Colles

Found this frame at a yard sale not to long ago. No one ive ever talked to has ever heard of this company "Griffon" til one guy I was talking to said that there was this bike shop in Santa Monica Ca, where some guy made top end touring bikes and called them "Griffon".. The bike itself is supposedly a mid to late 70's road frame, made for a 27" tire, 130mm rear spacing, Colombus tenax steel tubing, and has campy dropouts back and front. Ever since I got my Miyata, i dont need this frame anymore. What do you guys think its worth?

Henry III

The rearend must of been spread because if it's 130 then it's setup for modern spaced road hubs. Do you have any full shots of the frame?

repechage

Jim Holly (holley?) made it. He had an industrial space shop on Broadway, closed up, went to work for an aerospace company, built a house, set up a second shop, built here and there, emigrated to NZ.
Nice guy. Solid bicycles.
Bikes have nothing to do with the Griffen bikes decades later. Jim should have come down like bricks on them but that was not his style.

Odd image choice to assess the frame.

Bianchigirll 

I was curious about the Tenax tubing, I had thought it was a later '80s tubset. I agree better pics of the frame? not so close up shots of the luggs? does this have cantilever studs?

himespau 

If it's a touring frame does it have attachment points for racks front and rear?

repechage

Jim made frames well into the 90's but certainly not production. Do not let the long Campagnolo dropouts fool you.

lostarchitect 

We really need a "how to take decent pictures of your bike" sticky.

Colles

I'll post better pics. Didn't know anyone would be so judgmental. Lol. No cantilever studs, and no mounts for racks.

Colles

No i want to build it up, Im just wondering what its worth in its current condition. I just dont know what kind of Campy it would use (i want to fit the bike to the right generation.)

FastJake

Columbus Tenax was mid to high end tubing. Great stuff but not top of the line. I had an ~'86 Schwinn Voyager and a 1988 Schwinn Tempo made from Tenax. This would make a great bike. I'd build it up if I had it and not worry about selling it.

I agree with wrk101's assessment that this won't get much interest on C/L, bare frames don't do well and this is an unheard of name in a rather large size. Maybe $100 on C/L. Ebay, who knows. Could end with 0 bids or go for hundreds of dollars.

Colles

This is true. But the only problem now is the fact that I have a Vintage frame, made for a 27" wheel size and its already been spaced out to 130mm wheels for the back. I know that you can still run a 700C, long reach brakes, but to find decent long reach brakes is difficult. It did come with the Ultegra rear der (10 spd) and the barrel stops, so I can always run it as a 10 speed, i'd just have to find all the parts for it. It would be fun to make it into a all original Campy bike, but I wouldnt even know what Campy this bike would have run.

lostarchitect 

Those pics are much better, thanks! Didn't mean to be judgmental, it's not about you, it's just that it's so often hard to see what we're looking at.

FastJake

From the information posted above this was a custom frame. So IMO it has no "original" components and you're free to build it up with whatever you want. Personally I'm a fan of Shimano based on cost and parts availability but go with whatever you want.

Throw a 700c wheelset in there and actually measure the reach you need. If this frame is from the later 80s it may not need as long of reach brakes as you'd expect.

nikku 

What is that crazy thing on the seat tube? Is that a pump peg? Cool frame, I like bikes from niche builders. But sorry, no comment on the value.

Agree with the other posters, it's probably not worth a lot on the open market. I had an amazing mid 90's John Hollands custom build that I got on CL for my sister, but when it ended up not fitting her I had to sell it at a significant loss on ebay (and Hollands is more well known than Griffon).

Colles

This is true. Ive tried measuring the bike up against a 700c wheelset, and I doo need a LRB set. But I guess your right, i can build it up to whatever i want, whenever i get the parts and money. Then i can ride the griffon for races and stuff and use the miyata for my daily rider.

bikingshearer 

When I was in college in SoCal in the early 80s, I knew a couple fo guys who had Griffons. They loved them. One guy rode his across the USA as a loaded tourer. Nothing but good things to say about it.

Depending on when the frame was built, it is not at all inconsistent for it to be intended to tour on and not have rack braze-ons. The lack of canti braze-ons is a little more unusal for a custom touring rig, but certainly not unheard of either - Mafac and Weinmann centerpulls were easily available, relatively inexpensive and did an okay job. Note that it does have the eyelets on the dropouts in an era when most l "racing" bikes lacked them.

You have to remember that braze-ons evolved from next-to-none to anything-and-everything over the 70s and into the 80s. The three bottle bosses, fork and stay rack mounts, shifter bosses, and such that were pretty much the norm for touring rigs by 1985 or so would have given most frame builders the vapors in 1970. So it does not seem at all odd to me that this Griffon would require P-clamps and/or U-Clamps to mount racks to the frame/fork. Quite common, once upon a time.

And yes, that is a pump peg on the seat tube.

gingi310

This frame made it to the 'bay if anyone is interested (ending soon!): https://www.ebay.com/itm/200811778741

himespau 

Man, 3-4 weeks ago I would have snapped it up in a heartbeat. Now I'm in the midst of another build. Timing sucks. I hope you get a good price for it.

Poguemahone

Wish I'd seen this. Likely would have put in a bid. High bidder got a bargain IMO.

FastJake

I agree, a real bargain at that price. I would've bid too if it was a 56cm. Then again I have too many projects as it is!

himespau 

Yeah, even though I didn't have use for it and might have gotten in trouble for bringing home another frame, I put in a bid near the end because it was such a good deal. Someone got a good find.

repechage

Way cheap.

laser 67713

repechage

Kind of closer to my size... is that frame half primer?

Chris_in_Miami

That last one looks like a real barn find, dirty, but probably quite nice once it's been cleaned and serviced.