...ive mentioned before the first days i saw klein, pace, cannondale, orange etc, right back in the beginning, when it was new to us all, and how amazing it all was, the weight the styles, the engineering, the design....quality, all of them, and for me all ground breaking in there own right, and all for different reasons.
a walk around the malverns, im sure for everyone was a different experience, half the time my mouth was on the floor, my heart was missing beats all over the place, every where i looked there was sumthing new, innovative and stunning, and at 16 all out of reach.
sum of the older guys, were riding it already, or sum of it was being displayed by their importers, or in the case of british custom built steel, by the frame builders themselves......and my friends and i were in awe, of all of it.
even though the the kliens and the cannondales and later the pace, were so amazing, ....there was always sumthing that hit the spot, about having a truly custom handbuilt steel frame.....and being able to talk to the builder himself, was a real pleasure, nice guys and they new there stuff, but i was 16, and the choice was simple, buy it and forget racing, or wait, and keep racing......i waited and kept racing,(the crack was just too good)
retrobike can be a very inspiring place,...........so my quest for a 20 year old legend began.
easy you may say, and so i thought, for me it was simple, chas roberts, dave yates, dave lloyd, overburys, zinn, all stunning fillet brazed, handbuilt top of the range great british quality.
but sadly pickings are thin enough and i wanted something rare, it had to be one of the above, but those that had it, wanted to keep it, and those for sale... 10 people were chasing it..!!!!!!!........and then i found an abused wreck, for sale on ebay.
it was misdiscribed a little, as sum of it, is indeed, in pretty bad shape, but the guy was genuine, and very good about it, and did refund part of the money, with this i was happy.
but guys oh my god, what a mess, bent gear hanger, bent brake bosses, seized seatpost, seized bottom bracket, seized handlebarstem, cracked/ damaged headset, oh and i forgot to mention rust rust and more rust....
but what i had in my hands, to me was a now very rare and an original handmade reynolds 753at, fillet brazed, british built frame by the 70"s legendary roadracer/ turned mountain biker and frame builder Dave Lloyd.
here are sum pics of the shocking state it is in, and as work progresses i will post some pics.
a walk around the malverns, im sure for everyone was a different experience, half the time my mouth was on the floor, my heart was missing beats all over the place, every where i looked there was sumthing new, innovative and stunning, and at 16 all out of reach.
sum of the older guys, were riding it already, or sum of it was being displayed by their importers, or in the case of british custom built steel, by the frame builders themselves......and my friends and i were in awe, of all of it.
even though the the kliens and the cannondales and later the pace, were so amazing, ....there was always sumthing that hit the spot, about having a truly custom handbuilt steel frame.....and being able to talk to the builder himself, was a real pleasure, nice guys and they new there stuff, but i was 16, and the choice was simple, buy it and forget racing, or wait, and keep racing......i waited and kept racing,(the crack was just too good)
retrobike can be a very inspiring place,...........so my quest for a 20 year old legend began.
easy you may say, and so i thought, for me it was simple, chas roberts, dave yates, dave lloyd, overburys, zinn, all stunning fillet brazed, handbuilt top of the range great british quality.
but sadly pickings are thin enough and i wanted something rare, it had to be one of the above, but those that had it, wanted to keep it, and those for sale... 10 people were chasing it..!!!!!!!........and then i found an abused wreck, for sale on ebay.
it was misdiscribed a little, as sum of it, is indeed, in pretty bad shape, but the guy was genuine, and very good about it, and did refund part of the money, with this i was happy.
but guys oh my god, what a mess, bent gear hanger, bent brake bosses, seized seatpost, seized bottom bracket, seized handlebarstem, cracked/ damaged headset, oh and i forgot to mention rust rust and more rust....
but what i had in my hands, to me was a now very rare and an original handmade reynolds 753at, fillet brazed, british built frame by the 70"s legendary roadracer/ turned mountain biker and frame builder Dave Lloyd.
here are sum pics of the shocking state it is in, and as work progresses i will post some pics.
