being the owner of a 1974 bob jackson, it is my understanding that a great number of bj's were sold in the usa during the early 70's bike boom and throughout the 80's, yet i rarely see a bj on ebay, craigslist or road bike review. i am just wondering where they all are? is it that the owners just love the bikes so much (like me) that they are rarely offered for sale or what?

I have two friends that BOTH still have their BJ's from the '70's. Another still has his Eisentraut.
I still have my '86 Cannondale MTN bike. The wife still has her Gitane from '78. I also still have a Clive Stewart from '69. (it belonged to a guy who lived across the street from me where I grew up, and when he passed away, he left instructions to be sure I got his bike. Needless to say I'll have it 'till I pass)
Oh yeah, there's still a Ritchey road bike from so long ago that no-one (even Tom) knows when exactly it was built. (I got it 2nd hand) Historic, no dought, so I'm keeping it as well.
Good luck in your quest,
Dr.D

The shop I worked for sold a number of them, they forced the shop to buy a Campagnolo tool kit as the Bottom bracket shells were often distorted, requiring retapping and facing of the shell to get anything other than a Phil Wood bottom bracket to work well. Great paint, not so good build quality, a friend had crashed one and the exposed miters upon tube replacement were not top notch.
That said, quality was variable, some later ones are nice. Sold my '74 about a year after I got it, inflation kept the loss to a minimum, great chrome, its replacement handled so much better.

I had a new 1980 Bob Jackson frame that came with the BB so distorted it couldn't be retapped. I contacted the factory and they sent me a terse letter about how their BB shells are of the highest quality and insisted the postal service or my LBS had damaged it. We used a torch and a tail pipe expander to get it round enough to retap and install a Phil Bottom bracket on. After that experince I made my own frames.

Still highly rater over here. In fact, they are still making them! Compared to US frameset prices, (i.e. waterford often way north of $1000) the prices are very reasonable. But then again, framebuilding is an english speciality
Dave

A comment about Bob Jackson, he visited the shop I worked at in 1974, he spoke to one of the workers at length who had played with frame building, (I got to listen) when asked about how the frames were fixtured when brazing, he said they were not, that the BB shell was set in a vise and they brazed away, I knew right then what had happened to my frame, too much vise on the BB shell.

He also did a fitting for me, interesting as his numbers have been verified by myself and others continually thereafter. No, did not order a bike, but was tempted to order a 753 as only the top builders there were allowed to mess with the stuff.

I was a BJ owner, sold it about 10 years ago.
It was a Messina model.
I had to have it repainted and found that the chrome on the forks and stays were done so poorly that it couldn't be saved. The frame was eventually repainted with only chrome on the dropouts.

I have heard that Bob has passed away.
His frames are still seen, but are now being built under a conglomerate partnership.
I believe it's the same group that does Holdsworth.

What are you talking about? there's plenty of bjs to be found on Craigslist. Just look under "Casual Encounters".

The quality of BJs varied hugely. BJ sold the name to some outfit who made frames mainly for the US market. Disappointed with the quality, he bought back the name in the mid 1990 and started making frames properly. My BJ tourer is one of the first of this new and improved batch. The brazing, alignment and painwork are all top notch.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh.

I only wish I knew where my 1970's Jackson was. It was red w/white panels, chrome fork ends - really pretty. It had similar problems with the BB that others are describing -- I thought mine was the only one -- but an great LBS owner managed to get a Phil BB in and Loc-tited into place.

That frame was the first purchase with my first paycheck from my first job after high school. I bought it in 1975. In 1992, it was stolen out of my garage. Oh well. To this day, I could still tell most of the wierd assortment of components I had on it, from the Crane rear derailleur to the first-generation DA cranks to the Mafac Competition brakes to the Cinelli #3 saddle to the Phil Wood CHP-compliant pedals.

I have an absolutely astouding 1994 Bob Jackson track bike. Very very high attention to detail and a great ride (track only, though...this baby doesn't see asphault)

I actually had picked up a 1970s BJ frameset on eBay, over 5 years ago. Seller said it was originally all Nuovo Record Gruppo but with the exception of the BB and headset he'd transferred it all over to a different bike, years earlier. Sure enough, the fading on the original paint (Orange) clearly outlined Campy's distinctive clamp profiles, so this was an easy rebuild.

Not certain of the year, but mine is beautifully aligned and no problem with the BB shell. All Pumpkin orange with black head tube and black seat tube bands, black lug outlining and little hand painted black scrollwork on the seatstay caps. Very nice solid, stable riding bike, and nicely faced BB, etc. - wish all bikes were so well built.

Actually, rather surprised that (well, in spite of the distinctive color) it really exhibits nothing very ostentatious to draw one's attention to it. DB-531, Campy 1010 dropouts, long spearpoint Prugnat Professional lugs, semi-sloping fork crown with drilled stiffeners on the inner sides of the fork blades & seatstay bridge supports with windows... & no chrome. Just very clean looking, overall.

Suppose I really should remember to write or call the UK shop to see about accurately dating it. Or, since I'm already following this thread,... anyone happen to know of an online a source for approximating a BJ build date based on serial numbers? ~ Thanks