Show us your... Overbury's
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Number four, lots of character. Careworn.
PaulDavisTheFirst
Retro Newbie
Re:
My girlfriend lived not more than a mile or so from Overburys. Bought her a custom Andy Powell touring bike in 1986. Before that, there was my:
1985 Pioneer, custom tubing mix (753 and some Columbus stuff that I don't recall). Raced on the Quantocks and at Man vs. Horse Vs. Mountain Bike (Llanwyrtd Wells). Ridden Seattle->San Francisco in 1988, then all over the low hills near Seattle.
Shimano Deore XT derailleurs and shifted added in 1988. Reborn a couple of times since then, most recently as a beater/cruiser for use around Philadelphia
Gear to note:
Not Actually Old But Classic:
Actually Old and actually Classic
I just bought a new Surly Straggler, which I just today realized is heavier than this bike, even with Brooks saddle. A little disappointing since this is probably just as capable of anything as the Straggler. Still ... 30+ years ... time for me to move on.
My girlfriend lived not more than a mile or so from Overburys. Bought her a custom Andy Powell touring bike in 1986. Before that, there was my:
1985 Pioneer, custom tubing mix (753 and some Columbus stuff that I don't recall). Raced on the Quantocks and at Man vs. Horse Vs. Mountain Bike (Llanwyrtd Wells). Ridden Seattle->San Francisco in 1988, then all over the low hills near Seattle.
Shimano Deore XT derailleurs and shifted added in 1988. Reborn a couple of times since then, most recently as a beater/cruiser for use around Philadelphia
Gear to note:
Not Actually Old But Classic:
Moustache Bars
Rivendell bar end shifters
Brooks saddle
Buddha Bell
Tektro cantilevers
Phil Woods BB
Actually Old and actually Classic
Cook Bros. cranks
2 of 3 chainrings are DRUMROLL Shimano Biopace
Original freewheel
Front wheel hand built by the only owner in 1989, original hub, double butted spokes, Mavic rim. NEVER NEEDED TRUING
I just bought a new Surly Straggler, which I just today realized is heavier than this bike, even with Brooks saddle. A little disappointing since this is probably just as capable of anything as the Straggler. Still ... 30+ years ... time for me to move on.
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mrkawasaki
Retrobike Rider
Terrific!
Hi Paul,
Welcome to the group...and that's a great bike to drop.
It's probably one of fewer than 10 of that specific design still around.
At the time Andy Powell had been steered away from the conventional designs of the Cross Fell etc, which mimicked the likes of Specialized Stumpjumper, Dawes Ranger, Saracen Conquest of the time.
For a few years (1985-6) the Pioneer was lighter, steeper and taller than anything else around. It is characterised by the lugless build (other then the BB shell), tall head tube, longish double-bend chainstays, Cinelli cast fork crown (rather than the previous cheap pressed Haden one), and the very high BB, higher than the axles.
This made is a consummate cross country bike for UK conditions, similar, but not as extreme as the Cleland Aventura/Highpath tendency.
By 1987, following NW USA influences such as Kona and Brodie, the Pioneer had changed to lower BB, shorter chainstays, unicrown forks with less rake, and reduced head tube to increase bar drop. These changes still produced a legendary XC racing ride, but very different to the adventurous woods-bike style of the earliest Pioneers.
I still have my original similar, but slightly smaller, Pioneer from Feb 1986. Reynolds 531, with a mix of Suntour XC and Shimano XT, double rollercams, Biopace, bullmoose bars etc. Ridden in the 1986 Fat Tyre Five and Man V Horse...
All the best,
Welcome to the group...and that's a great bike to drop.
It's probably one of fewer than 10 of that specific design still around.
At the time Andy Powell had been steered away from the conventional designs of the Cross Fell etc, which mimicked the likes of Specialized Stumpjumper, Dawes Ranger, Saracen Conquest of the time.
For a few years (1985-6) the Pioneer was lighter, steeper and taller than anything else around. It is characterised by the lugless build (other then the BB shell), tall head tube, longish double-bend chainstays, Cinelli cast fork crown (rather than the previous cheap pressed Haden one), and the very high BB, higher than the axles.
This made is a consummate cross country bike for UK conditions, similar, but not as extreme as the Cleland Aventura/Highpath tendency.
By 1987, following NW USA influences such as Kona and Brodie, the Pioneer had changed to lower BB, shorter chainstays, unicrown forks with less rake, and reduced head tube to increase bar drop. These changes still produced a legendary XC racing ride, but very different to the adventurous woods-bike style of the earliest Pioneers.
I still have my original similar, but slightly smaller, Pioneer from Feb 1986. Reynolds 531, with a mix of Suntour XC and Shimano XT, double rollercams, Biopace, bullmoose bars etc. Ridden in the 1986 Fat Tyre Five and Man V Horse...
All the best,
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PaulDavisTheFirst
Retro Newbie
danson67":2p09qviz said:
Thanks for the welcome. Yes, I knew very well the history of the Pioneer, having been in and out of the shop many many times over the previous couple of years. I had some other mountain bike before the Pioneer - don't recall what it was, but nothing particularly remarkable. When Andy came up with the Pioneer, I knew it was the bike I wanted.
Does anyone know what happened to Andy? I've scoured the internet and established that the shop closed, but I never found a hint of what he did instead.
My own Overbury's story, which I've repeated to way more US bike shops than ever wanted to hear it, is about the way that Specialized and Shimano teamed up to more or less destroy them. In 1985/1986, if you went to any mountain bike race in the UK, everybody who was anybody was on an Overburys (and frequently a Pioneer). This included ex motorcross people, the newly arrived bike messengers turned racers and the few roadies who were trying out off road. But all those Overburys machines needed Shimano parts, and so (according to Andy), Specialized leaned on Shimano to slow down the parts supply to a crawl. Andy ended up with a warehouse space hold more than hundreds of thousands pounds worth of unfinished bikes, waiting for parts. They did eventually show up of course, but the result of the 6-12 month period where this took place was that word got out that despite Overburys having the best UK mountain bike (by far, for racing anyway), they were slow and it would take months to get a bike from them.
Not uncoincidentally, it was precisely this period that saw Specialized grow in significance in the UK MB scene, and they were soon the most common brand that you'd see racers on.
The bike served me well even though I had stopped mountain bike racing by 1986 or so. I took it to Germany to start a Ph.D near Heidelberg, and wowed a young guy called German who had just opened a mountain bike shop there (he is still open, and remarkably has essentially zero internet presence). Riding the Pioneer in the Odenwald was a true joy, and the 1000' hill climb into work every day up the Konigstuhl got me into even better shape. Then I rode it down the US west coast, where it performed wonderfully as a touring machine - climbing on that bike was as good as any other bike I've ever owned. It remained my primary bike for 7 years of commuting to work in Seattle, but in the meantime I got into ultramarathon cycling. By 1999 I had moved back to the east coast, and splurged on a custom Spectrum Ti road frame, which was a revelation. And in the meantime, I'd also ridden Amsterdam->Athens with my first wife on a Counterpoint Opus IV semi-recumbent tandem. In the 2000's I got into triathlon with my second wife, and have been on a carbon Aegis for a while, but racing triathlons is also over for me now. The Surly Straggler is the start of a new era for me, just sad it weighs more than the Pioneer!
I hope to have another Overburys to show everyone next week ... if you read carefully, you can already guess which one
Graham_hkr
Specialized Fan
Interesting write up there PDTF..
The other guy involved with Overbury's that I wonder about is Steve Devine.
Steve appeared on some of the Overbury's publicity, and had a flat in Lllanwrtyd Wells, but IIRC he came from Bristol and had some involvement in the design of the Pioneer.
I bought my Pioneer through him, rather than direct from Andy and Edna, since my friend had a holiday home in Abergwesyn, up the road from Phil Westoby's Mountainbike centre and Red Kite in Llanwrtyd Wells.
All the best,
Steve appeared on some of the Overbury's publicity, and had a flat in Lllanwrtyd Wells, but IIRC he came from Bristol and had some involvement in the design of the Pioneer.
I bought my Pioneer through him, rather than direct from Andy and Edna, since my friend had a holiday home in Abergwesyn, up the road from Phil Westoby's Mountainbike centre and Red Kite in Llanwrtyd Wells.
All the best,
