the unofficial 'cool' 1980's Reynolds 531/501 bike thread

[Aeronaut]

I say generic as there are so few differences in the basic layout - I would love to know what they were copied from. Each manufacturer had there own touches such as the wraparound stays on MrK's Overbury or the pencil stays found on others. Some have very neat cable stops whereas some are quite cheap and cheerful.

The tubes I guess, would have come from Reynolds and the used by the individual frame builders.

I was just tracing the bloodlines of the early UK MTB framebuilding scene


As far as I'm aware, the forks are all the same design except where carrier mounts are added. either 501 or 531

Cool, basicly emulating the heritage of early mtb design.. it makes sense now. cheers

 

[legrandefromage]

The Breezer Series II seems to be the blueprint:

and the Fisher Montare

compare to Mr.K's similar aged Overbury:

sexy Ritchey looks like the most likely candidate:

Of course, its all speculation on my part untill someone comes up with a magazine article or an explanation.

This thread got me started: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... ht=wallace

 

[legrandefromage]

Some more info and a very early Saracen:

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... ohnwallace

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7667

 

[Aeronaut]

Stop it! you're making me want one

...shall have no such luck finding anything down my local recycling centre though, i tried "we can't allow anything to be taken off the site" said the lardy dump man yesterday :roll:

 

[legrandefromage]

Stop it! you're making me want one

...shall have no such luck finding anything down my local recycling centre though, i tried "we can't allow anything to be taken off the site" said the lardy dump man yesterday :roll:

Well, I started this thread to see if we could un-earth as much as possible and see if there is anything hiding away that should be out and on show.

 

[knobby]

I bet I'm not alone in being inspired to start scanning ebay for one of these!

Cool wall candidates??

 

[Neil]

I bet I'm not alone in being inspired to start scanning ebay for one of these!

Cool wall candidates??

I'd post a pic of my frame (there is a pic I took today, in my gallery, though), but it falls foul of the fork crown rules.

It's been laungishing in the garage for too long, and could do with being sorted out. It's painted in a kind of faux-Klein paintjob (it had no branding, just the Reynolds stickers, and a sticker of the bike-shop where I bought it), although I bought it (in 95) purely because I'd always wanted a 531 frame, and it was cheap.

It was used / built up, briefly as a hack bike, with Mavic 230 rims and an STX-RC groupset.

 

[mrkawasaki]

Interesting afternoon taking the green Andy Powell back to Overbury's in Bristol - Mrs P was in charming form on the front desk and got Andy to come out of the mechanics lair to view his handiwork 26 years hence. Discovered that they started making ATBs in 1983 and the first racing-specific 'Pioneer' in 1985. They also made an elevated stay - they have a poster on the wall at the back of the shop still - I'd love to track one of these down! Picked up the MF from up the road and couldn't resist the Bob Jackson - as it was in my size...

Mr K

 

[legrandefromage]

Ooooh... thems nice.

I'm liking rootling around the early history of UK built stuff


Thanks for posting those.

 

[xerxes]

I'm just looking at the really lazy head and seat tube angles on these early bikes, they must have massive turning circles! :shock:

I'm guessing you can just about get them round the M25.