Roberts White Spider 1993

[27motorhead]

Double rigid retro goodness in that last photo. White Spider and an Explosive!

Giving the mechanics a day off from internal cable routing and bleeding brakes!

 

[Camelos]

This is a great project. Loved reading it. We have an early 90’s white spider that’s been in the garage for the last 15 years or so - it’s in the blue and yellow race team paint job just the like the picture in the brochure you posted - thanks for sharing. I’m going to dig it out at the weekend and assess its condition. Would love to get it done up at Winston’s but the frame’s top tube is too long for me and it’s a bit small for my husband. Maybe we will list but either way it’s definitely too nice to be at the back garage not getting any love.

 

[JCS]

First off-road shake-down ride after several road rides.







So, how does it ride?

Very comfortable. Well balanced. Very stable at speed. Holds lines well on corners.

It's more of a tourer than a racer. You could spend hours in the saddle.

In a 1991 MBI review of the Dogs Bolx there is a quote (below) from Chas Roberts stating that the DB is built for racing rather than recreational riding, and the White Spider is a more forgiving bike. That matches my first impressions.

This bike is ideal for long cross country rides rather than twisty technical trails. Looking forward to using this regularly.

 

[Lucidone]

Great to see a beautifull bike built beautifully and even better to see it get ridden!

Where were the pictures taken, New Forest or New Mexico?

 

[Camelos]

First off-road shake-down ride after several road rides.

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So, how does it ride?

Very comfortable. Well balanced. Very stable at speed. Holds lines well around corners.

It's more of a tourer than a racer. You could spend hours in the saddle.

In a 1991 MBI review of the Dogs Bolx there is a quote (below) from Chas Roberts stating that the DB is built for racing rather than recreational riding, and the White Spider is a more forgiving bike. That matches my first impressions.

This bike is ideal for long cross country rides rather than twisty technical trails. Looking forward to using this regularly.

View attachment 891867

Well done. It looks fabulous. Totally inspired me to renovate our white spider - just got the same tyres - ordered from the US. How are you finding them?
Also very true about touring. The white spider makes a great tourer. When my husband was last using the bike circa 2006/7 it had a rack fitted and we went touring in Ireland, Yorkshire, Scotland.

 

[bold stelvis]

nice - really like this build - also great scenery

how are you finding the sim works tyres BTW? One of the options being considered for my lavadome

 

[JCS]

Thanks for the positive comments, much apreciated.
The pics are taken in UAE. There are some great off road trails.
The tyres - I rate them very highly. For dry conditions and single track/gravel they are fantastic. 1.95 is a good size.
They are not a tyre for shredding extreme downhills and I can't imagine they would be great in wet mud. Panaracer Smoke/Dart would be better for that.

 

[grantoury]

I love the Roberts, its beautiful. Great paint job and colour scheme. The black fork is the best match I think.

 

[JCS]

Adventures on the wheels of steel. Recent ride pics.
I am really glad I found the Suntour XC Pro components for this build. My first proper bike was a 1991 Kona Cinder Cone with Suntour XC LTD. Since then I always wanted a bike with XC Pro.
The XC Pro is beautiful kit. It doesn't shift as smoothly as Shimano but I find the brakes to have a much nicer feel - better modulation.

 

[Tootyred]

The "problem" (if you can call it that with suntour) is the lack of float on the rear mech.

The jockey wheels don't have play in them like shimano (the float was added by shimano to solve other issues they invented with sloppy thumbies etc).

You need to be incredibly accurate in setting up your gears and dialing them in. Once your there and the cables have finished messing about getting compacted up and stretching it will be fine...

Think of it as a suntour rolls royce, over a shimano tractor.

Looks great btw. Nice job.