Unknown very light steel frame.

[Rampage]

I bought this frame from someone on here. Nothing is known of it.
It has two noodles at the top of the seat tube, Ritchey dropouts, S shaped chain and seat stays. It weighs 1600g which is the same as a titanium frame I have.

I’m going to build it up as a lightish gravel / cyclocross bike.

 

[Rampage]

As per usual the headset is first, it’s a ‘SurePromise’ from Amazon, I’ve had a few of these before and they are good. Unfortunately the bearings in this one are a bit rough so I’ll use some from another headset.

The first problem is the steerer isn’t really long enough. I’ve found a USE Atom stem with a low height, but I don’t have the part that adjusts the headset tension, although there wouldn’t be room on the steerer tube for it if I did.

Continuing the mass produced through underpaid workers in poor conditions theme is the NOS Tektro callipers, also in turquoise.

 

[drystonepaul]

Looks good Chris.
Crazy noodles at the seat cluster. Are you supposed to route a bare front mech cable straight down from one of them?

Nice headset press by the way. Did you make that?

 

[FluffyChicken]

Looks good Chris.
Crazy noodles at the seat cluster. Are you supposed to route a bare front mech cable straight down from one of them?

Nice headset press by the way. Did you make that?

Yes, turn of the 90s frame had them quite often.
My 91 RM Altitude has one to, just for the front mech.

You can sometimes run some inner sleeve through it, but not always and doesn't really help.


This is either a custom job or something quite nice. No cheap frames use them.

The drop out mean it not turn of the 90s and more late 90s +, although mid 90s is suggested by the Canti's.. It sure when ritchey used had the drops to market.

Unless it is set for a CX setup?

The weight from a good size frame is silly, could be road thickness tubing. It would be very hard work to keep it that light. In steel.

 

[raidan73]

It looks like the rear mech cable will rub heavily on the seat tube, or is it just the angle of the photo?

 

[Rampage]

It looks like the rear mech cable will rub heavily on the seat tube, or is it just the angle of the photo?

I’ve got some PTFE tubing that will go over the inner cable and protect the seattube. It’s similar to the stuff Klein use for their internal cabling.

 

[Woz]

Could the frame be a Voodoo?

I've definitely seen something like this before.....

 

[Rampage]

Yes, turn of the 90s frame had them quite often.
My 91 RM Altitude has one to, just for the front mech.

You can sometimes run some inner sleeve through it, but not always and doesn't really help.


This is either a custom job or something quite nice. No cheap frames use them.

The drop out mean it not turn of the 90s and more late 90s +, although mid 90s is suggested by the Canti's.. It sure when ritchey used had the drops to market.

Unless it is set for a CX setup?

The weight from a good size frame is silly, could be road thickness tubing. It would be very hard work to keep it that light. In steel.

I’m using PTFE tubing to go through the noodles etc.
I’ve put load of pictures of this frame up on various forums / Facebook groups, no one seems to know what it is. The frame looks to be well made but the canti studs are at funny angles, both are different, so these may not be original.
I had wondered about a cyclocross bike or perhaps a fixie / single speed with no rear brake?
Good point about the dating of the dropouts, I’ll have to see when they started making them.
I’ve looked through all the road manufacturers that made MTB’s but there’s nothing similar.
The tubes you can see the end of are really thin (head tube, seat tube etc).
Someone suggested (maybe Danson) that the tubing was modern as the short tapers have only been used in newer tubesets, unless it was a custom order of tubing.

 

[Rampage]

Looks good Chris.
Crazy noodles at the seat cluster. Are you supposed to route a bare front mech cable straight down from one of them?

Nice headset press by the way. Did you make that?

Yes, I can’t find anything else with similar noodles!
I’ve not really look at cable routing yet, but as per the posts above I’ve got some PTFE tubing that will go through the noodles for the inner cables.

I made the headset press years ago but have only used it a couple of times! The bottom nut is a quick-nut so it makes it easier / quicker!
I did think about making them years ago but there seems to be a good selection on eBay already.

 

[mk one]

Yeah, strange frame, has features of a few different frames from different periods. Almost looks like the tubes were added, its the seatpost clamp that is throwing me though.