'90 Nigel Dean Nevada - Finished Pics and Spec 18/06

[Coleman]

This favourite retro beast - its a 1990 Nigel Dean Nevada - I think its pretty rare as there are only a few references to them on various forums and I've not seen a pic yet.

It was my Dads old bike - he had it from new and its been through a few iterations over the years:

1. No japanese parts, i.e. camapg/mavic mix, expensive and it weighed over 30lbs....
2. Then it went on a diet so it got lavished with USE/X Lite/Shimano/Araya rims, that brought the weight down to 26lbs.
3. I had it and put some riser bars/ V front brake on in the late 90's.

Since then it languished in a barn in France, hence the rusty paint finish - I think I'm just going to rub this back with T-Cut and then apply some laquer - seems a shame to re-spray it and loose the original colour, althought the forks will be returned to their original flouro yellow glory!

The rest of it will be put back as original as possible, there are some Suntour XCD bits and some Mavic M6 rims on their way. somehwere I have the original brochure pic - I'll post it when it turns up if anyone's interested.

Cheers

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Re: Nigel Dean Nevada - 1990 I think

somehwere I have the original brochure pic - I'll post it when it turns up if anyone's interested.

yes, please!
cool bike! is that an accutrax fork? i guess nigel dean is related to dean bikes (which are still in business nowadays)?

 

[Coleman]

Nigel Dean was a UK Road Racer turned frame builder - i don't think he is linked to the 'DEAN' Bikes - (They are nice though I saw a titanium one the other day on the interweb).

There's not much info out there on Nigel Dean but I think he stopped makeing bikes around 1992 - made a more road/touring ones than MTBs. There is another, older, 531 Nigel Dean MTB on this forum.

Looking on google gives a couple of links:

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=47276

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread20198.html

I don't think the forks are accutrax - they are Reynold 531 and probably built by Nigel Dean as well.

Will keep you posted if I find any more info,

Thanks for the interest.

 

[legrandefromage]

I have the same Reynolds forks on my GT, a bit nicer than a P2

 

[Coleman]

Here's a bit of an update on this bike to try and spurr on the build

I found a 1990 buyers guide with a spec for it, see attachment below, this is great as it confirmed everything I remembered about the original spec, apart from the rims where were Rigida (a bit annoying since I had already tracked down a set of NOS M6CDs and had them built up onto Suntour XCD hubs) but they meet the spec well enough (anodised, wide and heavy that is!).

The frame is in worse condition than I thought so its off to Argos, once the decal god Gil-m has sorted me a set of repro decals, (wil get you the info soon Gil!). Had a spot of luck here as I managed to get some pics of a 'Montana' the 501 magnum version from the same year so decal sizing/font/location etc was made much easier.

Most of the parts are gathered, will post some pics over the next few days - its been pretty hard to track down a full XCD groupo but its done now Just need an 'Isca Gel' saddle now - anyone got one?

 

[legrandefromage]

bump - because I'm nosy as to how this is getting on.

 

[Coleman]

bump - because I'm nosy as to how this is getting on.

thanks for the bump - it is a good kick in the nuts which I deserve - as I have to report that nothing much has changed, due mostly to being distracted by other bikes which is stupid as this is the bike I set out to restore in the first place and my favourite.

I have found a few more bits for it - the rear mech and cranks that I had were a bit ropey and I've found a NOS rear mech and nice set of cranks with the grey paint intact also found a nice Vetta gel saddle and the illusive stem with inner cable routing has been found in good nick

I am hoping to get the frame to Argos this week along with a road bike so hopefully you'll see it finished soon.

 

[legrandefromage]

thank you, sir.

 

[Coleman]

thank you, sir.

No, thank you!

Thanks to your prompt the frame is in Argos and I've e-mailed Gil_m with the decal details. Paint will be done on the 26th March - update then

 

[Rod_Saetan]

gold frame, neon forks? SRSLY? its going to be more garish than that Mountain Cycle.

<winky smiley>