Mr. Felly's Corima Cougar

When it comes to building a bicycle, inspiration can come from anywhere. A page in a magazine or a book, for example. When Mr. Felly Imransyah of Rocket Company recently get his hands on a classic Corima Cougar frame, immediately a concept sprung in his mind: he wanted the bike to resemble an article featured on the Smart Move book.

The Corima Cougar itself is no ordinary frame. Approximately only a thousand units ever produced, its monocoque frame was made of carbon fiber at late 1991, apparently to be raced at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Since it was intended to be professionally raced, each of them is precisely built to suit the athlete's needs, while the rest of the frames are manufactured strictly in a few sizes only. According to the Smart Move book, Chris Boardman broke the world Hour Record using one of these in 1993.

Originally came in yellow, this frame was cleaned, stripped off its worn out parts (its previous owner welded the bottom bracket cups shut with epoxy glue), and repainted in white, just like what's featured in the book. The decals are also remade and repositioned in their exact places.

Remember the wheels I built with Hoshi bladed spokes a while back? Here they are. The lacing pattern and bladed spokes are still conforming to the book, although the choice of Campagnolo Sidney 2000 aero rims and Campagnolo Record Pista low flange hubs are not.

Sidney 2000 are the last of the Olympic Games-named rims/wheels made by Campagnolo.

Hook-end spokes, radial pattern, heads out.

Campagnolo Record Pista crankset, bottom bracket, and Record pedal set combines nicely at the drivetrain setup.

This build is not entirely European, as you might already notice. Other than the spokes and Izumi chain, you can also find a slight of Japanese taste in the cockpit: Nitto B123AA track bars, Shimano Dura Ace AX stem (with its hidden clamp mechanism), Tange Levin NJS headset and Soyo Strong-V grips.

Corima Cougar originally equipped with a special aero seatpost, also made from carbon fiber. It's already availabe for this build, but since the seatpost doesn't came with the appropriate size adaptor we just have to go with this 25,0mm Campagnolo aluminium aero seatpost. A black Selle Italia Flite completes the build.