1995 Chas Roberts barn find. White Spider?

[markjohnson76]

Hi All,

This is by far my favourite barn find to date! I picked this up from a one line Facebook ad with one grainy picture. I thought it said Roberts so took a punt and offered £60. The seller almost bit my hand off! They said it was totally gone and seat post stuck. But one turn of the allen key and the seat post moved freely and air in the tyres made it totally rideable. It needs a full strip down, service and rebuild but it looks pretty easy.

It has a real weird mix of parts! The wheels are nice, silver Mavic 231 with XT (739?) hubs and hand built by Harry Rowland. Forks are Manitou Comp and still travel but need a service. Tyres are totally different sizes but not bad quality. DX rear mech, LX chainset, sachs front mech, Tektro brakes, grip shift shifters, flight titanium saddle. Unknown seatpost and stem, 3ttt Pro Compe bars, generic pedals. The paint is dark metallic grey/black and in good condition, I've not cleaned it yet. Wheels, hubs, BB and headset all seem smooth.

I'd love to know more about it, is it a white spider? The lower tubes are ovalised. Frame number starts 9507, does that make it 95?

I think it's now time to stop trawling the Facebook, eBay and gumtree ads. I don't think I'll find a better bargain bike than this. I better start selling some of my other bikes to pay for the trick parts.....

 

[dek1165]

Re:

Could it be a Genesis?

Bargain and l think you're right, stop looking at ads as you're never going to top that!

Cheers

Jon

 

[retrobikeguy]

Re:

ripped off mate, my Roberts cost me £50, had XTR and metallic pink paint.....
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sometimes your lucky....grab yourself a smile

 

[MatBH5]

Re:

Woah! Score..!
I once got a Roberts for £100 on eBay BIN, but you are really going some here.
Number should be YY e.g 95 / Month e.g. 01 = January, 10 = Oct / Number of frame built in said month...
Yours is July '95.
Looks like a MAX bi-ovalised downtube.
White Spiders would generally be fully fillet-brazed, but I'm not sure of spec in 1995. I'll check the catalogues I have here.
On one of my brochures, the later ones, White Spider does seem to drop out of the range, it was Genesis XC and DOGS BOLX Team listed.
Genesis or White Spider - it's great.
Have you ridden it?

 

[markjohnson76]

Re: Re:

Woah! Score..!
I once got a Roberts for £100 on eBay BIN, but you are really going some here.
Number should be YY e.g 95 / Month e.g. 01 = January, 10 = Oct / Number of frame built in said month...
Yours is July '95.
Looks like a MAX bi-ovalised downtube.
White Spiders would generally be fully fillet-brazed, but I'm not sure of spec in 1995. I'll check the catalogues I have here.
On one of my brochures, the later ones, White Spider does seem to drop out of the range, it was Genesis XC and DOGS BOLX Team listed.
Genesis or White Spider - it's great.
Have you ridden it?

Thanks for the info, much appreciated! I'm really happy with the bike. Still can't believe I found it and so local. It was only about half a mile from where it was made! And my studio is only yards from where Chas Roberts started in Sydenham so there a since synchronicity to it all. Must be fate!

I've been trying to research which model it could be, there are a few bikes stated as White spiders on this site as well as instagram etc, and they look like the same frame. Butted at the seat post and ovalised on the down tubes. I'd love to see some catalogues if you have them

I've been in touch through the Roberts website and a guy called Neil kindly replied. Without the original owners name they can't find the build sheet. They did confirm the age etc. He mentioned the Chas Roberts event in London on the 13th June. I'll take the bike there, are any of you going? I hope I can get it sorted out a bit before then otherwise I'll look a bit of an amateur with its current spec! I haven't ridden it yet apart from in circles around my studio. It fits me really well.

Any idea if this frame style was being made in 91-92? I have some 91 XT parts that I want to put on it if its age appropriate. Thanks again for your responses.

 

[tintin40]

lovely.

 

[AlexTemper]

Landed on your feet there for sure.

Could ask Geoff Roberts off of his website for an opinion. He may have even built that frame.

 

[JonSattler]

I have a Genesis which i bought in september 94 and apart from the colour looks identical to yours.