The last Overburys Crossfell to ever leave the shop !

focomat 1c

Retro Guru
After Overburys had been closed for around 10 years the building was sold in the spring of 2021 and the contents
removed . This Overburys Crossfell was discovered in the remains of the collapsed workshop at the rear of the shop
 

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After Overburys had been closed for around 10 years the building was sold in the spring of 2021 and the contents
removed . This Overburys Crossfell was discovered in the remains of the collapsed workshop at the rear of the shop
I always wondered what happened to the jigs and other frame building kit. At the time I tried to find out but no luck, anyone know?
 
On close inspection it was clear that with the exception of a replacement rear mech all the correct Shimano Deer Head ( XT)
components were in place . Though I was expecting Bullmoose bars , of which more later . Its interesting to look at this bike
in the context of its time ( early 1985 ) what was a Mountain Bike ? what was it to be used for ? etc. Some insight into these
questions can be gained from the advertising of the time . I refer to the exploits of the Crane brothers and their adventures on
Kilimanjaro . So essentially the ability to go anywhere , to explore , to have an adventure were key selling points . Overburys
were quick to get into this new market . Whereas they had previously built mostly road frames under the ' Andy Powell ' brand
they now introduced a range of three bikes , the Fellrider , Peakfinder and top of the range Crossfell all under the Overburys
brand . They had similar frame geometry to their competitors , all with horizontal top tubes
 

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Reading ' Overbury's 1985 Literature ' posted by raidan73 recently , it contains a press release dated February 1985
announcing the arrival of the Pioneer ' with sloping top tube '

I presume this must be a typing error ? Exactly who 'invented' the sloping top tube is quite another matter
 
Nobody invented that as rough stuff frames and plenty of much earlier frames had allsorts of geometry

For the mtb specific era, Charlie Cunningham could lay claim with his aluminium designs but steel would be a bit later

You have to take into account that there simply wasn't the materials available for other frame designs that would make economic sense. These bikes were brand new and at the frothy bit of that first wave of mtb in the UK,.
 

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