Free Agent

Largely through the ownership of my VDC-built Trident, I’ve become increasingly interested in Free Agents and picked this frameset up on eBay. Made in Dec ‘84 (the 8-digit serial - on the non-drive side dropout - is 1284****), I think this is one of the early ones built by Brad Shoup in Beuna Park, California rather than VDC, as I think Voris Dixon was shutting up shop around that time. At first I thought the green was a spray-bomb job but both the paintwork and the era-correct decals are in the condition you’d expect after 30-odd years. The TT length is 19 1/8” and there's no chainstay brace. It came with the bars, which are 27 ½” wide with a rise of 8 9/16”, and I think are original Free Agent Pros, though the green is not quite the same shade as the frameset. With both the paintwork and decals both showing their age, I went for a survivor look using old school parts wherever possible. Nothing fancy, just a simple build along the lines of a budget-racer from the mid-80s.