Awesome Foursome Part 1 - Formula 1

[tintin40]

Sex on wheels. Love the paint work. Odd seeing a non e-satay version. Never seen that before. The complete bike is just eye candy 100%

 

[mheywoo1]

You may be right. Andy, who I bought it from used to frequent these parts.

wow thats very nice.

I was so transfixed on the frame i didnt even notice the v brakes for ages

ive seen this bike before somewhere, there might even be a thread on here about it :?

you have some nice projects now, look forward to more pics of them all

mark

 

[mheywoo1]

Re:

He thought the paint may have been done by a company called George Ray coach works in Chessington. I’ll probably follow that lead up at some point......

 

[mk one]

found a pic of a version with the normal stays

been looking at your frame and the whole design seems different from other Formula's i have seen, the bb area is different and the front triangle is a lot more filled in and has the internal cables. Did they make later versions of these?

the last 2 pics are of John Samways race bike.

mark

 

[M-Power]

Re:

Amazing looking bike, love flip paint

 

[mheywoo1]

found a pic of a version with the normal stays

been looking at your frame and the whole design seems different from other Formula's i have seen, the bb area is different and the front triangle is a lot more filled in and has the internal cables. Did they make later versions of these?

the last 2 pics are of John Samways race bike.

mark

Yes there were two fundamental versions. The photos you’ve supplied are first gen. Mine is second gen.

 

[mk one]

found a pic of a version with the normal stays

been looking at your frame and the whole design seems different from other Formula's i have seen, the bb area is different and the front triangle is a lot more filled in and has the internal cables. Did they make later versions of these?

the last 2 pics are of John Samways race bike.

mark

Yes there were two fundamental versions. The photos you’ve supplied are first gen. Mine is second gen.

have you found out anymore about the paint yet? really is a stand out feature of the frame, nightmare to touch up i should imagine

still havent found the recent thread about the version with roberts stays though :?

mark

 

[sinnerman]

Re: Re:

Apparently less than 10 of these MK2 frames were built. They couldn’t find many buyers which is not surprising when you consider what the seller told me about the material value of the carbon in each frame.....

It was F1 grade carbon which at the time was around £100 per square metre for a 0.25mm layer. Each half of this frame is approx 1m2 and it’s up to 4mm think in places. So, there was over £1500 of raw carbon in the frame alone. Then it needed making. And the DOGSBOLLOX rear end had to be bought from Chas blah blah blah.

The frame was from ‘93/4. The paint is likely to be a few years newer as apparently flip paint like this was not available when new. This was likely to have been another £500 or so. The thing that impressed me most about this frame was the massive flat section behind the headtube. It’s comply flat. No carbon ripples, no paint orange peel. Obviously the carbon fabricator and the painter were both artisans.

And to think it cost me less than half the price of an equivalent spec DOGS! Retro carbon is seriously undervalued.

One other fact; that starburst paint that MTB Pro said would add £250 to the frame cost actually cost over £2k to do!

I’m really looking forward to taking it all apart and seeing how weighty the frame is

As for build.....
Silver Pace rings on the existing Middkeburn cranks, x-lite Ti bars and chicken sticks. I’ve got a couple of wheel options which I’ll try in the next few weeks.

Then I need to be a bit imaginative with the brakes and seatpost. I want a 27.2 Ti in-line and standard cantis. The cable routing is for Magura so I need a dogs-collar and cable hanger for the rear brake as V’s are just not right. I’ve got something in mind but not sure how “messy” it will look

I’m now on the hunt for a 115mm long X-Lite L168 Stem. WHY?

Stunning, i remember it when it came up for sale.

Ive posted this elsewhere, but given some of the above comments, i think it it has some value here..............The inner workings of Magic....!

 

[sinnerman]

To be fair, there was a lot more to this project and its forward development than " Chas....Blah blah blah" as you put it, and perhaps its misunderstandings like this that stop it getting the notoriety that lesser frames/projects enjoy. (to be fair the D.O.G.S B.O.L.O.X has only risen in popularity and price in more recent years and mainly due to this site and a clearer understanding of it).

 

[sinnerman]

Re:

The rear end of the Original bike wore well, but with tweeks in frame geometry, e-stays creating as many problems as the design solved, and a want to both stiffen and liven up the ride characteristics even further, Chas was asked if he and the team were able to put some more time to the project.

Given the best on the table from the stable of Roberts was the D.O.G.B.O.L.O.X (and remained so until the companies closure), the solution was an altered designed mainframe and a significantly enhanced ride, due to the tweeks in the frames geometry and its carbon lay up further enhanced with the rear triangle with the two piece monostay and multi materials, its one piece horse shoe wishbone silver soldered and carefully mated to the front triangle using Formula one bonding materials.

The rear end of your bike is made of several parts, and with the two companies working together they were able to perfect an amazing machine. Using the Race feedback and with the joint knowledge from each of there respective fields, they were able to take an already excellent race bike and simply make it better.

IMHO you have a very very underestimated and grossly undervalued machine, especially given what went into it and who was responsible for its development.

Rest assured if it wore a YETI badge it would be dam near priceless i reckon...




(the Images show the new front end against a more modern D.O.G.S but was forwarded to me from the Roberts Frame shop to demonstrate, your actual frames rear triangle is made up of ..Composite rear stays--
---Extra stiff 4130 horseshoe to minimize brake flex
---Silver soldered Reynolds 753 stays
---Columbus SL monostay
---Massive clearances to eliminate mud build up.)