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Allegro (Canada)
Of the numerous Allegro brands over time, only one seems to have produced mountain bikes in any quantities in the early days of mountain biking: Allegro of Canada. For which there is no direct documentation nor corporate trace, just hearsay that it originated in Vancouver, Canada and perhaps started with the help of Gerald (Cap) Hobbis who started the Caps Bicycle Shop in Vancouver in 1932.
The Allegro brand was most famously associated with the Swiss Allegro Bikes of Neuchatel, founded in 1914 and for decades the largest bicycle maker in Switzerland. It's annual output exceeded 20,000 bikes starting the 1930s. It went defunct in the 1980s, at which point many other Allegros popped up worldwide.
Some of the Allegro brands:
- Allegro E-Bikes, coincidentally (?) of Vancouver was active from 2021 → 2024.
- Diggari of Victoria, Australia was known as Allegro Bicycles through the 2000's.
- There was an Allegro brand of Bromwich, England, which was active in the 70's & 80s.
- Terranaut of St. Louis, MO marketed Allegro road bikes in the 80's.
- Jamis of Northvale, New Jersey, has sold an Allegro hybrid model for decades.
- Fuji formerly of Tokyo, Japan, sold a sport/touring Allegro in the mid-1980's.
- Allegro Bikes of Zurich, Switzerland has been selling e-bikes to central Europe since 2018 using the same logo as the original Swiss Allegro.
All Canadian Allegros have a “Canadian Designed” decal and some have “Japanese Quality” label joined with the decal. The construction runs from fillet brazed, through lugged and onto welded. The components run from low to high end Shimano or SunTour. All components and parts are Japanese, including Tange tubing. Swiss Allegros use either Reynolds or Columbus tubing.
Resources:
- https://web.archive.org/web/20211209110352/http://www.allegroebikes.com/, Allegro E-Bikes of Vancouver
Canadian Design/Japanese Quality ebay
1984 Blackcomb
Suntour AG Tech RD-5600 rear (1984 thus), RD-2800 front, SR MTS-100 slingshot bars (1982-84), lugged frame & bi-plane? fork.
Blackcomb is named after Whistler Blackcomb, North America's largest ski resort located on the twin peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains in British Columbia, Canada.
1984 Blackcomb
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1985 Blackcomb
Suntour AG Tech RD-5600 rear (1984 thus), RD-2800 front, SR MTS-100 slingshot bars (1982-84), lugged frame & bi-plane? fork.
1985 Blackcomb
flickr
1986 Blackcomb ATB
Shimano RD-AL11 derailleurs (1984-86), Shimano Biopace Touring FC-B124 cranks (1985-87), bullmoose bars, XT brakes, welded frame, unicrown fork.
1986 Blackcomb ATB
vancouver.craigslist
1987
SunTour XC Sport 6000 (1986), FC-B124 cranks (1984-87), u-brakes (Shimano 1987?), chromed Tange steel welded and lugged frame & fork, newer bars & rack.
1987
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1988 Ground Control
Drop Cro-Mo welded frame, Shimano shifters, likely a Shimano Z501 rear derailleur (1987-90) - or a clone, with painted red highlights, similar Canada Design/Japanese Quality sticker. Name “borrowed” from the 1986 Specialized Ground Control Tire, which debuted in 1986.
1988 Ground Control
vancouver.craigslist
1989 Ground Control
Shimano Z501 (1987-1990), non original v-brakes
1989 Ground Control
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1992 Silver Bullet
Shimano Altus C10 RD-CT10-SGS (1992)
1992 Silver Bullet
vancouver.craigslist