Repco Appreciation Society

[cray-]

Third is an Olympic 12, running at the moment but will become a single speed with a new paint job.

Very nice, I'm on the hunt for one in this color scheme, just because ....well why not?

[DavidI]

the '86/'87 models were a darker gray ("anthracite" according to the catalogue) and a more solid pink (or "rose"). I had one purchased new in the second half of '87, Repco used to introduce their new models around August/September, mine was a runout on the previous model year.
The next model (introduced '87 but considered an '88 model) they lightened the gray and muted the pink, adding a touch of metallic finish too. The bike in the pic looks pretty much right to be an unfaded '87-'88 model - one of my team mates had one when we did the state junior TTT championships in '88 (no glory, we finished last, but at least we finished!). Also the brake levers were changed to the aero style for that model, granted that could have been changed later on that particular bike but they look about right. Will have to find my catalogue to confirm.

[speedywheels]

I am hoping someone might be able to tell me if one of my road bike frames is a Repco or something else, it has original paint with no brand name decals. It is two tone like a lot of 80's Repco bikes, mostly jade with ivory front forks and seat tube. The Serial number under the bottom bracket is 70948103 and it has Suntour rear dropouts and lugged front forks. A sticker on the seat tube says Cro Mo main tubes and another says Distributed by BMX Promotions Windsor Qld.

Sorry I am not nearly clever enough to post pictures.

[frailer5]

If you can register/join up to DropBox (free), there's a facility for another DropBox user to upload by your simply sending that person an email (i.e....me, in this case.). I'd then be happy to upload them to my SmugMug, whence they would appear larger than life ...here. Are you able to take some reasonable pics, and get them onto your 'puter?
PM me for details, if you want.

[morini]

Can anyone tell me the ranking of Repcos. Which is the most desirable etc. I'm asking because my neighbour has a Superlight and he's asked me to tidy it up. It's the first time I've touched one and I have to admit they're pretty nice bikes. Is there any super dooper one-off models like the Malvern Star Sovereign Star racer of the mid seventies?

Cheers

[munga]

very briefly:

vertex = 531c
tri-a = tange infinity usually
olympic = giant 535pr frame and fork
superlite = cromo main tubes
the rest = hi-ten

no limited edition models afaik.

[funnybike]

Where did that black & yellow thing fit? Was it a Nishiki Tri-A or something like that?
I remember it being Tange 900, I think? That was a basic Cro-Mo from memory, but I could be corrected on all that.

I loved that black & yellow paint scheme.

[cray-]

Some possibly outdated info found scattered amongst the previous 70 odd pages.

The problem with judging a bike by it's model name is that certain models changed quite a bit from year to year. Some got better as they aged, some got worse. This topic crops up every so often in this thread but we've never managed to get organised enough to document it properly.

nickobec viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3378&p=302125#p302125

Repco pecking order a work in progress - please add or correct
Traveller (1020 mild steel)
RT Sport (Tange champion 5) -> Pro Sport (1020) -> 700 Sport (1020)
Spectra (1020)
DeVille (not sure)
Monaco (1020)
LeMans (4130 main tubes, 1020 forks and stays might of been replaced in line up by superlight)
Superlite (535 or 4130 main tubes, 1020 forks and stays)
Olympic (CrMo all round? Nishiki's I don't know, early Giant's 535 later Giants including 14s 4130)
Tri-A (Victory and Eurosports - tange infinity, made in Japan by Kawamura in early 1990s)
Vertex (Reynolds 531)


schuberj viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3378&p=762567&hilit=Repco+pecking+order#p762745

Information from the 1988-89 Repco catalogue. Note some models like the De Ville had disappeared by this stage, others like the Spectra I don't think had started.

27"
Traveller (all steel)
Pro Sport (main difference, alloy brakes, stem, cranks)
SLX Sport (Light Action SIS)
Monaco (Aero levers, alloy wheels, front QR)

700c
Superlight (Chrome Moly main frame, full QR, 11.8kg)
Olympic 12 (Exage 350 gears, various parts improvements, 10.7kg)
Victory Tri-A (Tange Infinity main frame, Exage Sport Ensemble, various parts improvements, 10.5kg)
Eurosport Tri-A (Tange Infinity frame, Tange Mangaloy forks, 105 ensemble, 10.5kg)
Vertex Vicenza (Renolds 531 frame and forks, Mostly Campagnolo Triomphe parts, 9.8kg)
Vertex (531, Suntour Sprint Accushift, 9.5kg)

[morini]

Thanks for doing this. I haven't even heard of some of those. How common are the Tri-As and The Vertexs?

Just did a bit of googling. That's it..... I'm hooked

[easybeatle]

Hi All

New here. Recently got into bicycles for the first time since childhood.

I am the proud owner of a circa 1991 Victory Tri A in pretty good condition. Mostly original and working perfectly.

[Stuey]

Nice bike. Lucky that's not Belmont in WA or it'd be nicked before you turned around with your camera.

Only joking, you Belmontians!

[frailer5]

Posting this on behalf of speedywheels. Speedwells, (can be moved later)... Repcos to follow.

C. 1959. Rich/only-child kid at bottom of street got a Spec Sports. Thought he was the ants pants; which, I guess, he was. I think it was a 4-speed, too. From memory, was like having an overdrive.

[frailer5]

Here's a Gallery of speedywheels' REPCO Fairly LoRes, but I'll update if he sends me higher res later.

[speedywheels]

Frailer,

Thanks for posting photos of my frame and sorry about the poor quality. I think it is possibly a Superlight, according to the advice in earlier posts. frame no is 70948103.

Speedywheels

[dillonp]

a lurker ...



http://veloaficionado.com/

[munga]

hey!

[rkelsen]

That's awesome!

[ldrcycles]

The green Healing on that page, OH MY GOODNESS. LOVE it.

[Rob74]

Re: morini » Mon Jul 16, 2012 4:57 pm

Can anyone tell me the ranking of Repcos.

=>> See Pg67 RAS Rob74 » Tue May 08, 2012 4:13 pm for 1986_1987 & 1987_1988 Bikes List from the Cats

RE:Pink & Mauve 1987_1988 Olympic 12
cray- » Wed Jul 11, 2012 1:16 pm

"Very nice, I'm on the hunt for one in this color scheme, just because ....well why not?"

=>> I have just acquired a 62cm Pink & Mauve 1987_1988 Olympic 12....the twins look good in the shed.

Rob

[dillonp]

more pushies galore pics from andy at fxyomatosis
http://www.fyxomatosis.com/index.php/bl ... alore-2012

[barefoot]

Dear Repco people,

I found myself a little project yesterday. Thought you guys might be interested, and might be able to fill in (or make up ) some history on the bike.




Hiding in the undergrowth at the back wheel is a coaster brake wheel, mounted in rear-facing horizontal drop-outs.

Chainstays bolted on at both ends - dates it as somewhere in the oldenoughtobeinteresting period. Guessing 60s? 50s?
Inner-spring moulded rubber saddle is interesting too.


Definitely says "Repco" on the seattube, and the cast "R" head badge and fork crown match my understanding of old Repco branding.




Some patina adds character, some is more of a problem.



These are the "as-found" photos. I was too busy discussing with my wife why we needed to bring home yet another bike - let alone a rusty old piece of rubbish like this - to go looking for serial numbers or any component identifiers.

The bits that are supposed to move all move, to an extent, and the frame looks structurally intact.

What I do with it depends, in part, on what I can find out about it. Some less sympathetic people have suggested that it would make a nice garden ornament

tim

[barefoot]

1957

Hmmm.

That looks to be the same logo as I have on the seattube of my new find, and as best I can tell from such a low-res picture, it looks to be a similar bike. So my 50s-60s guestimate is firming up.

I never knew that bikes were ever actually sold with drop-bars swung up to "bum bar" position like that. I always assumed that was a user mod.

tim

[koen]

I never knew that bikes were ever actually sold with drop-bars swung up to "bum bar" position like that. I always assumed that was a user mod.

tim

No, very standard. Ride it that way and you'll discover its a very comfy position. My father in law tells me he used to like the way he could pull hard on the bars that way and would
'forget' to switch them down for club type rides in Melbourne circa 1947 and would be sprinting along with the likes of Mockdridge and Patterson at the unofficial sprint line and they would be asking "who is that bloke?" ...but of course people woz poor back then and practically everyone raced and rode to work on the same bike.

[barefoot]

I found myself a little project yesterday. Thought you guys might be interested, and might be able to fill in (or make up ) some history on the bike.

Had a couple of minutes to poke around a little tonight. Interesting things to note.

Rear hub is a Renak:


Inscription reads "Renak 24 A 40 Made in Germany East GDR":


Reference to "Germany East GDR" at least dates the hub as post-war. Do we have any Renak experts here? Any suggestions what the numbers mean? Unlikely to be a date code, I think, and googling doesn't clearly show it up as a model number.

As best I can tell, the front hub just says "Made in Germany", which I thought was unusual for a post-war part to not specify which side of the wall. There's a spring clip around the hub, so there might be more markings hidden under it.

The number "846" is cast on to the BB shell:


Stamped on to the side of the seatpost clamp are the digits "7 4 7", widely spaced. There's a bit of blistering rust in the area, but there doesn't seem to be any other numbers there. A serial number perhaps?

The seat tube is 28.8mm OD. There's not much seatpost protruding from the frame, but what there is, I measured at 26.6mm. That surprises me - my understanding was that right up to the 80s, "regular" bikes used a 1" (25.4) seatpost, but more exotic frames used thinner tubes of the same OD, so required a bigger seatpost. I would have assumed that this was a basic workman's bike, so would certainly have a 25.4mm seatpost. Could it be something more?

The BB shell has a lube port on the non-drive side:


The front tyre (or what remains of it) is an Olympic 28 x 1 3/8. I noticed the other day that the rear is Chinese, which indicates that the bike was in regular service up until at least the 80s.

Now I'm getting rather interested to get some better photos of this thing in daylight, and start cleaning it up.

My thinking is to get it into working condition, with as little restoration as possible. I read that coating with wax polish is considered the best way to preserve and protect a degraded frame, without causing any permanent damage to the original finish - so that's the plan. The front rim will probably have to go (most of the chrome is still there... just that it's not actually attached to the rust any more). The rear looks salvageable. Not sure what to do with those bars and stem... probably remove them and set them aside for a think, and replace them with random spares for now.

First, will be lots of WD40... see if we can get some of those rusty fasteners to loosen up. The front axle nuts came loose without a fight, so that bodes well.

The frame measures roughly 54 seat tube, 58 top tube. I usually ride a 54, with as short a reach as I can get... but this isn't outside the realms of rideable for me.

tim

[baysieskip]

Hi All- I have found a Repco TECH Tri 700 Series (in black with purple flecks same as the olympic 14 paint jobs on page 30)- it appears from components stamps to be manfactured in 1993 (EXAGE 300- Biopace). Moves a lot cleaner and quicker than the 83 Superlite commuter I have but seems heavier than 89 Tri A- no stickers to indicate frame material.

So is it:

1) an RT Sport beacuse thats what Repco Tech stands for
2) Is it a Tri A because it has Tri in the name
3) Is it an Olympic 14 because thats what it looks like
4) Some obscure 90's repco I haven't heard about

Internet searches have brought up jack- Can anyone please shed some light on this bike, will post pics when I can figure out how to drive the computer.

Cheers