1984 Free Agent Pro

Largely through the ownership of a VDC-built Trident, I’ve become increasingly interested in Free Agents and picked this frameset up on eBay. Made in Dec ‘84 (the 8-digit serial - on the non-drive side dropout - is 1284****), I think this is one of the early ones built by Brad Shoup in Beuna Park, California rather than VDC, as I think Voris Dixon was shutting up shop around that time. At first I thought the green was a spray-bomb job but both the paintwork and the era-correct decals are in the condition you’d expect after 30-odd years. The TT length is 19 1/8” and there's no chainstay brace. It came with the bars, which are 27 ½” wide with a rise of 8 9/16”, and I think are original Free Agent Pros, though the green is not quite the same shade as the frameset. With both the paintwork and decals both showing their age, I went for a survivor look using old school parts wherever possible. Nothing fancy, just a simple build along the lines of a budget-racer from the mid-80s. Here’s the parts list:- Free Agent frame with matching forks; Free Agent pro bars; Tange beartrap headset (with new bearings) DK “square top” stem; Winner Circle grips off an ‘84 Mongoose Cali’ survivor; ’83 Dia-Compe MX890 brake caliper with matching ’83 DC Tech 3 lever, ’83 DC outer rear cable (with new inner cable) and DC pads; DK seat post clamp and a no-name layback seat post; No-name seat (made in Italy); Araya rims (20 x 1.75) with Suzue sealed hubs, NOS Cheng Shin (20 x 1.75) tyres and Kenda tubes; Old school Victor (VP-747) beartrap pedals; Tioga 175mm opc (made by Sugino) and Tioga BB (with a mixture of old and new parts); Tioga CDC-1 alloy chainwheel (44t); Suntour freewheel (16t); KMC Z chain; Shimano brake cable holders; Dropout savers (Joe Buffardi specials).

[BOUGHT Dec 2014, BUILT April 2016, SOLD July 2017]