doctor-bond
Feature Bike
For sale is a rare and intriguing UK mountain bike frame built by Ronson. I bought by instinct from a chap on here a few years ago. The info he had was that it was commissioned in the late 80’s via a now defunct bike shop in South Yorkshire.
When I received the frame and started weighing up the details, it all added up to a bit of a mystery. Here’s some clues:
Fillet brazed out of what appears to be Reynolds 531. Reynolds 531 sticker.
27 mm seat post
Reynolds cast BB shell and dropouts.
Sweet lugged BB shell and uncrimped chainstays.
Horizontal rear dropouts with adjusters.
Road-style non-slotted cable guides.
1” headset
125mm rear spacing
Experimental semi-slope top tube
The big clues for me are the roadie details and the very rear spacing. These lead me to believe that it is one of those custom frames built by road builders in the 80’s. The Reynolds sticker is post 89, which fits the back story from the original owner. But without that info, I’d date it as an earlier frame that was resprayed post 89 (it was also specced with 90’s suspension forks before it came to me).
The narrow spacing seems designed to be able to run a 5 or six speed block. The sloping toptube may have been another solution to a quest for more stand over height in an age that lacked long seat posts. Or is there an advantage to keeping the tubes at 90 degrees where they are brazed: perhaps this led to the quirky bent tube solution?
So we either have an early UK mountain bike frame, or one built in the late 80s with an anachronistic spec. Either way, who was or is Ronson?
Well, more mystery. The bike shop in Doncaster that supplied the frame is out of business. But after much searching, the interweb revealed a couple of good clues:
When I saw these I got pretty excited: whoever Ronson was, he certainly could put a frame together – these have been built by a master not some geezer in a shed. I’ve seen one other road bike on ebay – but have never come across another mountain bike.
And that’s the extent of the info I have. It would make a quality early 80’s mountain bike or tourer: I was thinking along the line of bullmoose bars, a bi-plane fork and TA cranks. 650b would be cool. Alternatively go the late 80’s route and you’ve lots of other options.
Measurements:
Seat Tube: Centre Top: 21” Centre ‘Centre’: 19.5”
Top Tube effective 23”
Head Tube: 124mm
Prices:
Frame: £100 plus postage which is likely to be about £15 or £20 to the UK depending on whether wheels are included. A bit more for overseas.
As you can see from the pics, I’ve also got a set of very scarce Araya RM20 grey Super Hard Anodized wheels on quality Suntour XC hubs. They have the correct hub spacing for the Ronson, a silky Suntour winner 6 spd freewheel and a come with a pair of original mid 80’s amberwalls. These are available along with the frame for £120 posted. They won’t be for sale separately.
Show an interest here, PM and payment to secure. Paypal gift or Paypal pay the fees, or bank transfer.
Thanks for looking.
When I received the frame and started weighing up the details, it all added up to a bit of a mystery. Here’s some clues:
Fillet brazed out of what appears to be Reynolds 531. Reynolds 531 sticker.
27 mm seat post
Reynolds cast BB shell and dropouts.
Sweet lugged BB shell and uncrimped chainstays.
Horizontal rear dropouts with adjusters.
Road-style non-slotted cable guides.
1” headset
125mm rear spacing
Experimental semi-slope top tube
The big clues for me are the roadie details and the very rear spacing. These lead me to believe that it is one of those custom frames built by road builders in the 80’s. The Reynolds sticker is post 89, which fits the back story from the original owner. But without that info, I’d date it as an earlier frame that was resprayed post 89 (it was also specced with 90’s suspension forks before it came to me).
The narrow spacing seems designed to be able to run a 5 or six speed block. The sloping toptube may have been another solution to a quest for more stand over height in an age that lacked long seat posts. Or is there an advantage to keeping the tubes at 90 degrees where they are brazed: perhaps this led to the quirky bent tube solution?
So we either have an early UK mountain bike frame, or one built in the late 80s with an anachronistic spec. Either way, who was or is Ronson?
Well, more mystery. The bike shop in Doncaster that supplied the frame is out of business. But after much searching, the interweb revealed a couple of good clues:
When I saw these I got pretty excited: whoever Ronson was, he certainly could put a frame together – these have been built by a master not some geezer in a shed. I’ve seen one other road bike on ebay – but have never come across another mountain bike.
And that’s the extent of the info I have. It would make a quality early 80’s mountain bike or tourer: I was thinking along the line of bullmoose bars, a bi-plane fork and TA cranks. 650b would be cool. Alternatively go the late 80’s route and you’ve lots of other options.
Measurements:
Seat Tube: Centre Top: 21” Centre ‘Centre’: 19.5”
Top Tube effective 23”
Head Tube: 124mm
Prices:
Frame: £100 plus postage which is likely to be about £15 or £20 to the UK depending on whether wheels are included. A bit more for overseas.
As you can see from the pics, I’ve also got a set of very scarce Araya RM20 grey Super Hard Anodized wheels on quality Suntour XC hubs. They have the correct hub spacing for the Ronson, a silky Suntour winner 6 spd freewheel and a come with a pair of original mid 80’s amberwalls. These are available along with the frame for £120 posted. They won’t be for sale separately.
Show an interest here, PM and payment to secure. Paypal gift or Paypal pay the fees, or bank transfer.
Thanks for looking.
I send you a PM in a few minutes best regards Daniel
