1998 Gazelle Special 57cm Shimano Ultegra

This Gazelle is a rather special bike. During the 70s and 80s nearly 1/3 of all road bikes in the Netherlands were made by Gazelle. The Gazelle Champion Mondial Special AA was the cream of the crop and was the predecessor to the "special" becoming its own, albeit short-lived, model.

Unlike the Champion Mondial which was produced for many decades, the "special" was only produced from 1998 till 2002. Even more interesting is that the frame is made from a rather mysterious version of the legendary British-made Reynolds 531 steel tubing, called 531 Trapezium. This is an oversized steel tubing that is conical in shape, being thicker at the bottom bracket. This Reynolds tubing was only ever used by Gazelle, and on a relatively small amount of bikes in a relatively short time. 

The frame has lovely engraved chrome dropouts and fork crowns, as well as engravings at the seat stay, brake stay and bottom bracket. The original paint and decals are in great condition.

Paired with the interesting frame is a complete Shimano Ultegra 9x3 groupset including Ultegra hubs laced to Mavic Sup rims.

New Bike Ribbon Professional bar-tape and Elvedes stainless steel brake and gear cables and new brake blocks and new CST Tsar tires.

57cm frame is suitable for people approximately 1.70 – 1.80 m