Monark Blå Blixten Gran Sport Classic Road Bike 1950s

The history of the Monark brand (which still exists) reaches back to as early as 1908, when it was founded in Sweden. For a quite a while, it was very closely bound with another major Swedish brand - Crescent. In the 1960s and early 1970s, these two companies existed alongside each other and their models differed mainly by the components they used and the paint job.

The Monark brand was also successful in the racing field, when the brothers Gösta and Thomas Pettersson rode the blue Monarks to victory in 1967, 1968 and 1969 world championships team time trial. The brand became widely popular not only for their bicycles but also for their motorbikes.

And here is one of those bikes stemming from the 1950s - the Monark Blå Blixten classic road bicycle. "Blå Blixten" means "blue lightning" in Swedish and it refers to the typical flamboyant blue paintjob. The frame is certainly one of the highlights of this bike. The Flygstal 'Airplane steel' tubes are fillet brazed, resulting in beautiful and smooth trasitions from one tube to another. The fork is also an interesting one. It's twin plate crown makes it more robust yet very elegant at the same time.

Regarding the componentry, you will find Campagnolo Gran Sport shifting, Universal Extra brakes, Campagnolo hubs laced with aluminium AVA rims and a Brooks B17 saddle.

The bike is serviced and ready to be ridden. If you are looking for a very fine bicycle for L'Eroica you will certainly make a good choice with this one.