sjcprojects
Orange 🍊 Fan
That 531 decal was used from 1995-2001. As far as I know after 2001 531 was replaced by other tubing, so this would have been one of the last years Condor made bikes in 531. So, that will be the original decal.
1993 Condor Professional 653
- Thread starter sjcprojects
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That 531 decal was used from 1995-2001. As far as I know after 2001 531 was replaced by other tubing, so this would have been one of the last years Condor made bikes in 531. So, that will be the original decal.
sjcprojects
Orange 🍊 Fan
Returning to the original subject of this thread...I was all set to go to Woodrups for the repaint, but then on learning that Mercian are now back up and running, I had a look at the options again. In addition to those two, I also came across Blue Whippet Paintworks which is run by Jason Rourke, son of Brian Rourke. I've emailed him today with a few quick questions, so I'll see if he gets back to me. Based on previous experience of these things, I'd actually almost be surprised to hear back at all, but we'll see. My aim is to get this to a painters sometime in the next few weeks, anyway.
I now have all the drivetrain parts, which is a mix of the short-lived Daytona groupset and a Racing T chainset, plus some Athena levers. Daytona sat at the Athena level in terms of hierarchy, so it's sort of consistent. Racing T parts were at both the Chorus and Daytona level (Campagnolo were clearly intent on continuing the confusing tradition of mix-and-matching parts across groupsets). Most parts were already in pretty nice condition, aside from the Athena levers which needed a fair bit of sanding and polishing. I think they've come up quite nicely.
Obviously the reason for this choice of parts is to allow for a triple setup, because although undoubtedly a double setup looks nicer, I know for a fact I'll ride it less if 39T is my lowest gear up front with a 27T lowest sprocket. I do prefer the look of the older parts in terms of the graphics on them, but I'm sacrificing some looks for function here (rather than the opposite, which is my usual MO
).
This does also mean I have 8 speed levers with a 9 speed RD, but as I understand it, the cable pull remained the same until just after this RD came out in 2000, so this should work okay.
I now have all the drivetrain parts, which is a mix of the short-lived Daytona groupset and a Racing T chainset, plus some Athena levers. Daytona sat at the Athena level in terms of hierarchy, so it's sort of consistent. Racing T parts were at both the Chorus and Daytona level (Campagnolo were clearly intent on continuing the confusing tradition of mix-and-matching parts across groupsets). Most parts were already in pretty nice condition, aside from the Athena levers which needed a fair bit of sanding and polishing. I think they've come up quite nicely.
Obviously the reason for this choice of parts is to allow for a triple setup, because although undoubtedly a double setup looks nicer, I know for a fact I'll ride it less if 39T is my lowest gear up front with a 27T lowest sprocket. I do prefer the look of the older parts in terms of the graphics on them, but I'm sacrificing some looks for function here (rather than the opposite, which is my usual MO
).This does also mean I have 8 speed levers with a 9 speed RD, but as I understand it, the cable pull remained the same until just after this RD came out in 2000, so this should work okay.
georges1
Retro Guru
After 2001, the 531 was replaced permanently by the 631 which was in use on Kona bikes since 1998 and it was also replaced by the 525
ChromeChainstay
Senior Retro Guru
sjcprojects
Orange 🍊 Fan
Thanks – that's one of the catalogues I've looked at before. That website says it's from 1994, but I think it's actually the 1990 one.
I also found the 1994 price list online (I forget where exactly):
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sjcprojects
Orange 🍊 Fan
The only progress in the last few weeks is that Jason Rourke of Blue Whippet Paintworks did in fact get back to me fairly quickly with a very decent quote, so I'll be making the trip to Stoke-on-Trent in the new year. I had hoped to get it to him before Christmas but annoyingly work got in the way. It's a 5-6 week turnaround, so hopefully I'll have a very different looking frame by around the end of February. Seeing as this will definitely be a good weather bike it's not like I need it before the spring anyway. So, not much will be happening until then, I suspect...
sjcprojects
Orange 🍊 Fan
Sure, he has a price list that on site somewhere anyway. The paint job itself is £215 for a single colour (which this will be). With all the extras like filling in the pantographed areas, decals, plus repairing the dent in the downtube, it comes to about £280. Mercian are not that different price-wise, except they do seem to charge quite a bit more for things like adding the decals and for non-Mercian paint colours.
I'm not actually a fan of the fancier paint jobs on his site in terms of my taste, but it does show he obviously knows what he's doing - and a job like mine is likely to be pretty straightforward compared to one with fades/masked off areas, etc.
Also, if it's good enough for Laura Kenny, it's good enough for me!
