Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

What a great little bike

PANZR wrote:I can't ride it as I'm 6'4" and this has 650c wheels

I have been searching for one of these in 55cm for over 4 years.... If anyone knows of one please let me know...

PANZR wrote:

Picked this up a month ago... 1980 made, riden 2, maaaaybe 3 times since bought.
Bought one new the same year..Im getting sentimental as I get older.

looks like it just came off the shop floor, nice find.

Kermit TF wrote:Picked this up a month ago... 1980 made, riden 2, maaaaybe 3 times since bought.
Bought one new the same year..Im getting sentimental as I get older.

Ahhh... the old man had one, I modernised it and it was my first roadie four years ago after I got back into cycling. I cracked the frame, it's hanging in the shed.

Sent from my iThingy...

ldrcycles wrote: looks like it just came off the shop floor, nice find.

That pic was taken before I even cleaned it when I went to pick it up my jaw dropped at the mint condition, even happier when I paid the princely sum of 70 pesos.

My restored Repco Superlight. dating from about the late 70s early 80s. built up with shimano 600 mainly plus a Benotto sadlle, cinelli bars and araya wheels. Not as nice as some of the beauties on here but I like her



Also she Needs some decals - anyone know of anyone selling 80s repco superlight decals?

Cable routing (brake AND gear) says says mid 80s and later to me - nonetheless, looks great! I think these guys have decals - otherwise a signwriter can likely print them from an image.

Cross-posting from the "hard rubbish finds" thread, hoping this is where to find the vintage/retro road bike experts.






62cm seat tube, 60cm top tube. 410-420mm chain stays (depending where in the dropouts you put the axle). It has Brev. Campagnolo headset races pressed in - the peculiarly '80s style with the standard bottom cup, but a top cone (the cup threaded on to the steerer). Weighs in at 2.15kg or so, including headset and dirt.

I've been in touch with Hillman. Serial on the BB shell of my frame says 838422. Hillman's custom frames have always had 4-digit serial numbers, so it's not actually one of their frames. But they sold Hillman decal kits in the '80s (why?!), so as Barry at Hillman says, "it could be anything".

The chromed Columbus dropouts and 27.2 seat tube point to it being a fairly high-end build, so I don't doubt the 531 sticker being legit.

But... what is it? And why is a good quality frame wearing Hillman decals if it's not a Hillman?

Hoping some detail shots might help identify it. Please excuse the authentic "patina" (aka greasy filth)... this is as-found condition.

Headtube lugs:


Seatpost clamp:


Driveside dropout:

It's painted over the chrome. Even the derailer hanger has paint. The chainstay appears to be chromed (under the paint chips) most of its length. The non-driveside dropout (and chainstay) doesn't appear to be chromed at all; where the pain is chipped it's just dull steel underneath.

Brake bridge:


BB cluster:


BB cable guide:


Anybody want to have a stab at making up a life story for this frame?

Unfortunately, I've been unable to locate the fork

tim

Dan wrote:Cable routing (brake AND gear) says says mid 80s and later to me - nonetheless, looks great! I think these guys have decals - otherwise a signwriter can likely print them from an image.

Thanks, I wasn't really sure on the age of a lot of the parts. It's a bit of a franken-bike, wheels, crank, saddle and post are all from my uncles late 70s racer, and the frame was given to me (in a worn out faded fluro scheme - so you'd guess 80s from the colour alone).

Thanks for the link, although I suspect you may have pasted the wrong URL :p

Rusty62, compare the original colour scheme to others in the repco thread. chances are you'll find one the same, and you might even work out its age.

Rusty62 wrote:Thanks for the link, although I suspect you may have pasted the wrong URL :p

that's exactly the link I meant to post
First hit? A link to a thread in this very forum on where to get repco decals. Even the search function in the forum itself is effective.

barefoot wrote:Anybody want to have a stab at making up a life story for this frame?

Add some palings & you'd have a lovely gate

barefoot wrote:





62cm seat tube, 60cm top tube. 410-420mm chain stays (depending where in the dropouts you put the axle). It has Brev. Campagnolo headset races pressed in - the peculiarly '80s style with the standard bottom cup, but a top cone (the cup threaded on to the steerer). Weighs in at 2.15kg or so, including headset and dirt.

I've been in touch with Hillman. Serial on the BB shell of my frame says 838422. Hillman's custom frames have always had 4-digit serial numbers, so it's not actually one of their frames. But they sold Hillman decal kits in the '80s (why?!), so as Barry at Hillman says, "it could be anything".

The chromed Columbus dropouts and 27.2 seat tube point to it being a fairly high-end build, so I don't doubt the 531 sticker being legit.

But... what is it? And why is a good quality frame wearing Hillman decals if it's not a Hillman?

Hoping some detail shots might help identify it. Please excuse the authentic "patina" (aka greasy filth)... this is as-found condition.

Headtube lugs:


Seatpost clamp:


Driveside dropout:

It's painted over the chrome. Even the derailer hanger has paint. The chainstay appears to be chromed (under the paint chips) most of its length. The non-driveside dropout (and chainstay) doesn't appear to be chromed at all; where the pain is chipped it's just dull steel underneath.

Brake bridge:


BB cluster:


BB cable guide:


Anybody want to have a stab at making up a life story for this frame?

Unfortunately, I've been unable to locate the fork

tim

I know it's sounds strange but I had a Ken Evans "Competition" frame made from 531 with Columbus tips and lugs the same as yours. Same colour too. Maybe Hillman's repainted yours?

barefoot wrote:Cross-posting from the "hard rubbish finds" thread, hoping this is where to find the vintage/retro road bike experts.



BB cable guide:


tim

Hi Tim

The Vitus BB cable guide should give you some direction. The plug they used was different from everyone else, so it's 99.9% probable that it is original. Gitane, MBK, and Vitus (of course) used those guides. Look for manufacturers who used Vitus steel tube sets for their frames. The long point lugs and bocama BB shell are typical of Gitane, but the stay ends are not, but then again..... Fastback seat stays = look for catalogues from the late 80s & early 90s. I wouldn't bet the house on 531 tubes, but that doesn't mean it's not good. The high end Vitus tubes were just as good as Columbus or Reynolds. Not sure where to find info on MBK, but GitaneUSA is a great resource for catalogues.

funnybike wrote:

barefoot wrote:BB cable guide:

Hi Tim

The Vitus BB cable guide should give you some direction. The plug they used was different from everyone else, so it's 99.9% probable that it is original. Gitane, MBK, and Vitus (of course) used those guides. Look for manufacturers who used Vitus steel tube sets for their frames. The long point lugs and bocama BB shell are typical of Gitane, but the stay ends are not, but then again..... Fastback seat stays = look for catalogues from the late 80s & early 90s. I wouldn't bet the house on 531 tubes, but that doesn't mean it's not good. The high end Vitus tubes were just as good as Columbus or Reynolds. Not sure where to find info on MBK, but GitaneUSA is a great resource for catalogues.

Oh man, things just took another turn I wasn't expecting!

Looking at Sheldon's page about French frames, he has a table pointing out the differences between English/ISO and French tubing OD sizes. So I measured.

This "Hillman" *cough cough* has a 26.0mm top tube (French), 28.0mm downtube (French), and a 28.6mm seat tube (ISO)!

Sheldon's page says that French bikes typically had 28mm seat tubes - although he's talking mainly about 1970s bikes. Could it be that by the '80s, when it would seem this frame was built, they'd moved to a 28.6mm seat tube so as to use the same derailer clamps and seatposts as the rest of the world?

BB seems to be threaded "ISO" style - I haven't measured the pitch, but it's left threaded one side and right threaded the other side.

So, it seems that 531 sticker doesn't belong there, and I've found a re-painted Frenchy!

Sacre bleu!

tim

Dan wrote:

Rusty62 wrote:Thanks for the link, although I suspect you may have pasted the wrong URL :p

that's exactly the link I meant to post
First hit? A link to a thread in this very forum on where to get repco decals. Even the search function in the forum itself is effective.

Haha, thanks, I get the hint now. Still can't really find anyone doing repco decals in that thread, but i'll keep searching through it.

barefoot wrote: Oh man, things just took another turn I wasn't expecting!

Looking at Sheldon's page about French frames, he has a table pointing out the differences between English/ISO and French tubing OD sizes. So I measured.

This "Hillman" *cough cough* has a 26.0mm top tube (French), 28.0mm downtube (French), and a 28.6mm seat tube (ISO)!

Sheldon's page says that French bikes typically had 28mm seat tubes - although he's talking mainly about 1970s bikes. Could it be that by the '80s, when it would seem this frame was built, they'd moved to a 28.6mm seat tube so as to use the same derailer clamps and seatposts as the rest of the world?

BB seems to be threaded "ISO" style - I haven't measured the pitch, but it's left threaded one side and right threaded the other side.

So, it seems that 531 sticker doesn't belong there, and I've found a re-painted Frenchy!

Sacre bleu!

tim

The French and the Italians used 531 tubing as well you know and Reynolds made it for them in their tubing size specs. Normally the 531 sticker would then normally be in French but if Hillman (or somebody) resprayed the frame at some point they probably couldn't get French 531 decals in Oz? That Vitus cable guide has been sprayed over by the look of it, so I would bet money on it being a re-spray. From sometime in the late 70's onward frames made for export in France changed over to 'normal' b'bracket threading, headset/steerer sizes etc to help sales abroad. The mixture of tubing is a bit odd but might be a frame from the changeover period when they were using up stock tubing? The French did some weird things like that, friend of mine had a 531 Peugeot with all 'normal' frame threads, sizes etc etc BUT the rear hub and freewheel used French threading making a replacement freewheel almost impossible to source in the UK (long before e-Bay this )
Cheers
Richard

Finally finished my Abeni track bike. Thought i'd cross post the pics that i put up in the abeni lovers topic here

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=32833&start=175

Can't wait to ride it.

This is my Repco Superlite.
Always wanted to do up an old steel frame bike with modern components.
I came across this old one at Life Line for $15.



I road it for a little while before i striped it back and did it up bit by bit.

Only original parts are the frame, forks, stem, seat post and handle bars. Every other part (including bolts) was either badly worn, broken or rusty.

I’m fortunate enough to have a father who has a panel shop, so I had most equipment/ tools on hand to clean & strip the frame and paint it properly one weekend.

nice work. undercoat looks lovely. when are you painting it?

at munga. Looks good, the brown tape and saddle complement the frame colour nicely.

Haha, I loved the look of the primer so much I thought I would stop short of molesting it with fruity colours!
No, the colour was intentional ...Thought I would go for a washed out old look with the honey brown tape and seat.

Beautiful paint job! Hey is that a kombi wheel I see in the background?