Can you shed some light on this bike - Eclipse 531c

greeko33
greeko33 Posts: 42
edited August 2007 in Road general
Ive picked this up for free as a project and wanted to find out its origins.

Its is 531c Reynolds with a touring specced frame with cantilever bosses, rack and mudguard mounts. There is no other label other than Eclipse. Looks like its from the 80's, jade green colour.

Any idea if this is a manufacturer of any note/reputation? Might do a full re-spray in the future.

Thanks for help you can give :D

Comments

  • John Stevenson
    John Stevenson Posts: 962
    1985ish I think. I vaguely remember that we sold them in Two Wheels Good, the Leeds shop where I started out in the bike biz.

    I seem to recall that Eclipse bikes were distributed by Chainsport, the wholesale arm of the Bike UK chain, now long defunct. They were manufactured by Orbit Cycles when Andy Thompson owned and ran it.

    Orbit's QA was, how to put this delicately, a bit erratic. If you got a good one, they were great, but they were sometimes far from good.

    Check it thoroughly for alignment. If it's straight, then it'll probably make a good commuter/hack.
    John Stevenson
  • TractionControl
    TractionControl Posts: 39
    Any chance of seeing some pictures of this bike (just out of interest)? :)
  • MikeyP
    MikeyP Posts: 11
    I had an eclipse 'countryman', from the same era, a 531c tourer and It was very highly rated at the time as a 'best buy' in the cycling press. However, my recollection of their origins and subsequent reputation is the same as that described by John Stevenson above; It served me well for my first camping tour to northern spain and as my daily commuter but the rear dropout failed and i was told at the time that I wasn't the first. Still, if yours is still going strong then you never know, it might last forever :wink:
  • greeko33
    greeko33 Posts: 42
    Thanks for the info everyone!

    Sorry for the delay but here are some pics. Half way through stripping it back and its looking ok if I say so myself :lol:

    IMG_2108.jpg

    IMG_2107.jpg

    IMG_2106.jpg

    Thought I had some great brake levers but they dont fit. Having looked at Sheldon Brown it seems they are old british sized which is a few mm out. I will find a way as they look so nice, see below

    nosraleig-1183920395-2801.jpg

    Id rather not change the bars so will look to see if i can fit larger hoops (correct terminology???) to the brakes.
  • spin-cycle
    spin-cycle Posts: 395
    Yours looks like is has one of these:
    DSCF2144.jpg

    Here's mine in a sorry state...

    DSCF1499.jpg

    ... but no-one's going to nick it.

    It's not bad as a hack, this one's fixed. It's pretty nippy. The original forks snapped off at the canti boss braze-on.

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