1984 Richard Sachs

I recently purchased this fantastic 1984 Sachs from Douglas Brooks.  Some of you may know this bike, some of you have probably even ridden this bike.  When I got the bike it was like it had been built in 1984 and immediately shrink wrapped until it's shipment to me! Awesome is the only word to describe this bike.  The only things that I have changed were the addition of the Brooks Swift saddle, the Brooks leather bar tape and switching the wheels to Campagnolo clinchers instead of the tubulars that Douglas had on the frame.  One other change to be made soon will be the switch to Vittoria tires.  The choice of yellow brake housing was all his and I think it was a wonderful decision as it really brings out the colors in the Sachs decals!  Since this was a 1984 frame I opted for the use of a set of wheels I already had that had been laced to 1984 Campy 50th Anniversary hubs and skewers.  The color is unlike any other Sachs that I have ever seen....in the original photos from Douglas it looked like it was charcoal gray but in reality it is more of a "charcoal green," almost a US Army green.  For this reason I decided to show it off in front of the our recently restored Hopkins County Courthouse and the wonderful World War Two statue that was erected on our town square a couple of years ago. 

This  Nitto cage is a true "Douglas touch!"  The green paint shows up in this photo about as close to what it really looks like as in any of these photographs...it's perhaps even just a little more "greenish" than this but this one also shows off the sparkle in the paint. 

The wheels and hubs used on this build came to me "in trade" as a second set of wheels for a Bob Jackson. I'm not sure but they didn't appear to have ever been used, they are pristine and really look nice along side the wonderful green on the frame....VERY classic!

All of the components to this build are in NOS condition, perfect!

Note the outstanding job of wrapping the bars that Jack from Richardson Bike Mart did with this Brooks tape...he must have wrapped, unwrapped, and re-wrapped 3-4 times just to get the little splice in the leather to come out in the same location on each side, it can't be more than and eighth of an inch different from left to right!  In the words of Douglas..."your mechanic gets it!"

One other change that I had forgotten about was that I removed the pedals and cages that Douglas had been using and replaced them with Campy Chorus pedals.  I really hated to do that but I'm not a "flats" type guy and I ride this bike fairly often, at least every other week or two.  I was going to slap on some Shimano pedals as that is what most of my other bikes have but they just didn't look right along side all of these Super Record components.  At least the Campy pedals have something of a more vintage-type look to them. 

The six speed rear dr is plenty for most of the riding we do here in the "flattish" Sulphur Springs area of East Texas.

Sorry that on some of these pictures the crank arms aren't aligned the way they should be and that there are a few background distractions....it was late on a Sunday afternoon and while I was shooting a riding friend happened by and I just set everything aside and went for a ride.  Considering the quality of the bike and the build I can't be held responsible to caving in to the temptation and hitting the road!  I also overlooked getting a good picture of the "dots" on the inside of the fork, I'll try to correct that oversight when I get a chance as the yellow color of the symbols really looks cool against the green paint and the beautiful chromed crown!