199? (LA Cycles) Lee Cooper

[DaiP]

Hi, I’ve just bought this Lee Cooper steel mountain bike frame that I’m about to start building up using early 90s components wherever possible. I’ve got a set of Pace RC35 forks ready to go in once I’ve got a suitable 1 inch threaded headset. I’m not sure of the exact year of the frame but guessing around 91-93. I’ve been in touch with Lee Cooper to see if he can provide any more details as I believe from the guy I bought the frame from that Lee built this for himself. Fingers crossed he gets back to me to fill in some blanks. In terms of components it’s a bit of a blank page at the moment. I’m thinking Deore DX or early 90s XT in terms of groupset but it’ll largely depend on what I can acquire and condition over the coming months. It’ll be nice to do a mountain bike project for a change as I’ve done several motorbike restorations over the last few years. At least this won’t have knackered electrics or need an engine rebuild.

 

[raidan73]

Nice project

 

[DaiP]

A few more photos of the early days of this build. RC35 forks slaved in place, in need of a headset.
Hope Ti hubs that I intend lacing to a pair of Mavic 217 or similar rims.
One odd thing on this frame that I’ve never seen on any other frame is what appears to be 2 bottle cage mounts on the upper side of the down tube.

 

[raidan73]

Not massively uncommon to have two sets on a downtube. I just noticed the crud guard mounts on the underside too

 

[DaiP]

First time I’ve seen it to be honest. And yes even though I’m not a massive fan of Crud Catchers, I now feel obliged to fit one just because the mount is there.

 

[retrobikeguy]

Very nice that, a rare beast indeed.

I nearly had a punt but was worried about the chainsuck damage.
I think an XT DX mix would suit it well, right era and affordable stuff.

Let me know if you ever want to move on the rigid forks

 

[DaiP]

Thanks. I paid a bit less for it as I bought just the frame only so haven’t got either of the forks it was originally being sold with sorry. I ummed and erred about having the rigid forks to start with but then came across a set of RC35s with a 1 inch threaded steerer that after checking with the seller of the Lee Cooper frame I found it was the same length as the steerer on the rigid forks.
I was a bit concerned about the chainsuck damage too but it doesn’t look as bad in the flesh so hopefully all will be ok there.

 

[DaiP]

A little bit of progress. The RC35s have been attached to the frame via a threaded 1 inch Interloc headset. I’ve also got a set of Mavic 217 rims currently winging their way over from Germany to be laced to the Hope titanium hubs I’ve already got. The last wheel I built was around 20 years ago. My old truing stand has been dug out from under the workbench in anticipation. I just hope wheel building is like riding a bike and it all comes flooding back with the first tweak of a spoke nipple.