My Favorit Legend

There’s an old rumor going around Montreal. Its kind of an urban legend. It goes a bit like this. After the 76 Olympics the Czech team was so busted broke that they sold off many of their eastern bloc made Favorite road and track bikes to pay for the trip home.

Those bikes (of which there were many dozens) landed in Montreal bike shops and supposedly made their way into the hands of many enthusiasts and racers.

The bikes, so the story goes, came equipped with Campy NR and were 531 tubed. Making them a rare breed indeed.

Now, in the States this wouldn’t be a hard rumor to verify. We weren’t trading with the Czechs all that much in the 70s (I once got lucky and found a NOS Fav in a barn, sadly photos are lost to time) so the few Favvys hanging around would likely give themselves away as Olympians.  However in Quebec they were taking in Ladas, Favorits and Rapidos by the boat full. The city of Montreal probably has more Favorits than anywhere but Prague.

Most of these rigs look like the above machine. They were brush painted with foil or paint decals, and either came with no-name components or an interesting (and I suppose rare) mix of Favorit branded Simplex and Campy knockoff parts. I once found a burgundy example sporting a SOLID seat post!

Many Montrealers have owned them, myself included (blue). If you really want to know more about the technical aspects of Favorits, or any other Canadian bikes, check out myoldtenspeeds 
 

Perhaps the most interesting part of the rumor is that it’s almost entirely fueled by a single, infamous bike forums thread.

Observe.

It’s a longshot, but does anyone know anything about Favorit bicycles? I bought my frame second-or-third hand in the mid 80s, the story was (I dunno if I believe it) that it was left behind by the Czechoslavakian ‘76 olympic team in Montreal to pay for the trip home. The serial no. starts with 73 so I’m guessing that’s the year. No, it’s not going on Ebay! I learned to race on it, dinged it up a little, now I want to restore it, but I know nothing about it- when I got it it had an ugly black paint job, but beautiful wrapover seatstay, thinned out lugs, pinned construction and weighs about what a 531 or Columbus SL frame should weigh, English threads. Original components were a mix of Campy NR, Maillard, and Stronglight with a leather saddle (looks like an Ideal 90 stamped “favorit”) though I doubt they were all original.

 
So how does this story resolve its self? Is the 531 Favorit just a bike shop joke, destined to forever add yucks to the drudgery of working for JR?