1979 Urago 531

[Rich34]

Finally got round to putting the decals on and going for a brief ride.

The down tube decal went on very well and I'm very pleased with it - however I made a complete hash of the seat tube decal so will order another one and do it properly. I really like the way it's come out. The only job left is to put the Urago badge on the head tube.

It was nice on the brief shakedown ride - fits me very well (always a bonus...) and feels light and responsive. The brakes feel strong but need to bed in a bit yet, and the gears work nicely too. Overall, very pleased with it.

 

[daccordimark]

Very nice indeed, the white saddle and 'bar tape are definitely a top choice. I was going to ask what the little braze-on near the bottom of the seat stay was for but I see the rear mech cable goes through it. It looks like there's another little pip or something at the top of the seat stay too, what's that for?

I see a 531Pro tubing sticker but in 1979 it would have been called 531SL so presumably it had respray at some time. Is the front mech only slightly too big ie: designed for 28.6mm tubing against the metric 28mm seat tube possibly used on your frame?

Mark.

 

[Rich34]

Mark - many thanks. The "pip" at the top of the seat stay (sorry for the poor photos) is actually a flayed detail on the stay, shown better here:

Wraparound seat stays were a breveted mark of Urago frames, although I now know that others (including Falcon) also used this design. It's possibly why I was told it was an Urago when I bought it.

The Reynolds sticker states that the frame has been re-enamelled:

The front derailleur was only slightly too big so I think your suggestion about the tube sizes must be right. At any rate, the shim I tried to use wasn't the right thickness so I used a couple of turns of tape instead.

 

[daccordimark]

Aha! Some nice details on that frame - thanks for the extra photos. The wrap-over looks to be sharp rather than the rounded type used by Carlton or the flat Rourke design so I guess no-one else should really ever use the Urago design.

It's a great looking bike, another "Flandria" themed machine which I'm starting to hanker after.

Mark.

 

[Rich34]

Thanks Mark - strangely enough my first thought when I'd got the decals on and stood back to have a look was "Flandria".

 

[dutchie]

The down-tube lever (on the right site) for the rear mech is placed a little bit odd to my opinion.

 

[Rich34]

The down-tube lever (on the right site) for the rear mech is placed a little bit odd to my opinion.

It is - the photo was taken when I'd finished the ride, and I hadn't tightened it up enough before setting out, so wriggled it a bit to see how loose it was. I only spotted the angle once I'd taken the photo.

 

[markyp]

I had to shim a mavic front mech on my vitus 979.....

the amount of vitus's (viti?) with mavic groupsets...I would have thought they were made for each other!!!

 

[synchronicity]

Woah, I love those Mavic parts! Cool.

 

[Doubledee]

Looks great Rich, let's see if some of this kit makes it way onto a Vitus ;-) never rode one of those concor saddles, so of the era nice