1991 Corima Cougar
Part Diary, Part Technical Manual, Part Tips & Tricks

CORIMA, it's an ellusive brand. The pedigree is definitely there, but I'm not always certain for what. It seems that today, the company focuses on high end carbon wheelsets only, but back in the day, they also made exotic carbon framesets like the Puma, Cougar, and Fox. These bikes were the objet d'art that just looked radical, using cutting edge technology, and was extremely expensive. Unlike the mainstream bike manufactuerers or even the more boutique ones like LOOK and Time, Corima was even more exclusive; the only brand that seemed comparable was the equally radical and beautiful Lotus Engineering bicycles of the same era.

So teenage fantasy has become reality. I've been looking for a track bike for a few months, considering a wide range of modern carbon and aluminum models, but nothing motivated me enough to pull the trigger. But the other night, I was on eBay when I saw this Cougar for sale; after thinking about it for about 10 minutes, I clicked on the 'Buy It Now' button. So on February 23, 2017, I became the owner of one of the most exclusive track bikes in the world, with the pedigree of a 1992 Olympic Gold Medal at Barcelona by Erika Salumäe and the hour record in 1993 at Bordeaux by Chris Boardman.

3/2/2107 - the Cougar just arrived today, it was packaged very nicely and took quite a while to remove all the foam and bubble wrap. After I finally got everything off, I was pleasantly surprised to the see the bike was just as nice as it looked in the photos, no significant blemishes. Amazing condition actually for something that is 26 years old. After assembling everything together, I took it out for a quick spin around the neighborhood and the size was just about right. So I'm a pretty happy camper right now.

3/30/2017 - just finished stripping it down, inspecting, cleaning, and reassembling everything. Installed a Dura Ace chainring. Everything should be pretty tip top right now.

Here are the specs:

Frame: Corima Cougar, monocoque carbon fiber, 56cm, 120mm spacing, black.
Fork: Corima Cougar, carbon fiber, 1" threadless, black.
Wheelset: Cane Creek Volos track..
Tires: Continental Sprinter tubulars, 700x22c.
Cranks: Shimano Dura Ace FC-7710, 170mm, 144 BCD, NJS. The cranks look so plain and simple from the outside, but flip them around and the aggressive ribbing details are very cool.
Chainring: Shimano Dura Ace 51T, 144mm BCD, 1/8".
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Dura Ace BB-7710 Octalink, 109.5mm spindle.
Cog: Shimano Dura-Ace 16T, NJS with Cane Creek lockring.
Headset: Chris King NoThreadSet, 1" threadless, black.
Chain: Izumi Super Toughness, 1/8", NJS.
Stem: Generic, 1-1/8" threadless, 120mm, 31.8mm, black.
Handlebar: Deda Elementi Piega, 26.0mm, 42cm wide, double-butted 6061-T6 aluminum, black.
Bar Wrap: Cork wrap, pink.
Pedal: LOOK Kéo 2 Max, 12Nm carbon spring tension, black.
Seatpost: Thomson Elite, 25.0mm x 350mm, black.
Saddle: Selle Italia SLR xp, black.

The bike weighs 17 lbs 12 oz as shown. The frame weighs 5lbs 8oz (2,495 gm), the fork weighs 1lb 8oz (680 gm).

The following are parts that I am currently not using:

Chainring: FSA Pro Track 49T, 144mm BCD, 1/8", black.
Rims: Velocity Pro Elite, 700c, 32h, tubular, grey with machined sidewalls.
Hubs: Suzue Promax, 32h, cartridge bearings, silver.
Tires: Continental Sprinter 700c x 22, tubular.
Cog: Shimano Dura-Ace 15T, NJS.
Handlebar: Deda Newton, 31.8mm, 42cm, black.
Saddle: San Marco Regal, black with copper rivets.