1992 British Eagle K2

hucking_fell

I built up this bike for commuting the 4 miles to and from work. It's also the only bike I have that I'm happy to leave locked up in town. Over the winter it had skinny, slick tyres and wrap around mudguards for the all road commute:



It's summer now though so after messing about with it this afternoon it has knobbly tyres, no mudguards, grippier pedals and bar ends for the mostly off-road commute:



I'm hoping the bar ends stop my hands getting rattled off the bars and that it stays dry, as there's very little space between the rear tyre and the frame for mud. I prefer how it looks now and I'm looking forward to taking it for a test ride tomorrow

stubs

I bought a British eagle in the early 90s. Purple metalflake Reynolds 531 lugged frame with a mix of Shimano and Suntour kit and weinamann wheels. Had it for years till some scrote nicked it whilst I was in the offie. For its day it was a quality bike but a bit lightweight I could get the bottom bracket swinging from side to side like a grandfather clock pendulum when I was mashing up a hill. Made for a lovely comfy commuter though, I really miss that bike especially the cast head tube badge that was class.

hucking_fell

It's also a lugged Reynolds 531 frame but with flaking metallic purple paint. Not metalflake. I think the rear tyre may rub the chainstays due to the frame flexing. I've decided to go on a longer ride today on a different bike so the test ride will have to wait.

stubs

Hucking Fell wrote:

It's also a lugged Reynolds 531 frame but with flaking metallic purple paint. Not metalflake. I think the rear tyre may rub the chainstays due to the frame flexing. I've decided to go on a longer ride today on a different bike so the test ride will have to wait.

The tyre will rub the stays when your mashing a gear. The front mech will rub the chain as well they werent the stiffest frames ever built but were comfy in the days before suspension. The frame was lighter than a mates special import Univega that cost him hundreds and it didnt crack up like some lightweight lugless frames of those days.

hucking_fell

I took it for a 20 min blast in a local woods after the other ride. I was surprised at how often I found myself riding standing on the pedals, using the bar ends, unable to brake quickly. I didn't ride much seated, partly because of the rough ground but mainly because of the gearing. Didn't manage to rub the chainstays. 2 failed bunny hops over fallen trees were saved by the bash ring. My commute should be more fun now

bluechair84

excellent work fella It was arguable a British Eagle that turned me into the vested mountain biker I am today. A mid nineties school outdoors trip introduced me to the bike on our mountain biking afternoon and I had wicked amounts of fun. I wish I knew what the model was...

sloppycowpat

:shock: that is a long stem

liking it tho looks like by dads old bike before it was niked for scrap metal by what we guess was the local travellers :evil:

snotty badger

I had a British Eagle ZFX 2 when I was a boy, first proper mountain bike. That was a 531 frame too..

stubs

The lugged 531 frames were pretty damn good by the standards of the day, dont know where they were made but they were good comfy frames.

IT66T

That's a nice bike you've got their and it's been a long time since i last saw a British Eagle with Reynolds tubing 8) .