showed up at Panjiayuan. It wore the patina of ages, but you could tell it was well loved during it's time.

First thing you notice about the bike is the super heavy construction. This extends to the fenders, which follow the same pyramidal format as the Fuji bike posted about a few months back.

The headbadge itself was also quite impressive and the owner was taking steps to protect it with a plastic tube.

As nice as headbadge might be, it does not begin to compare to the rear fender badge which is a spacious wrap of brass and enamel. How this managed to survive the decades unscathed is probably a story in itself. Like I said, the bike is clearly well loved. It's also interesting that Hong Qi was willing to spend the money on such a detail. Clearly they were setting this apart as the absolute top end roadster.

Tianjin Bicycle Factory #2, the parent company of Hong Qi still exists. In addition to the strangely named "Sprick" brand, they still make  Red Flag roadsters, although they now follow the more common "Flying Pigeon" type design, with which surely almost all parts will interchange.

The rear logo has also significantly been economized. Still the same logo, still the same Red Flag, but now made out of mylar rather than bright brass and glowing enamel.

Pimpin' Pigeon

I want to apologize for the look of the blog ahead of time. China now blocks all Typepad blogs, so while I can enter a post, I cannot see what it looks like. So I am typing blind.

With that out of the way, as regular readers know, one of my favorite pursuits is changing and accessorizing my Flying Pigeon. This weekend saw some major upgrading.

First off, I had the black sidewall tires, replaced with Cheng Shin gumwalls. Sure they say GIANT on the side, but of course both Cheng Shin and Giant are Chinese brands so it fits with the overall nature of keeping the bike Chinese. Plus the gumwall nicely compliments the yellow hand pinstriping on the fenders.

Next the pedals were replaced with a new set of  "Diamond Cut" pedals. These are actually about the cheapest pedals you can buy at a whopping 12 kuai. Despite being cheap, they do look great.

But in order to protect them, and to keep the diamond cut bars from rotating too much, I bought a set of pedal protectors at Panjiayuan. Many of the "old hands" use them.

At Panjiayuan, I also acquired the largest brass bell I have ever seen. Ring it and it will resonate for a full 12 seconds afterwards. It's the perfect combination with my exisiting Miller style brass bell like those used by Beijing cycle rickshaws. Two rich brass bells with two different tones.

Of course because brass looks so good with black paint, I installed brass washers and stainless acorn nuts all the way around the bike. This simultaneously takes off the the sharp edges and adds a bit of color.  I had to go all the way to the US to get these fasteners, and would have preferred that they be all brass. However, metric brass seems to be incredibly rare. If anyone knows of a source please contact me.

But I think one of the coolest scores of this week's haul was an authentic Beijing license from the early 2000's. Stainless steel with the number etched in, it attaches to the headstock. Beijing doesn't issue licenses for bicycles anymore, so these are increasingly rare.