Roberts White Spider 1993

[JCS]

After finishing the build of my 1992 Kona Explosif I started looking for the next project.

I wanted something special, and within my main criteria of early 90’s, rigid, steel or titanium I started looking for higher end names such as Merlin, Brodie, Fat Chance, Roberts, etc.

There wasn’t much on the market in my size. I was also looking on eBay and FB but really, I wanted to buy via this site for better peace of mind. I’d been offered a Merlin frame and a Kona Hot via FB – both turned out to be scams. Dodged a bullet there.

A couple of months in to the search, the planets started to align and things got very interesting very quickly.

I got a lead on a Roberts White Spider that was potentially available. This piqued my interest – UK tailor-made fillet brazed finery. But, was it my size? Most Roberts frames I’d seen were too small.

Discussions went well. The size was right and a deal was agreed.



It’s hard to describe how excited I was to acquire a Roberts. Chas Roberts is an iconic brand – builders of Championship winning bikes and up there with the best steel frame builders in the world in terms of craftsmanship and performance. All Roberts bikes were built to order based on the size and weight of the rider. Buying a bike from Chas Roberts must have been like visiting Savile Row for a tailor-made suit. BITD my budget stretched to mainstream brands only – a tailor-made bike was out of reach. So to now own a Roberts is really exciting.


So, what have we got?

It’s a White Spider built in February 1993 and includes the original Roberts stem and Bontrager composite fork.

Seat tube c-t-c is 18 inches and 21 inches centre to top of seat tube.

It uses a 1 inch headset and all cables are routed via the top tube.

There are zero mudguard or rack mounts – which was another plus point for me.


The build plan

I built the Explosif to pretty-much catalogue spec. But this White Spider gave new opportunities for a build direction, for two main reasons:

• Roberts bikes were built to order and the buyer could specify any colour and components they wanted – as such there is no constraint here of 'catalogue spec’
• This frame does not have the original paint. It was originally white but was resprayed blue by a previous owner. It was a nice deep metallic however it was showing signs of wear & tear

With this in mind I decided on a ‘blank canvas’ approach and will build this bike as if I was ordering a White Spider new from Roberts.

Before we go further with the build story I’d like to say a huge thankyou to @Tootyred & @widowmaker . Top blokes!

 

[JCS]

As Chas Roberts is/was a British company, and I now owned a Roberts bike, I wanted to take the opportunity to meet the guy who built this frame in the first place.

I phoned Winston Vaz. Winston confirmed he originally built the frame and his brother Mario confirmed he could respray it. It was good to speak to the builder of this frame and to have the Vaz brothers involved in this build.

The next decision was colour.

I wanted to keep the stem and forks black. My first choice colour for the frame was white, as Roberts’ look great in white. But the more I thought about it the more I realized I wanted some colour rather than a monochrome theme.

I looked through some Roberts archive brochures for ideas.






I then took the frame to meet it’s maker!

Train to London then out to Hither Green, walk round the corner from the station and at the end of the street is the Vaz workshop.



It was great to meet Winston and hear about his career as a frame builder, first with Holdsworth, then Chas Roberts and now with his own company. It sounds like the Roberts workshop was very busy BITD. Although the catalogue listed standard models, these were a guide and the actual frames often had unique touches.

Here is the man himself:



Winston had a custom order frame mid-build on the jig:



I left the frame, forks and stem with the guys for them to work their magic.

Shortly after that I got a message from Mario that made me smile…

 

[JCS]

Heading back to Hither Green to collect the finished frame, fork and stem was very exciting.

I love the colour - it incorporates fades and a burst of colour at the front, and still with a lot of white at the back. The best of both worlds based on my original thinking for colour choice.



And now the really fun part starts with the build! Here is where we are so far:

 

[27motorhead]

What a great project. Lived in London pretty much 30 years in various locations before I escaped late last year. Two regrets… one being never popping into the Roberts showroom despite riding past it numerous times, and the other is never popping down to Hither Green to get more info on the Tim Gould Roberts/Peugeot I owned from Winston…

Looking forward to this taking shape and love the attention to detail you have gone to so far! Keep up the great work!

 

[mior]

What tires are those??

 

[TreaderSteve]

Looking excellent - looking forward to seeing the groupset and finishing choices on this one

 

[JCS]

What tires are those??

They are made by Panaracer.

I like them because they look retro and perform really well. I ride in fairly dry conditions so Smoke/Dart are overkill. These are smooth on the top and grippy on the sides. Perfect for the terrain I ride.

 

[JCS]

The 1993 Roberts catalogue lists two models of White Spider.
I don't know which model mine is, but it does have a fat down tube; diameter is 38mm compared with 32mm for the top tube.



Here's a few frame shots. The craftsmanship is impressive.

 

[JCS]

Current build status.

Going with Suntour XC Pro for the gears & brakes.



The XT seatpost is a temporary placeholder.



It's nice to build a bike with Suntour for a change. As this is a 1993 frame I will fit the 1993 XC Pro brakes:

 

[Lucidone]

Already a stunner and more to come!