Swoopy Comes In To Land

I've had an old Puch loop-frame mixte frame banging around in the garage several years. I bought it on Ebay. I didn't have any firm plan of how I might build it up into a complete bike. I suspect I bought it on the rebound... feeling some regret that I had resisted the temptation to "liberate" just such a frame (shown above, with more photos here) on my morning commute over the course of one summer.

I then made a serious attempt to pick up this immaculate and original Motobecane mixte on ebay, but gave it up when bidding reached £200.

Then a Puch frame appeared on Ebay, listed by an older chap down on the south coast who commutes into London by Brompton every day. He slung the frame over his shoulder one morning and brought it into town to hand over to me after work in Waterloo station.  Included were the original stem, headset, bottom bracket, brakes (without full cables) and seat post. 

I had a couple of chats with bike shops about building it up as a singlespeed town bike but wasn't too impressed with the quotes for wheelsets I was getting. So the "project" got shelved, life moved on, I bought and rode other bikes. This frame was little more than baggage.

That all changed two weeks ago when I got a new job in central London. I assumed Lucy the Brompton would step up to the demands of a multi-modal trip with cheerful competence but alas that did not work out. (A blog post about that is in the pipeline.)  

What to do? I needed a bike for city cycling... several miles of flat, flat and more flat... something that could take luggage... and -- crucially -- something that could be left locked up near St Pancras station... overnight.  Yes, overnight. (That would be out of the question for Lucy!)

The moment I realised Lucy could not handle this peculiar job description, I instantly thought of the old loop-frame mixte frame buried under who-knows-what in the garage. A few days later, she was built. 

Adam did all the work. He was intrigued by the curved twin stays along the top -- he'd never seen a mixte like that. I explained that step-through frames with curved top-tubes a la Pashley Princess are called loop-frames. And yes, mixtes could have them too.

And then when I told him that one blogger called hers "Miss Swoopy"... well, Adam, who never ever names bicycles, started referring to this bicycle, both as a frame and then as a build-in-progress and now as my city commuter, as "Swoopy". I haven't got a chance in the proverbial of giving her a "proper" name. Swoopy she is and Swoopy she shall stay. 

Test riding with build nearly complete. Photos by Adam!

Adam test-rode her as well. 

Swoopy even passed the Official Feline Inspection.

                              

With everything appearing to be in good running order, Adam rode her to Luton station last Sunday evening and they took the train to St Pancres where Adam left Swoopy locked up, ready and waiting for me the next morning to commence her commuting career.

So far I have absolutely no information about the Puch Emerald model. This is the fourth Puch I've had. On the scale of racy > stately, I'd place her at #3, with only the Rugby Sport giving a plusher upright ride (that is a very smooth, gliding on air ride!) We were surprised to find that very few of Lorelei's components were compatible with Swoopy's frame (not that Lorelei could possibly be cannabilised!) but nearly everything on the Rugby Sport was. In the end, we only "borrowed" handlebars and rear rack from the Rugby Sport. These have a delightfully disgusting layer of rust and who-knows-what from sitting in a garage 30+ years -- just perfect for a leave-in-the-street "beater" bike. We fit a new 5 speed chain and a (X-speed) cassette set up as singlespeed with 44x17 gearing. The result is something reliable and fairly light that can safely be left locked up overnight in London. I am pleased with how this build turned up, but worry that it's still just a little "too nice"!