Stevensb 

Spotted the elaborate head tube lugs and shield on this Condor and had to have it. Looks to be in decent shape but has plenty of reflective tape and a few odd decals on the seat tube that look aftermarket. I think it will clean up very nicely.

If any of you are able to provide insight as to the model, year of manufacture and tubing type I would be most grateful. Thanks in advance.

Thanks.

Brad

Most components are Campy: front and rear dropouts, HS, BB (English), FD, Barcons, brake levers and callipers, 27.2 seat post, pump umbrella, pedals, etc. There is no RD.
Non-Campy bits include the Stronglight crank and 54/45 chain rings, 6 speed freewheel, Mavic MA2 700c wheels (with Sansin hubs), Cinelli oval logo 1A stem and GDI bars.

There are no tubing stickers on the bike.

There are no water bottles bosses.

The bottom bracket is very hard to read but I can make out "Nervex" (lugs?), followed by a long series of numbers, and what looks like a 4 digit S/N (6728?). Also looks like someone painted "71" (year?) (on the left side of the BB picture) with the same paint as the lug linings.

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These lugs are identified elsewhere as the "Superbe" design done by Bill Hurlow who was a well know English frame builder:









Condor has apparently been in business for over 60 years in central London and continues to make and sell bikes. There is a Rapha Condor cycling team although I believe the sponsorship is up next year.

unworthy1

truly nice!
Don't know what that model is, but with a Nervex BB and the sockets given that elaborate treatment, it has to be a Hurlow-built frame.
And that is a very good thing, IMHO!
Well, maybe not if it's actually a 1971, as Bill Hurlow supposedly quit doing the frame building around '68, BUT, still a quality frame, might be called a Superbe, after the lugset.
Give it a loving restoration

dyander

What an awesome find, It will be stunning once you get it cleaned up. What is your build plan? I would venture to suggest it is a '67 Hurlow built Condor. My Italia was purchased by the original owner in 1972 at the Condor Shop and has a SN of 7245 and while Condor has not maintained records of SN or sales I believe they were using the year as the first two digits. If you haven't already, check out the Classic Rendezvous site, They are showing a 1972 Hurlow Condor, so he was still providing frames to condor into the 70's. Many of your parts appear to be later upgrades, though Condor was very eclectic in their component selections, and of course did custom builds. Good luck and post more pictures!

Bianchigirll 

That will make a killer Fixie! Strip her down repaint it Neon White with some sick neon green dubs and bullhorns wif pink grips!!


OK seriously nice looking true vintage machine!!! I like the others can't wait to see it all cleaned up. Is the RD hanger for a Simplex unit?

Italuminium

Have I ever seen a bike begging for a nice brooks like this before? Naw. Beautiful machine.

rootboy 

Very neat old bike. Can we please see some more pics of the frame details and decals?

callig

I have a Condor with the s/n V8175 it is identical to a 1975 Condor Superbe that someone from Classirendevous e-mailed me. According to this diagram the lugs fit the No. 2 set mine is from the Fleur-de-Lys set.

I found this on the Classic rendevous site. Yes it would be good to see more pics of this unique bike

juvela

condor was known for building bespoke framesets with a specific theme. saw one done for a history professor who had a battle of hastings theme on his machine.

they did a number of frames for rock musicians that were decorated with musical intruments and notes.

one of the most beautiful frames ever saw was a creme condor with blueberry trim; a knockout about 1971.

Stevensb 

Thanks for the feedback guys and gals.

Despite BG's suggestion to go fixie I will proceed slowly with a sensitive restoration (@unworthy1) but without being a slave to period correctness.

@bianchigirl I don't understand your question re: the RD hanger. I assumed early Campy Record might be the ticket here.

@Italuminium I agree 100% on the Brooks - maybe a honey brown?

@callig - thanks for the lug picture. Based on it I think the head tube lugs #1 and the BB #3 are the same as my bike - part of the WBH #1 set, not Superbe as I suggested earlier. What is shown as #2 on the lug picture is probably the fork detail and my fork is different.

I don't know anything about barcons but if I can salvage these ones I will at least try them.

Still don't know if tubing is 531 but I've seen a number of pictures of similar looking Condors that have a 531 sticker on them.

The last photo shows "Mike Edwards" painted on the NDS of the top tube. Original owner maybe?

So clean and polish but no repaint, grease, new hubs, tires, cables, bar tape, RD, saddle, etc. and she'll be good to go.

If @dyander and @callig have photos of their Condors I'd like to see them here if you care to share. Same for photos from @juvela if you have any.

Thanks again.

Brad








Instead of quoting prior posts I am trying this @Name to see how that works.

unworthy1

that's going to be super when done...keep us posted with photos as you progress.
The Campy barcons are bone-simple friction devices and not all that great compared to any of the other brands contemporary (Suntour, Shimano, even Simplex made better ones)...but the Campys look better, especially with the blue covers. If it were my call, I'd sell the Campys and spend half the resulting money on some Suntours.

callig

My Condor when I got it was painted as a Gios which meant it has to be repainted so my bike is not built up yet, and I'm not completely happy with the paint yet. As well it is very likely Reynolds 531 Tubing with a seat post size of 27.2, mine had Columbus stickers on it but when I stripped it I found Reynolds stamped lightly on the tubes. Well here is how she looks right now.

dyander

Brad @Stevensb, here are some shots before and after I repainted in 2010. The Italia lugs are far more simple than yours, but I really like this look. I got the frame in 1980 and the years had not been kind, so I stripped and repainted it with repro decals from velocals and put it back together with the same components I had on it with just a few upgrades. The frame was built with Reynolds 531 tubing and Zeus drop outs, no braze ons except a small pin as a downtube shifter stop. There was a head tube decal instead of a headbadge.

non-fixie 

Nice one, Brad. Congratulations! +1 on the Brooks. Not honey though; I think a darker, more vintage-looking pro would look better.

Stevensb 

I spent an hour taking all the components off the frame and will now have many hours of cleaning to occupy my time.

Everything came apart faIrly easily but I'm a little po'ed that the seatpost has been hacked off - not sure if it will be long enough to use or not.

I'll need my LBS to take off the Stronglight crank (49d?) if they have the right tool. Any ideas on what the letter E represents on the inside of the crank arm? Date code?




The brake bridge is curved and has some metal and paint detail around it. Plus there's the curved piece above it - for centre pull brakes?



The serial number on the fork, 6725, matches the frame, if I change the number I used in the original post, 6728 The grease is completely dried out and will be replaced.

753proguy

Very nice! 99.9% bet it is Reynolds 531 tubing. I have an Italia that is #8611 , but I think it's much older than 1986, more like 1970-75ish, so the numbering seems sequential, I think....

callig

Thanks for the update, looking forward to seeing it all cleaned up. Centre pull was the Brake of choice in the days of Jacque Anquetil

dyander

@Stevensb It is great to see some more pictures, The brake bridge looks sweet and center pull cable stop suggest an earlier racing (as @callig suggests) or a touring model. Please keep the pictures coming, as I'd like to see if there are any more braze-ons. It looks like there is something on the down tube near the chain rings which seems unusual. I agree the tubing will almost certainly be Reynolds 531.
@753proguy, I'd love to see your Italia (since this is turning into a bit of a Condor show thread). We can make some general assumptions about frame date from the braze-ons for BB cable guides, shifter bosses and water bottle cages which did not become typical until the later 70's. In any case, it will be hard to make many assumptions on the serial numbering with so few examples and apparently no useful database out there. Sequential seems unlikely to me, especially if 67xx, 72xx and 86xx all were built in the early 70's, I don't think their production numbers were that high in those days. I've also read that they used a number of contract builders over the years in addition to their main shop (which Bill Hurlow ran between the late fifties and around '68), though he did apparently continue to make some frames for Condor after that.

753proguy

I will work on getting pics. of mine. It's been repainted, but very nicely, and in the UK. Not built up since.
There is also a small '368' stamped into the BB shell on mine, fwiw. Not sure if that means anything specific (I don't think the frame is from March '68, probably a few years newer, but I'm guessing there....).

callig

I know Condor was putting on brazed on waterbottle mounts by 1975 because when I showed my frame on the CR list a guy from California e-mailed me and sent me pictures of his 75 Condor and it was an exact match to mine only a bit bigger brazed on waterbottle mounts and all. He was the original owner and had the bill of sale for late 1975.

non-fixie 

Yeah, what is it with those shortened seat posts? I found some of those on bikes I bought. And it's never the cheapo posts either, always the Campy ones. Is it a weight weeny thing?

dyander

Good Info @callig, so '75 had water bottle mounts, but apparently no shifter bosses or cable guides yet. Any chance we can get the serial number from your bike, and if possible the known '75? Maybe we can get a rough time line for this handful of bikes at least.

callig

The Condor frame picture sent to me from the CR list was sent to me privately was ordered in October 1975, and it is S/N 75186.

My Condor that looked exactly like his has the serial number V8175 unknown date. Only history I know of it it was used to race in Hong Kong where it was repainted to look like a Gios. It came to Canada and eventually to me in 1985 and was fitted with a mix of Campagnolo and Dura Ace Components. I sent pictures of it to The CR list where it was identified as likely being a Bill Hurlow Condor after it was shown here with the suggestion to go to the CR list

753proguy

My #8611 (+386) has no braze-ons at all, except the DT lever bracket stop. Long Campagnolo dropouts, no eyelets:

callig

That's a really nice looking Italia are you going to build it up?

callig

This is an Order form from a 1978 catalogue I found on the net and it seems that you had to specify what braze ons you wanted so if someone did not specifically asked they could get a frame with no braze ons at least in 1978

I also read somewhere that Condor serial numbers were pretty much all over the map tough to make any sense of them