Dave Russel frames

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  • kari.hardarson
    kari.hardarson Posts: 1
    Dear Ian and Trudy,

    I am very sorry to hear of your father´s death. My name is Kari Hardarson and I live in Reykjavik, Iceland. I am 44 years old. Back in 1982 I used to repair bicycles. A boy came to my shop with a Dave Russell bicycle which was in bad shape but the frame was perfect. I bought it from him and restored it, I am still riding this bike to-day. I am enclosing a link to a photo of it. It used to be orange, with white labels, I have repainted it twice through the years.

    P9150006.JPG

    I know every square inch of this bike, and every time I clean it or oil it, I have thought of the grand master builder that must have built it.

    Every year I have conducted a search on the internet but not found the keywords "Dave Russell" until now. I am devastated to read that I missed meeting your father by only a few months. I would have gone to visit him and thank him for all the years of good riding.
  • paultuohy
    paultuohy Posts: 2
    I bought my Dave Russell in 1981. Its light blue with a chrome chain stay. Each stay has an impression of DIAMOND, HEARTS CLUBS AND SPADES. The forks have the initials DR on each side of the head set. I just checked the BB and i think I'm seeing the letters EO. I can't make out the numbers. Annoyingly, i had the frame resprayed in the late 80's so the decals have gone. I did numerous races on my DR and a love the geometry and set up. The tubing is Colombus SL. It was my main ride up until 2006 when I bought a Trek 5500 on ebay. Last Sunday I went for a ride but this time my 15 year old son was on the DR. I'm going to treat the old boy to an original respray now I can afford it. Any help on where to get the decals would be appreciated. What a man! RIP.

    Paul Tuohy
  • trudy thompson
    trudy thompson Posts: 3
    Quite a few people have asked me about visiting mum and dads grave and if there is a head stone. Anyone is more than welcome to visit dads grave and there is now a headstone in place. It is in the new section of slough cemetery and anyone that does visit i hope will understand the significance of the engraving and to those who did not know my mum it is an engraving of my mum when she was still riding. it was a picture taken during a race of my mum riding one of dads bikes. i feel a beautiful tribute to both our mum and our dad
  • Plank!
    Plank! Posts: 1
    Ian and Trudy, I'm saddened to hear of your loss.
    Dave was an inspiration to me, I was one of the people who used to hang out in the Chalvey shop, wanting to know everything about bikes.
    Ian, we met in the shop several times your father often spoke of you and was proud of your swimming abilities.
    My bike was finished in Jan 1985 (frame No 18185) and was used daily for several years. Sadly I no longer have the frame and only found out about Dave's death while searching for a replacement.

    Since moving out of the area I often wondered how Dave was doing, if he was still building frames etc. was a shock when I read this thread. I'll always remember going to collect the bike, the way dave set the bike up for me and the first ride. Many other people must have the same fond memories.


    With Kind Regards and sympathy
    Steve Wood.
  • shep531
    shep531 Posts: 1
    Hi Ian,

    I'm really sorry to hear about your dad. I bought one of his bikes in the early 1970s and used to love riding it. Over the years, bringing up a family got in the way, but it is a lovely frame with such great memories that I would love to restore it to original condition.
    I put off respraying the frame because I didn't want to lose the Dave Russell decals. You mentioned a while back that you may have some left over from the old workshop. My frame is silver with decals in red on a white background, if that makes sense.
    If you still have some, please let me know, and how much I owe you .

    Thanks and Best Regards, Andy Shepherd
  • NigelSweet
    NigelSweet Posts: 1
    I knew Dave and remember the shop he had in Chalvey. Like so many other enthusiasts I used to spend a Saturday morning there. It was Aladin's Cave to bikers.

    Dave made a frame and wheels for me back in the early eighties. Its still in as garage in Maidenhead and any thoughts I may have had of selling it have now gone. Unfortunately I live in Doha, Qatar so I can't ride the bike but when I return to the UK in a couple of months I will arrange to take it back with me.

    I'm saddened by Dave and Pam's demise. Dave was quite a character and a legend in the cycling world. He will be sadly missed.

    Nigel Sweet
  • paultuohy
    paultuohy Posts: 2
    My last post on this thread was over 2 years ago. I've just dropped my Dave russell off at Mario Vaz's place in Hither Green for a respray. Hope to get a pic up when done.Would like to know more about the clubs,diamonds and hearts on the chain stays if anyone knows..??
  • MartyP2
    MartyP2 Posts: 1
    Hi Paultuohy,

    I have just come across a Dave Russell frame but after some research, found that mine is one of the frames that Dave bought in to sell. The frame is a Concorde (of the Netherlands) but was, in turn, made for them in Italy by Ciocc - hence the playing card symbols - mine has a a sort of Clubs symbol cut into the bottom head-tube lug on top where it connects to the down tube and a cut-out of the same shape in the bottom of the Bottom bracket shell.

    It is almost certainly made in Columbus tubing and is very high quality - as good as pretty much any other Italian frame builder and strikes and canny resemblance to my Battaglin which was probably made by Ciocc too?

    Mine in in yellow with black Dave Russell stickers, a race frame (with number bracket) and has campy drop-outs.

    Regards to the Russell family by the way...

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