Repco Appreciation Society

[twowheels]

not mine ... maybe someone on this thread might like this Repco/Nishiki

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Vintage-Nishiki- ... dZViewItem

[cray-]

not mine ... maybe someone on this thread might like this Repco/Nishiki

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Vintage-Nishiki- ... dZViewItem

Bike looks strangely familair.....I like the price on mine better eBay Special I guess you're really paying for the service and new tyres. I know I easily spent another 150$ on mine after i bought it. Worth every cent, very muchly enjoying it.[/url]

[stevendavid75]

another nice buy for anyone out east of melb
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Repco-Superlite- ... dZViewItem

[kukamunga]

Hmm... Scoresby - just around the corner from me.....
No ! I've already got two Superlites in the shed that I'm not too sure what to do with yet!

[kukamunga]

Ok, Repco-philes. Can you help me with the era of my most recent Repco pick up?

Heavy steel lugged road frame. Rear facing horizontal dropouts. 28.8 seat tube, 26.2 seatpost. Rear brake outer cable guides (x3) under top tube. Clamp-on 'huret' down tube shifters, front derailleur and 'Svelto' model rear derailleur, with clamp-on cable guides (x2). 'Nerva' crankset w/ bolt on 40/50 chainrings.

Purple paint work w/ gold and white pinstriping, gold 'REPCO' on down tube. Logos on head tube and seat tube feature a white bird of prey (eagle?) with wings up/outstretched, perched in a gold ring (red background) with a crown on top and gold scroll beneath. Various white, gold and red background on logo.

Steel drop bars, SR alloy stem, Weinmann 730 s/p brakes, are, I imagine, later upgrades to bike. No wheels.

Any ideas?

Finally, some piccies!!!

[kukamunga]

Hmmm.... 2 weeks and no reply. Bump it up

[HappyHumber]

I can't really offer any insight - but man, nice lugs for an apparently otherwise midrange frame. The original paint looked to have some nice detail.
Any indication of what sort of steel the frame maybe? hi-ten/cro-mo/tange?

The lugwork reminds me of that scene in 'The Castle' where Darryl points out the wrought iron-work under his eaves is actually plastic. Still - it sets it apart.

I thought it quite unusual its got rear facing drop-outs, to.

[WyvernRH]

Hmmm.... 2 weeks and no reply. Bump it up

I only kust noticed this one, not generally being a REPCO type of guy but this one looks really interesting. It could be quite old, say late 50's early 60's. The frame and lugs look nicely made and the sweep on those forks suggests they are made of something better than mild steel . You might be surprised how light the frame is if you took off the steel chainset.
If we assume this age period then the chainset/gears would be middle range stuff and rear facing dropouts the norm.

I think its quite a nice bike!
Cheers

Richard

[Kid_Carbine]

It might be only a Repco, but this one has potential anyway. Nice lugs & single speed rear fork ends, hole for lubricator fitting, .... vintage potential plus.

Im sure some whacked out fixed wheel freak would think it a godsend & he'd be right, this would make up into a very nice single speed ride, fixed or freewheel.

The age? Possibly mid 60's in my estimate.

[kukamunga]

Ok, thanks. But what about the components, especially the archaic 'svelto' rear derailleur? Any ideas? A friend of mine has a big book about the history of derailleurs. I should chase him up.

EDIT: Oh, are all fixed wheeled riders 'whacked out freaks', or just some?

[Kid_Carbine]

Ok, thanks. But what about the components, especially the archaic 'svelto' rear derailleur? Any ideas? A friend of mine has a big book about the history of derailleurs. I should chase him up.

EDIT: Oh, are all fixed wheeled riders 'whacked out freaks', or just some?

Hang on, I'll check my dictionary of 'whacked out freaks'
Hmmmmm, that's interesting, ............. oh, didn't know that before, ...... well well, I never, ...... oh wow, ........... Bloody 'ell, I wouldnt'a thought that, ........ Oh, I see.

Well, on the important question, it says, .... "pretty much"

As for the derailleurs, I think that reference to your mates book would be a good idea.

[kukamunga]

Um.... Me thinks I was quoting someone else....

....Im sure some whacked out fixed wheel freak would think it a godsend.....

Hey, don't get me wrong! Some of my best friends are 'whacked out fixed wheel freaks'!

[531db]

Ok, thanks. But what about the components, especially the archaic 'svelto' rear derailleur? Any ideas? A friend of mine has a big book about the history of derailleurs. I should chase him up.

EDIT: Oh, are all fixed wheeled riders 'whacked out freaks', or just some?

You have a Huret Svelto rear derailleur, introduced in 1962/1963 as a replacement for the Huret Tour de France model, manufactured until the mid 1970's when the vastly superior offerings from Suntour and Shimano led to it's demise.

[MountGower]

Sorry you went two weeks without a reply, Kukamunga. Such a shame Pacific Brands did such a pathetic job of keeping records and decals. They really want flogging for it. The paint and the linework can be redone but the head tube and seat tube decal, it would seem are lost for good.

The most potential I have seen from a Repco. I would be interested to hear back about the weight of the bare frame and also the fork. Not because I am a weenie, but just to assess the quality of the tubing.

Great find there.

[ukalipt]

Oh, are all fixed wheeled riders 'whacked out freaks', or just some?

all > most?

i may be way out of line here, but here is my 2 cents worth.
maybe it isn't a repco? [i am now in the "duck" position]
possibly someone at a later stage in the bikes life added the repco decals.
kukamunga, does the type look as though it has been hand painted on?
i am so not an expert but most bikes i have seen with hand painted decals
have rarely had a full slab san serif font.
it does seem like a very weird mix graphically to have
such fine pin striping with a full slab almost "plastered" over the top.

just a thought????

[stevendavid75]

I am inclined to agree actually, I havent seen that font before either and looking at the photo looking down onto the down tube, it looks as if the REPCO has been painted later.

[kukamunga]

Ok. So on the agenda in the next few days are to strip frame (not the paint - just the components! ), clean it up, weigh frame and forks, study the Repco 'decals' and take some close up photos. Cool - I like pulling bike to bits!

My initial description of 'heavy steel road frame' is probably incorrect. The seat tube (28.8 ) and seat post sizes (26.2) I gave (assuming I measured correctly) give an idea that this aint a real heavyweight, and just look at those slender stays! Richard is probably right in saying most of the weight is probably in the components. I'm punting on the frame being 2.6kg and forks 820gms. Any others wish to take a guess (no 'Imperial' measurements please!)?

[Kid_Carbine]

(no 'Imperial' measurements please!)?

Why not? The bike was built in the Imperial measurement era, it was built to Imperial dimensions & I was expected to learn all this metric stuff cold turkey [it wasn't taught at school] so perhaps it's time for the metric generation to learn a bit about the real world.

Lesson 1.
The main triangle tubing is either 1" or 1-1/8". See, nothing hard about that.
Just divide 1" by two, then again by 2 & on untill you have 16ths couldn't be easier.

The Number 3 seat pin [26.2?] was normally seen in 'good' frames. With some luck you mis-measured & it's really a Number 4 seat pin [26.8] which was used in 'better' frames. Number 5 seat pins [27.2] would be seen in the 'best' frames, frequently Teynolds 531 double butted.

[WyvernRH]

[quote="ukaliptmaybe it isn't a repco? [i am now in the "duck" position]
possibly someone at a later stage in the bikes life added the repco decals.
kukamunga, does the type look as though it has been hand painted on?
i am so not an expert but most bikes i have seen with hand painted decals
have rarely had a full slab san serif font.
it does seem like a very weird mix graphically to have
such fine pin striping with a full slab almost "plastered" over the top.
just a thought????[/quote]

Looking again, this might be a pretty good idea. The head and seat tube transfers look VERY much like the "generic" transfers that bike shops could buy and apply to their creations, hand painting the shop details on the scrollwork etc. The hand applied paint tends to fade and vanish before the transfer disintegrates. I have a couple of bikes with the remains of this type of transfer as does Cludance I believe.
If this is so I wouldn't have thought a big company like Repco would have used generic transfers but have their own printed?

Cheers

Richard

[kukamunga]

(no 'Imperial' measurements please!)?

Why not? The bike was built in the Imperial measurement era, it was built to Imperial dimensions & I was expected to learn all this metric stuff cold turkey [it wasn't taught at school] so perhaps it's time for the metric generation to learn a bit about the real world

I was born in 1963 and was taught both imperial and metric in my younger years at public schools. My father and I were both fitters and turners. The garage at my mums still contains jars and draws full of BSW, UNC, UNF, BSF...... nuts, bolts, taps, dies..... but also metric stuff.

Fast forward to 2008 - the 'metric age' A large majority of todays under-30 population are probably not even aware of what imperial measurements are, but they can learn.... if they want to. There are just too many discrepancies in the Imperial system, what with U.S. versions of pints, gallons.... other things? 14lbs in a stone, 12oz in a pound (or is it 16?). Is that 15/16", 59/64" or 119/132"? (EDIT: Sorry! 119/128" )

And it's easier, for me, to remember 26.2mm seat post and 28.8mm seat tube to whatever imperial equivalent they might be. And what's with guage? 14G spokes are thicker than 15G spokes.... where's the logic in that? (a bit like golf really)

I take it you've read this before

All these odd-numbers, fractions and discrepancies equate to a very difficult system to learn. The standard homo sapien has ten digits on their hands (and ten on their feet). What a sensible number to base an international system of measurement on!

We (earthlings) are more rapidly technologising ourselves into extinction at an ever accelerating rate thanks to the metric system!!! Ten cheers for the metric system. Hip-hip.......

Oh, and by the way. My kitchen scales are metric

Rant ended

[MountGower]

Imperial measurements suck.

My guesses are 2.4kg for the frame and 700g for the forks.

[kukamunga]

The closest bidder wins all the componentry off this bike (except BB if not a standard thread) - pick up Melbourne only

Official weigh-in at 12:00pm (EDST) this Saturday, March 15, at my local Australia Post.

[MichaelB]

Imperial measurements suck.

My guesses are 2.4kg for the frame and 700g for the forks.

2.65kg for the frame and 840g for the Fork.

(BTW, PP frame was 2.222kg and forks 736g and that was Columbus Thron tubing)

Cheers

Michael B

[kukamunga]

'Repco' guess the... frame/ fork... weight?

MountGower.......... 2.4kg/ 700gm
MichaelB...............2.65kg/ 840gm

[Kid_Carbine]

'Repco' guess the... frame/ fork... weight?

MountGower.......... 2.4kg/ 700gm
MichaelB...............2.65kg/ 840gm
K.C. .....................3.68543kg [or more] Combined mass frame & fork, bare. [130oz]