1990ish Condor?

[sruss67]

Picked this up recently from ebay for the princely sum of $36.00.

My question is does anyone know anything about the Condor brand and their bikes, specifically MTB?

I had a look at their website and sent an enquiry.

The bike is made using Reynolds 531 Magnum and 531 fork tubing, had Suntour XCD 7 speed as standard by the looks and not sure if the Girvin Flex stem was standard or not?

Head tube sticker says "Condor Lightweights" 144 Grays Inn Rd - WC, London.

 

[Carlos the Slackal]

Nice find!

Condor are perhaps THE Roadie shop in London. Not much of a presence in the MTB world, but that's a peach of a bike from when Monty and Co jumped on the bad wagon bitd!

 

[fatfixie]

Mine

Andy

 

[Rod_Saetan]

Mine

Andy

so, so cool.

 

[Coleman]

Cool bike.

The frame looks almost exactly like my 1990 Nigel Dean Nevada - very similar component spec too - maybe there was some sort of connection.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=843543

 

[sruss67]

I am thinking of building it up as a daily commuter and for some cross country mountain biking.

I have an "89" Giant Escaper that I could use as a donor bike.
The Giant has a Deore 3x7 groupset.

Should be pretty close match for the age and comparable to the Suntour XCD?

Or should I build it with Suntour and keep it original?

 

[Coleman]

I'd say that would be a good match component wise. That XCD group set is really hard to find in decent condition - they only made it in 1990 - if you do go down that route then 1990 Kona Cindercones from that year make good donors!

The XCD brakes are nicer than the Deore IMO - the Deore stuff will shift better.

Maybe be you should go for a Deore drive chain and Suntour brakes?

The Nigel Dean came with 3TTT stuff - looks like the Condor did too with those bars and that seatpost

At the risk of sounding like a complete vulture - but if you ever sell it then please let me know - it is so similar to mine it would make a great stable mate!!

EDIT: Looks like Nigel Dean built bikes for Condor so it is the same as mine:

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/nigel- ... les.48424/

 

[sruss67]

well after a few emails to Condor, it turns out they believe this bike isn't a Condor. Here is a reply from one of my queries.

Hi Shane

If there is no code stamped onto the bottom bracket shell then i can confirm this bike is not actually a Condor. This adds up with a few other 'non condor' clues such as the dropouts and brazing detail.
Apologies for not being more helpful, I've shown other staff members and no one has had any ideas.

Hope you find the information you're after and if not enjoy the bike!

Please feel free to contact me if you would like any further information.

Kind regards

Ben

Condor Cycles Ltd, 49-53 Gray's Inn Road, London, WC1X 8PP
T: +44 (0)20 7269 6820 | F: +44 (0)20 7269 6821
www.condorcycles.com

'Building bespoke bicycles since 1948'

There is no serial number anywhere on the frame and the stickers look like they are in different places apparently :?

So now I am unsure what the heck this thing is?

 

[Coleman]

It's a Nigel Dean - Please sell it to me!!

 

[taffy]

Can you get better pics of the tube joins - it looks welded at the head tube - which Condors arent - they tend to be lugged and fillet brazed. also given the age of the kit it would likely have a 1" headset 9my friends 91/92 is filleted and has a 1" headset)