Hello [MENTION=429104]DimRvf[/MENTION], welcome to bikeforums! The RIH Luxe machines were built by Cové in Venlo, as a result of a franchise agreement with the Amsterdam-based Bustraan brothers, the founders of the RIH brand.

The small Amsterdam shop on the Westerstraat couldn't cope with the growing demand for RIH sports bikes in the early sixties, and they made a deal with Fongers, in 1964 or thereabouts, to produce bikes to their specifications in their Groningen facilities, so the guys in Amsterdam could focus on the hand-built stuff. When Fongers was taken over by Batavus in the early seventies the agreement ended and RIH needed a new partner. Enter Cové. At first the Cové RIHs looked a lot like the previous Fongers products, but somewhere in the early eighties Cové managed to procure the rights to the RIH name from the estate of the late Bustraan brothers. After that they went their own way with the RIH brand and made it into what it is now.

In the meantime Willem van der Kaaij, who had taken over the Amsterdam shop, was allowed to keep building a limited number of racing bikes under the 'RIH Sport' brand.

Cové did build racing and touring bikes in the seventies and early eighties: the Luxe, Elan and Mistral being the best-known models. The Luxe is one of the nicer ones, built with Reynolds 531 if I'm not mistaken.

WRT posting pictures: there's a thread on that. Have a look here.