“When I happened to look at it, at first glance it looked like a simple dumpster bike ready to be picked up by the garbage collectors. Then I looked at it, it was sad, and something clicked inside me that's hard to explain.”
It all started like this,
With simple chance, a wandering glance... I found her leaning against a dumpster, headed toward the end of her days. I was so interested that I wanted to give her deep attention, and a relationship of respect and passion was born that led to her rebirth.
I soon began to give her an identity:
“Okay, Murray”
Murray Ohio was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in the mid-1930s…
Schrekengost designed over 100 bicycles, giving each bike a distinctive look while maintaining the same welded tube frame design.
Murray left Cleveland in the 1950s and moved its manufacturing and assembly plant to the South, choosing a facility in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee… over the next few decades the complex became one of the largest facilities of its kind in the United States: 173,000m2
Bicycle production received an explosive boost in 1965 with the release of new models with a modern and attractive design, including the PHOENIX 26:
A racing bike with a 26” wheel diameter and 10 gears that was modified with a lighter frame in the early 70s, and that’s exactly what we’re talking about.
I started working on it, removing all the parts that had been destroyed by neglect, I dismantled the bike down to every single component and screw and began rebuilding everything from scratch, sandblasting the frame, recovering and polishing all the original components, repainting and maintaining the authenticity of the parts I managed to save:
LIST OF WORK CARRIED OUT
– complete disassembly of each individual component
– cleaning, sanding of all salvageable original components
such as derailleur, brake calipers, crankset.
– change from 26” to 28”
-new 28” fixed wheels with very high smoothness
– complete sandblasting of the frame, handlebar stem, seat post
– Complete two-tone frame repainting with vintage tones
– change the original crankset from 2 to a single chainring
– 5-speed installation
– straight handlebars derived from 80s MTB
– shortened and milled brake levers
– complete overhaul and restoration with boiling and greasing of
all original bearings and mechanical movements
– moving the gear lever to the high position
– maintenance of original sheaths
– new brake pads
– new Michelin tires and inner tubes
– new chain
– original front reflector
The result is breathtaking:
