My history of HELLAS track bike
An absurd story with a hint of urban myth and a substantial proportion of Greek cycling history hidden in the depths of the golden years of PASOK era reality when the deep-state was at its full force and it was celebrating prosperity at beachfront bouzoukia nightclubs rubbing shoulders in glamorous haze.
When I first “discovered” the HELLAS frame I immediately felt curious to know more about it. Even at the present day everyone seems to have a different story about them or a variation of it. In the end I presume that this is their charm, a certain mystique that is so typicaly Greek that is probably a scenario for a film.
Over the years I collected all sorts of info but the more absurd version is the story i want to tell.
The frames were meant to be a jewel, a state of the art for the National Team at the Med Games. Ordered in Italy to a credited manufacturer it took a long time to be ready and finally they were shipped on time.
300 of them full of glorious features the best the cycling manufacturing had to offer at the time. As the shipment arrived at customs, it became evident that a certain problem was not gonna make them available on time. And that problem was not other that inside the frames there was smuggled a super substantial amount of drugs.
And it was not aspirin!
The police was notified straight away and as the story was buried and went into top secret status everybody was waiting for someone to go claim them. That certain someone obviously never appeared and the shipment remained at the custom warehouse for almost 5 years.
300 frames and a load of drugs. As the customs HQ realised they had a blazing potato on their hands the full force of Greek deep para-state mobilised to clear the field. Phones rung and secretaries carried top secret memos to politicians offices.
As the Greek state celebrated and EU funding kept pouring in, corruption in the country rose to staggering heights and that certain unnamed individual eventually run for cover to the men in black that always offer a hand to faithful sympathisers.
On the international cycling scene manufacturing was going through some crazy innovations. UCI banned lo-pro designs with smaller front wheel, 1 inch headtubes were defunct and alloy and eventually carbon frames were the new thing.
By the time the frames were given for free to the local cycling clubs for track training they were out of date. Superb athletes at the time used them (and still do some of them) but naturally the frames didnt hit their liking, they were old steel bikes.
Their charm had been faded and they sat there waiting for the fixed gear kids to give them a new life 15 years later.
That unamed individual disappeared after a small stint in media for a similar corruption story and still remains at large. He was spotted by investigating journalists in 2023 in Israel.
Greece moved on to new politics of transparency and HELLAS frame remained a fixed gear local thing for the following years before @svkj__ bought one and catapult it to international cult status taking this story full circle.
But then again, who would believe a story like that? Don’t ask me if its true, its probably just a hoax…
All original art by Solal Ohayon
Graphic design by Agis Kolyvas
All historic photographs sourced online, photographers unknown.
