UPDATE: I installed a bike computer so that I can keep track of my miles and so forth. I have also adjusted the pitch of the handlebars so that the bottom bars are closer to parallel with the ground instead of at a 45 degree angle. (27-Jun-11)
I must admit that I am still learning about this bike, however, based upon my research, I am fairly confident that this is from 1981. I could give you some history of this company, but that would probably bore you to death so here's my history of this bike.
I bought this road bike off of eBay as an original replacement for my stolen
Mongoose. Unfortunately there were some problems. The owner had used it nearly daily, but hadn't maintained it very well. The bearings were worn pretty badly, various cables were rusted, the saddle was nigh unrideable (is that a word?), and the handlebars needed some serious love.
Yet there were some other issues as well... I couldn't go from the thick off road tires to the skinny road tires and maintain balance very well. The other problem is the un-indexed downtube shifters. These are far more awkward and difficult for me to get used to. (You don't see these much anymore, but they were pretty common in the late 70s and early 80s.) Fortunately, now that I have more experience riding and have lost some weight, both of these are no longer problems.
These are just a few pictures of the bike in progress. Please note that all but one of these pics had been taken before I did some of the work listed above. You will notice that is has a new saddle and the front wheel has been replaced, and is clearly newer and shinier than the rear wheel. (The rear wheel is still an original Weinmann.)
I am really trying to keep with the original blue-on-brown combination that it came with. It is a delightfully tacky color combo. Unfortunately I could not find an affordable blue saddle. That really disappointed me, but I hope to find a matching blue seat cover. The new brake cable housing is a slightly brighter blue than the original.
Now that some more work has been done to this, I will start making some rides with it, and you will get some pictures of it in "action."
The pictures are, from top to bottom:
- 1981 Puch Pacifica
- Close-up of the new handlebar tape, brake hood, and cable
- Puch headbadge
- Down tube, complete with shifters and Austro-Dailmer logo
