The only real difference between the Mongoose and the DeCoster frame is the oval (instead of round) cutout in the front head tube gusset. Bikes like this one with the short frame were only available in the nickel finish. There were different color versions in nickel, Red, Blue, and Yellow. The bike kits came in long or short frame versions made of 4130 chromoly. Manufactured by BMX Products, Inc., they were very similar to the Mongoose Motomag. Roger DeCoster bikes were produced from 1976 to 1983 and were sold as frame kits at most Schwinn bicycle shops across the country. This is a Roger DeCoster BMX bike, and while it may not be at the top of your wish list today, you really couldn’t have had a better birthday gift as ten-year-old in 1977. Unless you give them other ideas you may end up with a restored kids’ bike from 1977 as a birthday gift. Big thanks to Richard and Jeremy for preserving this fun bit of cycling (and oil company) history.īefore you interupt your spouse to show off this web page, excitedly recalling the virtues of your first BMX bike, you should be warned: Your 50th birthday is coming up. His bike was saved from the trash heap by Jeremy Hutsell of Capp’s bike shop in Topeka Kansas. This bike was originally owned by an Ohio native named Richard Alexander. In the late ’70′s, an era when different types of steel was really your only bike options, it would have been nice to be able to try out a Graftek. By comparison, the Graftek would seem like you were jumping up and down on shag carpeting.
Imagine jumping up and down on a parquet basketball court (that’s the steel bike). It was almost like the graftek had under-inflated tires. 22 lbs) and the feedback from the road was noticably muted. The steering seemed quite similar, but there was a marked difference in sensation coming up through the pedals. Speaking of steel, we rode a steel Colnago with the same components and then tried out the Graftek to see how different the bikes would feel. That’s a spare tire holder under the saddle. Notable things include Raleigh’s Telex number (Telex!), the fact that the air freight from London to the Moscow airport was only about $10 less than the cost of the entire bike, and that the “E” on the typewriter was wearing out. The bike was in pretty good shape when we got it, so if the KGB took it apart at any time, they did a stealthy job and got all of the pieces back in the right place.īy the way, if you click on our photo of the original invoice it’ll expand and you’ll be able to make out some neat details.
Left unattended, Richard’s Raleigh may have been inspected once or twice to see if secret messages were being transported inside the tubes. We can imagine that theft wasn’t a big concern. Having all of your bike rides monitored by the secret police might have actually been a plus.
Richard works in the office of the naval Attaché and rides his bike around Moscow during his down time. Lyndon Johnson is in the White House, Leonid Brezhnev is running the Soviet Union, and the superpowers are fighting a Cold War.
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