smontanaro 

Coming rather late to this thread, I realize, but, yes, I do have an RRB - mid- to late-70s, s/n 150. Walter Boi repainted it at some point. RRB is a bit unusual in that I don't really think they ever changed their decals (stickers, really), so a repaint generally looks identical to the original.

The bike is outfitted now in an ever-so-slightly different way than in the photo below. I changed the Campy crank for an SR Apex with 86BCD and run it with 46/30 (or is it 32?) up front. In back, I added one of Bob Freeman's repro/improved Rally cages to handle a wider range (they are actually 15mm longer than actual Rally cages.) I currently have a 21T large cog, but have a 13-24 SunTour freewheel waiting for me to install a new 20T cog I got from Pastor Bob. I have until mid-July to get that taken care of, as this is the bike I plan to use for Centenario Bartali.

RaleighBikeGuy

Hi all, hope you don't mind me reviving this thread. I just met Ron yesterday at his shop and purchased one of these for my wife. Ron still has these great frames for sale, and will build them up however you like. With a new Sram "10-speed" group (really 20 speeds--not my cup of tea but I think my wife will love it), the whole package cost $1400. This included hand-made wheels and adding braze-ons for racks and a re-paint (powder-coating) in our preferred color (and Ron is stripping/powder-coating an old project frame/fork of mine to match gratis).

He has both 700c and 27" versions in stock, and we went with a 27" version hoping to fit 30c (possibly 32c) tires with fenders. This with my only specific parts-request: Shimano's excellent R451 long-reach, high clearance calipers (https://www.google.com/search?q=shim...utf-8&oe=utf-8).

Just wanted to share my enthusiasm--this is the first new bike I've ever bought and it was a fantastic experience and great luck that we stumbled into Ron's shop in Kenliworth. We were in Ron's shop for hours talking about bikes, racing, rowing, music, history, politics, vintage Campy, Sturmey Archer hubs, and much more--he is a very interesting, brilliant guy. I'll post pictures when we get the bike in "4-5 weeks".

smontanaro 

Ron's a hoot. When I go into the shop for some reason, no matter how small, I can count on being there for at least an hour. Was Walter (Ron's brother) there? He is the exact opposite. Great guy, nonetheless.

I've got a Regina America group I purchased from @Bianchigirll still just hanging out in my workshop. My current thought about a frame to hang it from is one of the RRB imports.

Chrome Molly

Not sure if yours will be the same as my 27 (from day's of yore), but I can just wedge in Challenge Almonzo 30's with long reach brakes. I don't think fenders would work on top of that, but with fenders there are many way's to skin a cat.

And by the way, it's an awesome hard pack gravel machine (nice mix of road bike speed yet just relaxed enough to not be twitchy)

crank_addict

Flashback read:

Chrome Molly

12 pounds? Ex wheels possibly.

crank_addict

lol - Fake news is nothing new.

due ruote 

Resurrecting this old thread to say I rode past RRB today and the shop is no more. Empty. Sorry if this is old news; always possible I missed something.
I can’t say I am all that surprised, but the shop will surely be missed by many.
The rowing club still seems to be going in a different location.

thinktubes 

Hmmm - I'm pretty sure I went by there sometime in the last year and it was still there. Ron is still selling stuff on ebay. Lots of interesting/odd/off-brand frames for fairly cheap.

due ruote 

I think it’s fairly recent, but I guess it’s been a while since I was in there. For sure he was there last summer.

thinktubes 

Yeah - you're right - I looked it up and it's listed as "permanently closed". End of an era.

smontanaro 

Yes, Ron closed up shop a couple months ago. I believe he's still doing frame repairs, and as thinktubes pointed out, he's still selling stuff on eBay. My clue that the end was nigh was when I started seeing the nature of stuff he was selling change.

qcpmsame 

Very timely thread, I received a text message from my younger brother last Sunday, he had just left one of his co-worker's home, it had pictures of the young man's late father's fantastic looking three bicycles. One was an RRB Cycles, one a Ron Kellog and a Cannondale R1000. All look pristine, and the RRB is really nice looking, still "as-new".

The son said that his dad got the frame sets, for the Kellog and the RRB, from Mr. Boi. Too bad they are all to large for me, the son does not cycle at all. His father was a local Triathlon legend, in age group competitions, I knew him from events he was in charge of, on board NAS Pensacola, Florida, back in the 80s. Small world, Ain't it?

Bill