Looking for context for my Mondia Sport

[arborial]

Hi all,

I recently got a Mondia Sport, somewhat worse for wear, but in decent shape, through Craigslist, which is now my main ride. I'm guessing it was made in the 80s, but I can't find anything online about this particular model (everything is about their Supers and Specials).

I swapped out the brake cables, housings, and levers, gave it a new extra long stem, bar tape, just about the biggest tires it could take, a new (old leather) saddle, and a few accessories. Then I had a shop replace the rear cassette and chain. That was just the easy fix of a nicer cassette with the same five gears but more teeth. I really want a bigger cassette--at least seven gears, and maybe a third chain ring on the front too--but that's a little beyond my budget/capacity right now. (Open to thoughts and suggestions about that! I commute to jobs around the small, somewhat hilly island I live on, and the current gear ratio is not making that easy. Plus, I'm hoping to do a little bike-packing with this guy.)

In any case, does anyone know anything about this bike?

Pardon the poor photo quality, my only camera right now is a webcam.

Cheers,
Arbor

 

[non-fixie]

Welcome, @arborial !

I don't know much about Mondia. other than that it was a rather well-known Swiss brand. I have been reliably informed by an esteemed former forum member, though, that this particular model was never officially imported to the US, and is probably a personal import. By a member of the armed forces in Germany, would be an educated guess.

Build date is probably around 1980, judging by the cable guides on the top tube (introduced in the late seventies) and the over-the-BB shifter cable routing (used until the early eighties).

The easiest - and probably cheapest - way to lower your lowest gear is to replace the inner chainring with a smaller one. Check out the bolt circle diameter(BCD) of the inner set of holes on your outer chainring. Looks like it might be 86mm, for which smaller chainrings can be found.

Another solution would be to find a used 110mm BCD crankset with a "compact double" set of rings, such as 48/34. Keep the difference in tooth count between the rings 14 or smaller to ensure the Simplex derailleurs will be able to handle the shifting in a decent manner.

Good luck and enjoy the bike!

 

[arborial]

Hey @non-fixie,

Thanks so much! All that is super helpful. Having fun wondering who couldn't brought this bike over.

And I really appreciate your tips on gear changes--I'll see what I can do!