Soviet Gold..1988 Takhion TT

Now for something a little special....

As anyone who might have read this blog previously

will know already that I am a sucker for specialist 

time trial bikes, especially of the 700c/700c variety. 

So of course one day having one of the very rare 

Soviet era built Takhion road going TT frames has

always been high on my list, but finding one has always

seemed an impossible dream..until this one came along..

  Takhion Special Racing Bicycle - Model BsHA-001

Frame number 344 build date 1988

 The frame came from Lithuania, and it's brother has been 

restored in the USA by Takhion expert and enthusiast Psy

Check out her blog and bikes here

Psy's lovingly restored frame 343 88 brother to 344.

There are a couple of other good resources for Takhion

here and here, but if want to just stay here, this is 

a brief history of Takhion. 

Takhion (Tachyon) (Тахион) was a brand of race bicycle frames 

developed and produced in Kharkov, Ukraine by the 

specialist department of race frame and associated 

race component builders TSKTB (some have it CDTA)

or Central Design Office for Bicycle Construction.

The department was headed by two main personalities

Georgy Panin & Reginald Vorontsov.

Vorontsov in Rossin cap, Rossin was heavily

involved in elite Soviet cycle racing.

The TSKTB department was operating from some

time in the sixties, but really came to prominence when

it was given the task of developing bikes for the Eastern

 Block USSR riders to use in the up and coming 1980 

Moscow Olympic games.

The result was a line of bikes called the 

Moscow 80 (Москва 80) some painted in

the same colour scheme as the then current

TI Raleigh Pro team bikes.

 Apparently these bikes bristled with innovations in weight

savings, from slotted and drilled componentry to specially

built titanium parts.

TSKTB then went on to develop the Takhion line of

race bikes to be used by the elite riders of the USSR.

Takhion is a hypothetical particle that can travel 

faster than the speed of light, and comes from the Greek 

tachy which means rapid.

 Between 1981 and 1992 TSKTB made somewhere

between 400-500 frames in 17 different varieties, although

some of these where one off prototypes.

344 came with non original bars, but original

brake calipers and B/B set.

Caliper is quite an elegant item, the arms are very nicely

formed and svelte, combined with a titanium centre bolt

and all alloy hardware, maybe let down a little by the

slightly clunky quick release lever.

 Steering head with alloy retaining nut.

 Columbus drop out showing frame No and build date.

Some details of the propriety lugs.

Very pretty gear boss.

Can't wait to get this one up and running,

and then try it out on my 25km work commute,

can't think of a better way to get a smile on my face

in the beginning of the day.

Factory photo from a presentation at the 1991

Milan Cycle Show.