Swallow Griffon

[Rod_Saetan]

Mine had an option welded in for rear drum brake, which i think one of the others guys on here has too (the blue one...forget who's it was)....which was pretty old hat too by then!

Maybe swallow customers were a little more traditional and conservative

Was mine, then went to AndyZ, it was a ‘Merlin’, though I don’t know enough about their models (or birds!) to tell you the difference. Dual hub brake, long head tube, extremely weird but rode quite nicely.

 

[27motorhead]

Was mine, then went to AndyZ, it was a ‘Merlin’, though I don’t know enough about their models (or birds!) to tell you the difference. Dual hub brake, long head tube, extremely weird but rode quite nicely.

That looks very cool Roly!

 

[retrobikeguy]

Was mine, then went to AndyZ, it was a ‘Merlin’, though I don’t know enough about their models (or birds!) to tell you the difference. Dual hub brake, long head tube, extremely weird but rode quite nicely.

Very nice, and rather unique looking bike young sir

 

[retrobikeguy]

Finding reasonable brake levers was tough, they seemed to always be without the rubber tips on the blades ..... Cue the milliput



Great stuff milliput, I have used it to fix all sorts of stuff including the rubber rings that were split on my XTR skewers.

Anyhoo.... That'll do

 

[Tootyred]

Just so we have one of each for comparison......

That's the full set i think!

Ptarmigan....



just incase your not sure what one is....

 

[Tootyred]

Also from a price list of bikes from 88/89

Ptarmigan Exage 531 lugged £580
Merlin exage Columbus OR £646
Ptarmigan deore 531 fillet £660
Griffon exage tange prestige fillet £680
Merlin deore Columbus fillet £730
Griffon deore tange prestige £760
Ptarmigan XT 531 fillet £806
Merlin XT Columbus OR fillet £876
Griffon XT Tange Prestige fillet £906

So they were really good value, especially if you consider a team marin with prestige and xt was £995....in 89.

Full price list is here....

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/bicycle-buyers-guide-1988-9.251100/

 

[doctor-bond]

Ooo, gorgeous. Those forks: prestige all round made them very special BITD. A mate had one and I recall how well they handled (we went touring round France and I rember tyrying to keep up on my Team Stumpy as we overtook buses tanking down Alpine passes.)

 

[raidan73]

Lovely! Been looking for one in my size for years now

 

[JCS]

Hand built British frame

Suntour kit

Yes! I’m in. Looking forward to the build story.
I bet it rides lovely.