Here is an overview shot of my bike. I bought the frame set while I was in college. I transfered all the parts from my older bike to it and gradually upgraded things. I recently replaced some worn out, thoroughly rusted parts, too. It was repainted many years ago. I was lucky enough to get a good set of factory Bob Jackson decals before the repaint but I lost my Reynolds 531 decals. I was thinking of getting it repainted again, restoring it back to the way it looked originally (yellow with white bands).

This bike is like a thoroughbred race horse, it cannot go slow. When I commute to work, I start out slowly but by the time I get home I am FLYING!. It is completely unintentional, it just happens.

I once had a dream I was flying, effortlessly flying but low to the ground. I realized later that I was dreaming about riding my bike.

Sounds a lot like my Gazelle. Thing just wills me to get low and go fast. Beauty of a Bob Jackson you have there. There's one I've seen on some of the C&V rides I've been to in the DFW area. Wonderful worksmanship on them.

That is how i feel everytime i ride my Stuttgart Merckx . just flying , so comfortable and light !
nice dream !!
Cheers
T
any a lovely cycle BTW !

That's a beauty!

Love it! I also have a 1975 Bob Jackson. My BJ doesn't have brazed brake cable guides nor an original water bottle brazes. Were these added later? I wasn't aware this was available in 1975.

-GG-

I ordered a Bob Jackson touring bike in 1976 and you could ask for and receive anything you wanted brazed on. They had some stock frames available that were pretty bare bones.

Aaron

Yes, those braze-on goodies were added during the repaint. They came out with the braze-on front deraileur hangers about a year or more after the repaint. Had those been available (or known to me) I would have added one of those, too. I did it to eliminate as many of the clamps as possible as these were damaging the paint and were spots were rust was starting. The bike was worth it to me.

I also remember that when the bike was shipped out for painting there was trouble between the LBS and the painter shops. Delay after delay, ...one BS story after another. In the end, there was a real threat I might not see my bike back again. Let's just say, I made it very clear I would not go quietly away. My frame showed up a week later.

The paint was decent but not everything what I expected in terms of quality of application. They did get the color correct. It is DuPont Imron.

The tires are new and made by Challenge. These are really nice tires. The best I've had since Bob wore his last sew-ups in about 1980.

It's gorgeous just the way it is, but if you want to re-paint it, well, it's your bike.

I thought the seat binder and deraileur cable guides were added but after looking at photos of "Stronglight's" Bob Jackson, I now believe I misremembered that. I believe I was thinking of this bike's predecessor which had a Campagnolo binder bolt and a Campagnolo clamp-on cable guide.

The water bottle bosses are add-ons. The shift lever braze ons were definitely added because the original clamp stop is still on the frame. As this item is underneath the down tube, it is unobtrusive and does not need to be removed.

I was considering a repaint because there are many places where the rust has gotten underneath the paint and the rust is spreading laterally.

It's not hard to justify repainting a repaint; especially if you're going to restore the original scheme. Whatever it takes, to keep demon rust from devouring a beautiful vintage bike!

We know red bikes are best, and yours is gorgeous. If you do repaint it, how about red with a white head tube?

Is that considered a criterium geometry? It is fast, but is it also a bit twitchy?

Twitchy - perhaps, yes. Nimble - yes. Responsive - yes.

You can ride it with no hands but it is very sensitive to steering inputs. Duck your head to the right and you will be going to the right. You've heard the expression, "ducking around the corner", haven't you. This bike tought me the importance of providing steering inputs in the opposite direction of your lean.