Aiden Loehr’s 1987 Columbia funny bike

1987 Columbia time trial bike

So fast!

Really, look at this bike. You’ll have to keep swiping the screen to keep the photo from rolling off to the right! It just wants to move.

This is another addition to our assortment of late ‘80’s time trial machines. Each example seems to be more purpose-built than the last. This “Columbia” has an incredibly low front end, placing the hand grip areas of the handlebars about 12 inches below the probable saddle height. The Mavic cowhorn bars couldn’t just provide hand positions at the handlebar stem level, oh no. They had to drop the grip position three or four inches below the stem-bar connection.

The 1980’s Campagnolo Super Record group was just terrific, and it definitely suits this speed machine. The rider had 12 pretty big gear ratios to choose from, a headset and a bottom bracket that was smooth and precise, and brakes that stopped without any hassle. Nice additions on this “Columbia” include the aero-shaped C Record seatpost, an obviously faster choice than a round Super Record model, the C Record downtube shifters that held their gear better than the older Super Record models, and the C Record platform toe-clip pedals.

For wheels we have a carbon fiber disc for the back, a Zipp 950 model that is a little bit newer than the rest of the bike. Up front there is a smaller 650c handmade wheel spinning on an American Classic hub that was slotted to accept wide bladed spokes.

Classic by Columbia badge

Low profile front end

Super Record drivetrain

Concor saddle

Streamlined

Now, who would like to help us with a bit of a mystery?

You may have noticed that I put “Columbia” in quotation marks a couple of times. Classics by Columbia, the identifying headtube badge and decals, was a line of bikes that looked like old-fashioned cruisers and utility bikes. They didn’t make road bikes and they certainly didn’t make funny bikes like this one.

The owner of this bike, our friend Aiden, thinks that Columbia may have sponsored a racer or racing team in the late ‘80’s. I wonder if an amateur bike racer worked for Columbia bicycles and put a decal set and headbadge on his racing bike as a tribute to his workplace or as a joke. Who knows?

Any ideas who actually built this frame or who might have raced the bike would be appreciated.