marty@yourpikec

Hi Folks, newbie here. I was cruising the Internet recently and discovered this forum.I discovered I had 2 Ross bicycles both with manuals hanging in the basement. One is a "Lightweight" and one is a "Gran Tour" Receipt with them shows both were purchased at the same time in Upper Montclair, NJ 8/30/1982. The Lightweight has never been used and the Gran Tour just lightly. They are bikes my wife and I brought thinking we would ride together, but that didn't happen so her bike, the Lightweight, wasn't used. My bike, the Gran Tour, went into storage shortly thereafter when I went from road bike to off road bike and haven't ridden it since. I certainly had enjoyed riding that old road bike and this forum has been quite an education and quite enjoyable. Is there a market for my 2 bikes? Thank you all for your valuable information, insights and thoughts.

brandenjs

This is the Ross I picked up from a yard sale. I really like the way it rides. A few upgrades and lightweight components and this will be a very nice ride...Jeff

McDave

That's a great looking bike brandenjs! You don't have to tell me how nice they ride, I have one very similar to yours...

brandenjs

Yes it is very similar to mine. It looks like they are about the same year. Do you know when yours was built? I have no idea how to even find out. The history I have read says that the Allentown bikes are early to mid 80's. Did you fix yours up for a collectors item or do you ride it regularly? ....Jeff

McDave

I used to think I could date the Ross' by their serial number which would suggest this is a '84 model, but now I'm not so sure. Going by the date codes of the components at the Vintage Trek website, it appears the bike is an '81.

It's been in my collection for about a year, but I've since settled on a preference for larger size frames, so this one will be leaving soon.

brandenjs

I was going to mention the frame size. I measured mine to be a 61. Which is probably a little big for me. I'm 6' tall. The standover is 35". Which is just a little above the comfort zone,but I can live with it. 81-84 sounds about right. The components on this bike have held up well. I will be putting new cables on soon,but I hate to take off original equipment that is functioning well. I was really surprised that the headset and bottom bracket do not have any play at all. Very solid ride with no rattles...

bikerosity57

Seems to me, they were based in Pennsylvania. I remember they used a "salt" bath to clean the frames after building, which seemed like a poor idea to me. However, they sold reasonably good, well made, if heavy bikes. One or two models were outstanding. Some were real duds. I talked an old girlfriend into buying a Ross road bike, and her parents were pissed off at me and her, because the bike cost around three hundred bucks in 1980.

DMF 

You really ought to read the rest of this thread, especially https://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.p...8&postcount=35

brandenjs

Very cool history lesson..thanks. I had also read somewhere that frame builder Tom Kellogg had worked for them also. He actually put out a signature series of these bikes that are supposed to worth a good bit of money these days.

Al Criner

What a great thread! I just stumbled on this and thought I would contribute a little. In 1985 my wife bought me a Ross Gran Tour for about $200 at a little one-man bike shop in Cameron Park, CA which I still own. I have been wondering if I was the only person in the world who had one of these. My bike looks like the one in the picture in the first ad that is posted above. It is black with black foam cushion on the handlebars, silver and white accents. Chrome/moly double-butted frame, Tange forks, Sugino cranks, Shimano derailleur and brakes, Rigida rims.

I rode it some, crashed it once. Kids came along and for various reasons I basically quit riding it. This last couple of weeks I have been fixing it up. New tires and tubes but the cables, brake pads, seat, and padding on the handelbars are original. It is heavy by today's standards but it is a tank. I am a casual rider, mainly I coast along behind my kids so this works for me. I plan to ride this from now on.

Andy Ross - really enjoyed your history of the company. Good luck to all you Ross owners!

brandenjs

Very cool to hear that. There are a few of us out here. This is my first road bike so it has been cool to find out some background on the brand. I have'nt had any experience on a higher quality bike so this bike works very well for me,and I have'nt had any quality issues yet. I did the old bathroom scale weight on mine and it is around 23lbs. the way it is now...Jeff

Mos6502

You know, somebody should really take all the info in this thread and put it on a webpage somewhere...

Stacey

You may.

tablamj

Great thread
I just received my dad's old Ross "Utopian". I haven't been able to find any info on this specific model but from the description in the thread it sounds like it might be one of the signature models. It is in great condition with all the original shimono comp. right down to the real leather seat!. it still has the CrMo 024 sticker on it but the components only say shimano and nothing else. He says he bought it from a neighbor ,who was a competitive biker in the early 90s but it was from the mid/late 80s.

Is this model considered a track bike or road bike?
Is this a rare find that should not be ridden?
will it take the abuse of riding 30+ miles as an training bike?

Stacey

From one Ross fan to another... Pictures please

tpelle

I have a 30 year old Ross Gran Eurosport that I bought new. A couple of weeks ago I was in Portland, OR training some folks and someone remarked about the background on my laptop PC - my new Surly Long Haul Trucker. Anyway, it turned out that this guy also is a bicycle enthuiast, and when we started talking about our bikes, it turns out he has a Gran Eurosport as well. I guess they're still out there, and still being ridden.

(I wonder if the same will be able to be said about these new bikes being made today out of recycled Fresca cans and frozen snot?)

minikar2n

Very interesting thread. I bought Ross Force One Mountain bike in September 1983. Here are some facts:

Serial #07983654684
15 speed, 28/39/49 Takagi
Diacomp brakes
Suntour AG rear derailleur
Suntour front derailleur


Updated with photos.

Stacey

Post the picture here,

Click the "Go Advanced" button, on the next page click on "Manage Attachments" and up load the picture directly from your computer. Picture must be <100 tho'.

I'd love to see it.

brandenjs ~ I have a Signature Series Mt. McKinley MTB from 1992 I paid $10 at Salvation Army. Yeah, I love Sally.

brandenjs

Stacey, I love those deals like that. You almost have to buy them at that price. I'm running out of a place to put all my bikes. I guess I'll just have to make the kids get rid of theirs.

jmbexploer

*Removed by admin*

No posting of items for sale, thank you.

Stacey

Jeff,

You can't do this. When a mod see it, it will get yanked. You can however put something to that effect in your sig with out price of course. Or spend the $25 to become a membeber and post it in the For Sale forum.

Not telling you waht to do, just how to do it. Just trying to keep you out of trouble.

Stacey

Brian

Stacey, thanks for quoting him!

Al Criner

I've been riding my Gran Tour - the rear wheel is probably un-truable but generally the bike rides pretty nice. On the bathroom scale it weighs about 28 lbs. but that is with Panaracer 700c-32 tires and Mr. Tuffy strips, the original chrome steel handlebars, reflectors and suicide brake levers. Remove some stuff and upgrade components and I can get the weight down in the 23-25 lb. range, I am sure.

I found the original receipt ($199.95) and very generic owner's manual. The headbadge on the bike says Allentown, PA but the manual has the company address in Rockaway Beach, NY. That all makes sense given the background that Andy Ross describes in his post.

The bike is good - 4130 CrMo tubing, friction shifters on the stem (those are museum relics now but the shifting is quick and smooth), and I am having some fun learning some basic maintenance and mechanics. The bike has 52-40 chain rings and 5-sprocket 14-28 freewheel, but the rear fork spacing is 126mm. That means I could fit a 7-speed freewheel for a quick upgrade. I have even toyed with the idea of spreading the frame to go up to 8 or 9 speeds, maybe putting on triple chain rings to climb these hills in northern California. I don't see a fancy new bike in my future so I expect I will end up with a bit of a Ross frankenbike eventually.

One of my kids outgrew the 20" bikes and is having fun riding the Walmart cheapie "mountain" bike I have ridden the last few years so we are riding together.

Keep riding those Ross bikes, folks. If you want more status, put Peugot or Bridgestone decals on it, most folks will never know the difference!

Stacey

Sorry about the extra work.

brandenjs

Al, it sounds like our bikes are almost identical. I've got some pictures on my Photobucket site if you want to take a look and see how similar they are. I had a mishap that was the fault of my "relic" friction shifters on a metric century ride a couple of weeks ago. The shifter for the rear loosened up and banged down through the gears on a pretty steep climb. Needless to say I could'nt get unclipped fast enough and ended up falling over. Nothing hurt but my pride thankfully. I will be looking at switching to an indexed system if it's possible. I too am on the low budget cycling plan but I can see moving up the ladder of quality bikes in the future. In the meantime I really love this bike and it will be with me for awhile...Jeff