The Monark Sport Racer

Well, I think it's the Sport Racer. Obviously the logo is showing some signs of wear and tear but the awesome band of Monark crowns is still looking... awesome. Whether it's a 'racer' is really a different question altogether.

The great Monark vertical badge gets a look in on the down tube. Which has been mentioned, quite a few, times before on this blog. But it still looks good, so here is another variation.
The Svenskt kvalitetsfabrikat logo also pops up on the seat tube. It's a shame it's so torn up. This time it reads 'Svenskt kvalitetscykel' - 'A Swedish quality bicycle'. It's great the pride that used to be behind the manufacturing process for these old bikes.

I see a red bike and I want to paint it... green.

An advertising bike I saw in Stockholm. I take it that it's green to attract people's attention, but whether that works beyond people who look at bikes for obscure blogs is rather unclear.

The light is rendered quite useless by the process.

The job done on the Monark badge reminds me of the pink King bicycle I saw ages and ages ago. Except a bit more thoroughly!
A strange fate for a bicycle.

Vintage bicycle logos by the bucket load

Ok so here's something a bit different from the usual collection of rad bicycles found on the streets of Sweden. This blog has become a bit focused on the graphics and logos that you find on these great old bikes, so why not celebrate that by actually turning them back into sweet graphics. Getting rid of the rust, scratches, abuse and grime that they face on the streets.

To appreciate where these are from click the link below them to see the original bike rusting and rotting away somewhere.

This red Monark goes back to when I first started collecting pictures of these bikes it remains one of my favourites.

Svenskt kvalitets fabrikat badges are always great to spot around.

Super simple but effective Fram king logo here.

This British Raleigh was seen on the Bicycle Safari expedition to Copenhagen earlier this year.

Again another less usual kind of logo from Weserkrone, but one that does really work for it's differences.

India also gets a look in, with this Hero cycle that somehow had made it from the subcontinent to the harsh streets of Sweden.

Many Monarks make a Monark Museum

Ok so this might not quite be a Monark museum yet, but the never-ending fascination with vintage Monark bicycles does persist, especially with examples like this just sitting round every corner.

Svenskt kvalitetsfabrikat is a label you see on quite a few of the older bikes in Sweden, usually accompanied by this awesome logo!

I even remembered to take a general picture of the bike!

Murky Monark Bicycle graphics

Monark are a bit of staple diet here on The Bicycle Safari. Their old graphics were pretty consistently good, as seen here and here. This is a rustier example, but with some great striping on the front fender.

That fender.

The vertical Monark text, with a physical crown on top.

The whole package.

Supreme Monark

An old Monark is always a good place to spot a great old bicycle logo like this. Deterioration at its best!

Maybe a maroon Monark

Vintage Monark fender

I really like the colour combination and unusual graphics on this.

A bicycle I like

When I first started this blog my intention was to mostly write about bicycles I like. Just simple bikes that people used and I thought were worth sharing. What has suprised me is how few of these I actually find here in Sweden. Although perhaps there are the same number of 'intersting' bikes, they are so watered down with the sheer number of beaters that maybe they're just harder to spot. I'll write a post about this another time looking at the differences in cycling culture between Britain and Sweden.

For now though here's a bike. I like the colour, the sense of it being looked after and even the dorky flip out reflector on the left.
But the best bit?
Well that's got to be the usual sick vintage Monark graphics! Seriously! Who used to do their design work? For the higher level readers, note also the tasteful pinstriping on the fender. Lovely.

Monark head badge

One of these I'm going to have to just give up and rename this blog 'the vintage Monark blog'.

Ever more Monark logos

I really like these old Monark bike decals.

Especially when they're combined with epic mud flaps.


No wet feet.

Some more logos

At the risk of turning this into an old bike logo blog, here's a few more I can't resist posting.



I here swear that any bicycle I ever make is going to have some kickin' rad decals on it.