I may acquire this ex-USSR track frame set from a friend in Kiev. It would be funny to have such a former eastern European piece. The amateurs from GDR and USSR have always played a very dominant role in cycling history, on road and track. Besides the sponsored Colnago bikes (and some other exclusive machines from e.g. De Rosa, Ciöcc, Rossin), they always used their own bikes. While the GDR riders rode their Textima bikes (special sports division of Diamant bicycles, located in the basements of sewing machine manufacturer Textima), the Soviet bikes all came from the Kharkiv Bicycle Factory. This company was in the city of Kharkov, which is nowadays in Ukraine. It was called XB3, Харьков Велосипед Завод, Cyrillic for KhVZ, Kharkivsky Velosipedny Zavod, Kharkiv Bicycle Factory.
XB3 did product several qualities and "brands". For the regular or entry level racers, there were "Record" bikes, while the most exclusive products for the world class riders were the well known Тахион ("Takhion").
XB3 bikes can be placed in this sequence: рекорд ("Rekord"), Sprint/Meteor, Спорт ("Sport") , Квант ("Kvant"), Тахион ("Takhion"), Москва-80 ("Moskva 80").
XB3 Спорт come in different versions, like: ГИТ (g-i-t = "Sprint"), "Track Time Trial" and perhaps some others.
If it all goes on, it will be a surprise how the full bike will look like, even to me. But this could be it. Parts I already have and also use for other vintage track bikes: Campagnolo track wheels and pedals. The frame set may already have a special sized KhVZ headset, a BB-set and a 26.2 mm seat post. The BB set and the seat post may be replaced buy something else, but the headset has to stay. Then, there is a Cinelli Unicanitor saddle, a Cinelli 1A handlebar stem, Cinelli "Criterium" No. 65 bars. Actually missing is a crank set, but perhaps I will borrow the Campagnolo Record Pista crank set from the "3ttt" project for a while. But maybe everything will be totally different.
To be continued...
