whats your favourite old frame ?

peanut

Are you like me and never part with your old frames ?
What's your fav frame ?
I still have an old Carlton made from old gas pipes. I took it from a skip in 1978 and cut and shortened the rear stays brazing in a gear hanger . I made that frame so short I have to deflate the rear tyre to fit the wheel. Weighs a ton.Love it to bits ,my winter bike

My fav though is an old Ribble 653 from around 1990 in flourescent pink ugh! The dreadful decals were stuck on without even a laquer coat so I peeled them all off.
it has every conceivable braze-on including through the top tube cable. Its incredably light and rides a dream.

El Capitano

My current road bike. Frame is Reynolds 531SL. Built for me in 1981. It had a stuck seatpost removed in the summer, and had to be resprayed (all by Argos Cycles). It's currently decked out with Campag 8sp stuff, but I may update to 10sp next year.

McBain_v1

Raleigh Competition 1983 Reynolds 531c, still has its original Shimano 600 groupset on (42/52 front, 12/23 rear) and occupies pride of place on my Kurt Kinetic fluid trainer.

Also love my Raleigh Reynolds 631 from 1997 - got Shimano Ultegra 9spd (2003) on it and is a really sweet ride as well.

My 1983 Raleigh was my first "proper" racing bike

gilbert_by_proxy

I have a 12yr old townsend but I don't know the model with Shimano Dura-ace everything. Thankfully got it from a friend as I couldn't afford one new.

HungryCol

My 1988~ Raleigh Campagnolo Gran Sport, Reynolds 531, in eggshell orange. None of the existing components but still use it as my commuting bike.

Here she is:

jongooligan

Bob Jackson 531c Golden Jubilee edition. Bought it in 1985 'cos that was Reynolds Golden Jubilee year too. Was going to kit it out with the Campag SR Golden Jubilee group set which had some gold plated detailing if I remember rightly. The Campag group set was about £1500 or about three months wages so needless to say I didn't get it.
It's still in the shed and I'd love to get it restored to original nick but Bob Jackson's can't even tell me if they have the original decals.

Dave L

A good bit of mid-80's Yorkshire craftsmanship, my 753 Ellis Briggs....





Built as my time trialling frame, in the days before carbon fibre lo-pro frames, fancy wheels or tri-bars, and when training (at least for me), consisted of just going out and riding your bike a lot.
(Still managed short 22's, a 57:01 and a sub 2 hour 50 on it).
Originally had full Dura-Ace, but re-built it last year with old bits from the parts bin.
Probably weighs just under 20 pounds as shown.
It's great to ride, at least for a couple of hours, probably a bit twitchy for long rides.

McBain_v1

That is a beautiful bike Dave L 8)

Dave L

McBain_v1 wrote:

That is a beautiful bike Dave L 8)

I'm biased of course, but I tend to agree.
Still the original paintwork too.

McBain_v1

Keep that bike in a climate controlled shed and put some decent gear on it, it deserves more than parts from the spares bin :x

HungryCol

bump :oops:

Massimo

A Ribble Columbus SLX - I had one 'cos Chris Boardman had one when he was with North Wirral Velo and was king of the 'testers'.

term1te

I used to have an Evans light weight tourer. 531, and the most comfortable frame I've ever ridden. Nearly every component on the frame was changed at least twice. When we moved, a higher authority said I could only take two bikes (I managed to bring three in the end), but the poor old Evans had to go. A sad sad day.

Dave L

Another fave was this Peugeot 531 professional frame which was my first proper road frame. (As opposed to gas pipe specials and tourers).
It was painted in the Peugeot team colours as used as guys like Robert Millar at the time and had full chrome forks (with the Peugeot logo engraved in the top of the fork crown) and part chrome seat stays and chain stay.



Even after I got the Ellis Briggs I used it for longer distance TT's. (Picture was taken in a 12hr Championship). Later used it for club runs, occasional trips to the Alps and Pyrenees to watch the Tour, and eventually commuting.

Browneaves

An Elswick Hopper from the 1950s

Steel, comfortable as you can get, and it is never going to get nicked as it just isnt cool.

The kit on it wears out, but the frame just keeps on and on.

I bought it about 10 years ago, and may have met the original owner - I dont know how common the bikes were round here 50 years ago - but the colour was right

blackhands

peanut wrote:

Are you like me and never part with your old frames ?
What's your fav frame ?

My fav is an old Ribble 653 from around 1990 in flourescent pink ugh! The dreadful decals were stuck on without even a laquer coat so I peeled them all off.
it has every conceivable braze-on including through the top tube cable. Its incredably light and rides a dream.

I've also got a Ribble 653 from about the same date but its white enamel carbon weave look with fluo green and yellow around the lugs. Its on my turbo at the mo but about to get rebuilt with more up to date components.

Fab Foodie

My Circa 1950 Holdsworth 531 plain-gauge (Harriet) that was abandoned as a rusting wreck in a garage, I paid a fiver for it, it was orange with white lettering and had exquisite lugs (as seen in C+ recently). I had it resprayed plain blue (using my student grant) back in the early '80's and used it to commute to Uni and the GF's (now Mrs FF) in London. I've toured on it with full tent and cooker, did my first century, built it into my first fixie (as it's spent most of its life) and it's now my Turbo mule. The forks developed a nasty twist, hence the semi-retirement...but I've decided I'm gonna get some new ones and campaign it a little longer.
She was in a bad way when I first got her and she's even more dented and scratched now, but we've been through a lot of life and a lot of miles together and she's staying with me 'till I slip this mortal coil...