Since last time - the critical parts got sourced and the timeline is making more sense.
Headset held me up a bit: 600 Ultegra headsets seem to be gaining a following but are out there:
I want it to be a rider, so went for a TA Axis ti BB in the end [thanks for fitting 'em Bikeshopowner - I hoped you'd get kick out of it
]; hub spares from SJS but had to adapt M737 - anyone know of alternative suppliers of old shimano spares?
Still looking for a 1.5” hardpack which I’ll pair with something fat up front, but as a stop gap, grabbed some Conti Cross Countrys which have a nice rustwall that doesn’t look out of place, especially given the saddle colour. Will also get the wheels restrung before I use it with gusto.
Original brake blocks remain elusive [and with NOS M730 cantis topping the £100 mark :shock:, they may remain so]. Jockey wheels replaced with a decent 600ex ceramic item and a shed spare.
(Also found a sweet NOS period Bell helmet)
So, have got enough to complete a first build up which I’ve done rather hastily to get it in for BOTM. Will post more pics here shortly.
In many ways, the build is the easy part of this project: putting together the bike’s history presents a subtler [if no less enjoyable] task.
But with race pics from this site, youtube -- [
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LjFTFh0hio]
-- and a video I had transferred to DVD, I think I’ve got the basic timeline.
(I've got some copies of the DVD which is cracking – plenty of Tim Davies and Jake Elliot action too
, and lots more; I'll distribute via another thread.)
For now, here’s the basic chronology:
1988: (Roberts?) frames in blue and white with mostly Shimano kit: note the big brake levers, roadie stems and frogleg cantis. Has one of the bikes got a CR headbadge, the other a Peugeot one?
1989: This is the year of my bike. Roberts frames in red white and blue, straight forks. Looks like the earlier 89 races were Shimano and then they went to Campag. Pic below & Fred Salmon’s bike in the Youtube link [about 5 mins in].
1990; This is the year they go to Campag [which I think coincides with the introduction of Centaur, perhaps a more race-pitched group than already available Euclid]. I thought that the frames were Roberts too, but having looked at the Mountain Bike Action vid, I’m unsure. Unfortunately, I can’t find a way to grab a still from the DVD, but it shows Tim on a blue, Campag-equipped steed which has 2 rear mudguard bosses. The same vid has some footage of his Durango exploits. Here the machine is again blue, but with Ritchey logos, and what looks like it might be a Ritchey style seat-clamp arrangement. It’s hard to be sure though: if anyone has better footage of the World’s, I’d love to know. (And thanks GWC90 for clearing up what that orange sticker was for – it had been puzzling me; I’m glad it’s got some significance.)
1991; Ritchey frames and Campag. [Although I haven't got a year for the ad, the bike matches one from 1991 in the
Mountain bike racing book that Tim and Simon Burney published that year; it's simillar to Rich's photo earlier in the thread too.
Having taken it apart and worked out the basic history, I’ve now got a worthwhile bunch of questions which I should easily be able to answer through a lead from Flyingwelshman [much obliged]. Beyond that, the next steps are to fine tune the build and get into the race scene from 1989.
So go on dig out those mags – who won which races, where, during that fine year? Any videos available?
Finally, on bike weight, from
Mountain bike racing:
"Tim’s bikes have never been the lightest, usually 26-28lb, but he rarely has problems with unreliable bikes."
And with the new BB, tyres, tubes and pedals, it’s down to a shade under 26lbs which I can easily live with.
DB
