Not Your Average Forever

Frequent readers of this blog know that it mainly focuses on Brake-rod roadsters, but sometimes also features other interesting bikes. Here is one such bike. It is a Forever, or Yongjiu in phonetic Chinese. The particular model is called "The Victor".

Looks new, right? Of course because I am asking you know it is probably not.

It is in fact a vintage track bike from the 1980's...or so claims the owner. I'm a bit skeptical, because velodrome action is not a big pursuit in China, so what would the market be for this bike?  Well, if the market is mall today, it was probably even smaller in the 80's when the average personal income was quite tiny. So perhaps this bike was made for export only?

History aside, the bike is mighty fine. It is super light with a CroMoly lugged frame. And what lugs! Beautifully carved, lightweight slivers that hold the bike together. Note the inset logos on the top of the fork crown.

 

The components are from Suntour. The company has a long history so they could be from the 80s. Or they could be brand new. Perhaps somebody with greater knowledge can chime in.

One last photo of another great piece of detail, "Yongjiu" emblazoned on the seat stay.

Comments

[Martin]

geometry is somewhat "trackish" (pursuit frame) but then again: track frames normally don't have holes for mounting brakes. the downtube shifters are mounted on sockets in the frame, not on aftermarket adaptors. track bikes should really not have shifters.
possibly it is a very well done conversion. it could be a road bike with a weird frame.
wahtever it is it's interesting, so it's good you put in on your blog.
greetings from germany,m

[Alan]

That is a funny bike, a type that was popular for time trials in the 80s before being banned by the UCI.

Suntour made high quality road bike components until going out of business in the early 90s. Now Suntour is just a brand name for a Taiwanese company.

So it probably is from the 80s. Perhaps it was made for some state-sponsored sports team?