Hello C&V... Today I stumbled upon an interesting bike on craigslist and swooped in and bought it. I will post some pictures as soon as I get it home and clean it up, but for now, a brief description: Reynolds 531 frame, Shimano 600 6-speed components, and tubulars. The decal on the downtube reads "Ranson", and the owner said he had purchased it when he lived in Belgium, probably in the early 1980's. I did a quick searchs on here and on google and didn't find a whole lot of info. Can anyone shed some light on this nice find of mine? I should have some pictures this evening, or tomorrow at the latest.

brand sounds familiar, but I have never seen one. Take pictures before you clean it up.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/2431908...7607172078287/

Pictures are up - please disregard the disaster of my work area and the horrendous neon yellow bar tape.

A few notes of interest:
-600 components all around, with the exception of the rear derailleur which is an unmarked long cage Shimano
-nice, long, pointy lugs, with clovers in the head tube/down tube and seat tube/top tube lugs
-shifts quite well despite the slightly rusty chain and rusty cables
-tubulars are Cyclepro Discovery Kevlar 700x20C's, Super Champion Gentleman rims, Shimano hubs with oil ports
-the number "73" is stamped at the very top of the seat tube - perhaps related to vintage?
-serial number is on the bottom bracket - appears to read "669"
-sadly, quite a bit of frame rust, and all of the spokes on the wheels are goners - definitely will need to be re-laced

Anyone have thoughts on the history, vintage, or what to do with it? Part of me thinks the frame may be older than I had originally expected with new(er) components, but the owner was very vague about it's past.

I first saw those 600 components in '78 or so. 73 is the angle of the lug.
I'm guessing late '80s from the components and the frame geometry.
Looks like a nice bike, too bad they stored it outside for so long

Don't know what to advise, I know nothing of the brand. My thought is to grease the bearings, spray the inside of the frame tubes with framesaver, and ride the heck out of it. Don't know if you have to relace the wheels if the wheels can be trued, clean them off and try it out.

Interesting. Has World Champion stripes in the head tube sticker.

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I don't know anything about the bike, but it looks amazing! congrats! If u ever get bored of it, I'll gladly take it off your hands

Interesting clover leaf on the top tube lug, as well as the world champ colors in the head tube logo.

I hadn't even thought of the World Champ colors, but that just makes it a bit more curious or puzzling. Perhaps that might help me in tracking down more info, though.

I'm also unsure what I'm going to do with the bike. It really was an impulse purchase (too good of a deal to resist on craigslist), but I have too many projects and too little space. It might have to go into storage for a little while before I can really do much to it.

I'm starting to put together some more ideas about the Ranson as I've started some basic disassembly.

The dropouts are Gipiemme 1800CC, but the derailleur is a cheap Shimano mounted on a claw adapter. The derailleur is something like this, but I'm sure it's not the original. Everything else is Arabeque 600EX, and this is a bit too new and has a much longer cage than necessary.

I've also been trying to find some tie-in with the world champion stripes through a lot of googl-ing of the late 70's, but I have had no luck. Anyone else have any thoughts?

I'm planning on taking the components off, thoroughly cleaning them and the frame, and assessing just how bad the rust situation is...

I guess I'll bump my own thread up since I have a new detail...

Now that winter is upon us, I've had some time to start stripping it down to the frame. Directly underneath the Reynolds 531 sticker is a separate sticker that reads "Cadre Derycke" with a picture of a bicycle. Some google searching yielded a French language listing of bike shops in Brussels including one "Cycle Derycke." Anyone from Belgium know anything more?

Also, there's an interesting braze-on for the shifters. The shifters are Shimano 600 downtube clamp-ons, but there is an eyelet brazed onto the downtube that serves as a guide for the clamp-on bolt. I'll try to grab a picture, but I've never seen anything like that before.

The frame is in pretty bad shape, so I am toying with repainting it or getting it powdercoated. That might be more money than I want to put into it, though.

Interesting frame. Glad that velobase was able to help ID some of the parts.

I would suspect that the rear derailleur is a replacement from some later date in time. Everything else is Shimano 600EX Arabesque, it's unlikely that one would get all the other parts but cheap out on the rear derailleur. Esp using one with a clamp on hanger.

@cudak2k
velobase helps on a daily basis ,
thanks for that !!
Cheers
T

It definitely was a cheap replacement from later on since there was a real hanger on the drop out hiding behind the clamp on one! I have already found a correct 600EX derailleur to replace it, too...

Over the weekend I'm going to give the frame a more thorough washing and I'll grab some more photos.

if you for some reason decide to part with the 600EX group please shoot me a PM

In my last post I said late 80's, probably meant to say late '70s. Looks to me like that frame may be better than the parts that are hanging on it.

The frame is very nice. I wouldn't try to refinish, but I would try to clean and polish the paint with swirlcut or something with a little more tooth than wax. Does the bottom bracket contain French cups?

The World champion stripes are quite often misapplied, and so have less than 100% reliability. There are also about a zillion amateur competition classes, each providing for a world champion, and the possibility for a bike manufacturer to legitimately put the stripes on. Like, say, the 85+ men's class. If I live long enough I plan on winning that one. Put the stripes on my headstone, 'k?

My apologies for digging up an old thread, but how did the Ransom project come out? Did you ever learn more about it? I have one and came across this thread while researching it. I'd be curious to compare notes.

Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot more to share about the Ranson's origin. I cleaned it up and threw fresh cables, a chain, and tires on it to ride for a bit before deciding what to do with it, and it was a little too small for me. I ended up moving the frame along to a friend who was more appropriately sized. I think he ended up cleaning it up and leaving the original paint, but I could be wrong.

I'd be interested to see yours, though, if you have some photos.

It's my understanding that these bikes were cutom made in Belgium by a former Tour de France rider, but I haven't been able to find any details about that. I'm guessing I might get a little further if I could read French.

If you want to PM me your email I'll send some pics.

Hi Business810 and road2dirt

i just came across this forun when i was trying to find some info on my new "old bike". I recently bought a Ranson that is in pretty good shape and looks brand new. Maybe we can share some more info on this brand. So far, you are the only 2 guys I know who have a Ranson bike.

here is a picture of mine:

Very cool!

Since I had the Ranson out the last couple of days, I decided to search the web, and of course this BF thread is the only thing still out in cyberland. I ended up with the OP's frame & fork (he kept the components), and have kitted it out with mostly Cyclone, and an odd 7 speed 52/34 up front with a 12/22 (?) freewheel drivetrain. Makes for interesting shifting at times.

If there are any more Ransons out there, post 'em.

[MENTION=107655]Ex Pres[/MENTION] - got pics?

I don't, but the OPs pics are still an active link.

Unfortunately, the Belgian paint must not like the southeast US humidity, or had some rust lurking from its past. I've already had to repaint the fork entirely, and when I pulled the bike out this spring the TT had some bad rust - like I had been using it on a trainer. So out with the sandpaper & spray can again (unfortunately not the best match). And I had given the frame a good waxing before I built it up.

Rust happens.