Freewheel Mail Order Catalogue

wiffachip

from the 80's

weren't they flippin great, like the internet, but better. I wish I'd kept one

redvee

Got some stuff out of it one xmas for my Falcon from Toys-R-us including an aero bottle & cage. It was twenty years ago though, my tastes have improved I think.

andy162

These were about when I first got started in about 87ish. I remember the Rossin framesets with their fancy paintwork, Alan frames too.

They used to sell C-Record groupsets & they were an absolute fortune even then.

cougie

Oh they were fantastic - I spent weeks looking through those. Happy days !

Slow Downcp

Yeah, Rossin frames looked superb. They did a pearl white one for one year, matched with Shimano Sante (essentially Shimano 600 in pearl white finish). Also Suntour Superbe Pro groupset looked the mutts nutts.

andy162

I can remeber that white Rossin/Sante job! Back then life was much simpler....C-Rec, Chorus or Athena. Shimano options were D/A, 600 or 105. I always reckoned Shimano was more advanced because they had all the acronyms! SIS, SLR etc.

Back then a D/A rear mech was £45, 105 was £15...

northernneil

I spent hours in the freewheel shop in leeds, I still have a frame pump I bought there

fossyant

I've still got my Freewheel Musette...

Smokin Joe

Freewheel and the Ron Kitching catalogues were must haves before the interweb. I got my first Kitching one in 1971, a beautifully produced book with a seperate pricelist. They were selling Anquetil branded frames, with a photo of a well known female rider aboard one, face blacked out due to strict amateur rules at the time, but easily recognisable as BB.

They were also pushing Cinelli Benotto wheels where the front and rear were interchangable owing to the gear cluster and freewheel being a seperate unit attached to the dropout.

chriskempton

Catalog was great, but Freewheel shop was a right royal ripoff.

Now, the JD Whisker's photocopied pamphlet of wares was another thing entirely. Without illustration, it was like an aladdin's cave of the imagination...

thejesusandsedischain

northernneil wrote:

I spent hours in the freewheel shop in leeds, I still have a frame pump I bought there

you were one of the few that did.

ynyswen24

thejesusandsedischain wrote:

northernneil wrote:

I spent hours in the freewheel shop in leeds, I still have a frame pump I bought there

you were one of the few that did.

careful there, I'll put my blue freewheel sweatshirt on and come and ask if you 'need any help'

jestermellowfellow

Yeah, but what ever happened to 'Freewheel'?

arthur_scrimshaw

ilm_zero7

northernneil wrote:

I spent hours in the freewheel shop in leeds, I still have a frame pump I bought there

I remember that shop on the corner of Boar lane (?) it was ace - in fact i think I bought a marin from them in my 'dark side days'

pinno

Use the arrow keys to scroll through the 1984 catalogue

byke68

Another trip down memory lane, Freewheel and Ron Kitching. Never brought anything from Kitching but from Freewheel I got Castelli tri-shorts, Castelli wind jacket and a Freewheel Musette, happy days indeed!
Anyone remember Cycling (cyclist?) Monthly and Winning magazines?

itisaboutthebike

Yeah Revell Romany frames ..................total shyte...........Richards Bicycle Book..........total shyte..........................the advice on how you could ditch your car and buy a couple of bikes for yourself and the missus................priceless....................

Flexisurfer

Aaahh Freewheel, what Brand of mountain bike did they do? I just remember drooling over them.

aclivity

Flexisurfer wrote:

Aaahh Freewheel, what Brand of mountain bike did they do? I just remember drooling over them.

I seem to recall seeing - in the same edition of the catalogue - a Ridgeback mountain bike and an Avatar 2000 recumbent. Quite fancied the recumbent, wondered if I could make something out of discarded bits and a school chair, but never got round to it.

Flexisurfer

Yeah Ridgeback that's it, what ever happened to them? I quite enjoy drooling over the Chicken catalogue now.

usedtobefast

Ridgeback are still sold, but I don't know who owns the company now. Probably a Chinese mass production outfit that bought the rights to use the Ridgeback name

ducatikid

I saved my milk round money up for months and bought a Ridgeback 602 SiS through the Freewheel catalogue. It was two tone grey with the rear U brake under the chain stays, a biopace crank and the seat rails came down at the front, through the seat post but looped back round to give a suspension seat. Would love to have a look through the catalogue again!

me-109

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

I've got to re-use that. After a two-year hiatus it gets brought back to life, then again another two years later.

arran77

I don't remember these but then I was far too young at the time

ynyswen24

usedtobefast wrote:

Ridgeback are still sold, but I don't know who owns the company now. Probably a Chinese mass production outfit that bought the rights to use the Ridgeback name

still owned by Madison who also own Genesis and import Shimano into the UK.