Great bike! I had one just like it but with Dura Ace 7400. LOVED IT.

Yours looks to be in fantastic condition -even the decals. You did incredibly well for $300.

+10 Great to find free bikes, I have found a couple in the garbage, nothing worth sharing here (both went directly to Goodwill to begin a new life).

I tend to post an occasional great find, catch of the day, well below FMV. Maybe 1 out of 20 get posted.

I do not think you need a conversion, as your camera should work in electronic rangefinder mode. You should run this past your camera shop, as I may be mistaken here, but most nikons mounted Nikkor mount lenses no muss, no fuss. The problem is in getting them to auto-index and contol exposure. Most of my experience stems from film camera days. The D-5000 takes lenses that have otors already built in, so there may be extra contact points you may mess up by mounting this lens, so it is best to have someone take a look at it, or get an old film camera like an FM or FE to try it with. For facial portraits, it is the best lens going. For head and shoulders, 85 1.8 is best. These focal lenths provide the least distortion at the distances required, yet have enough usable f-stop to provide good low-light and existing light capability as well as sharpness and bokeh second to none in 35mm, IMHO.

I agree, you did exceptionally well for the price paid.

But...not so well with some of the folks on here...

I just got a Roberts from my neighbor today. They were waiting for enough scrap to take it to the junk yard. I happened to ask them if they wanted to sell it and they gave it to me. Is a very old model I think. I was hoping you guys could help me out with it. Its numbered 130. She said it was raced by her uncle up until he was in his 80's. Its been outside sitting behind a garage for about a year I think. But its not in that bad of condition after I clean it up, oil and fix up a few things should be in good shape.

Any Ideas or spots to go for info would be GREAAAAAAAAAAT!

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=348340http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=348341http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=348342http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=348343http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=348344http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=348345http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=348346http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=348347http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=348348

that hitch on the seat post is for an ADAMS trail a bike, they are quite hard to find, (ask me how i know!!) if you haven't yet, sell that thing, its worth money on ebay, the last one i saw went for 40 bucks, i ended up buying a new tag along bike

I know nothing about the Roberts brand except that it's from a small shop in England that started up in the 1970s sometime. I think they're still in business. But my ignorance notwithstanding, that bike could be quite a find. You could probably contact the manufacturer to learn about its history. I think Frank Wadelton--known on this forum as Frank the Welder--has a Roberts also, but that's all I can tell you about it.

Great.. I sent him a PM. I would love to learn more about this and what its worth. Also what direction to go with restoring it. I'm getting more and more interested because I can't find anywhere an earlier model than this one. It seems everything is stock except the shimano 105 fh-1055 hubs

That Roberts is a FINE bicycle!

Proctor Townsend
 

My wife was bitten by the vintage cycling bug at L'Eroica this year (she rode the 38km on a rented bike and loved it!) so I've been keeping an eye out for something that would fit her and, most importantly, was the right colour! I spotted this Proctor Townsend on CL today. The colour is perfect, I think the size is right and I bought it for a great price. It's a 52cm frame, Reynolds 753 and was probably a full Shimano 600 gruppo originally. Over time things have been swapped out or replaced. The whole tri setup has to go, but that will give me something to do this winter, plus completing the Shimano gruppo, having a matching wheel set built and installing new consumables will sharpen this bike up significantly. I'm planning to keep this project on the QT from her until spring rolls around and we can once again get out on the roads.

Based on some quick research, these bikes were made in Edmonton in the 80's and 90's and seem to be highly regarded in terms of build quality and ride. I'm not sure what time frame this particular bike is from. BF's own RandyJawa and Sixty Fiver have had some good things to say about Proctor / Proctor Townsend on BF and elsewhere.

http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/...psa68b9540.jpg
http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/...se43011af.jpeg

Could be collectable he says. Sorry just kidding. DAMN nice find! Trumps my Olmo Special by a long shot. I am still very happy with my find though. Even that it was a fixed gear, since I've been missing the custom Voyageur I sold back in June.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps8c1c744f.jpg

Found this on the curb, sans saddle. Added the saddle and cleaned it.http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=348457

They are nicely made and relatively unknown bicycles... the 753 points to later production and the Shimano tri c points to the same as it was available from '88-92.

The thing with custom frames is that they may have been sold as framesets and not built up until later with groups from a different period... older frames also seem to collect a lot of cast offs from newer bikes as those bikes are upgraded.

We had a 753 Proctor come into the shop as a donation that is a close match to mine, it is 105 equipped and rocks a triple instead of a double and looks to be a 54-55... it will be a nice bicycle for the right person once I deal with a little tiny dent in the top tube.

I picked this up from CL today to drop bar it:
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps2223da17.jpg
Looks like a 1987(based on some quick googling) Hardrock, full chromolly frame and fork. Its pretty heavy, but feels solid. Shifts for crap, wheels are out of true, and I get it home to find a stuck seat post(didn't feel like messing around as it was raining pretty good). Still, OK for $30

CL score:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...Ironman-Master

Pretty much stole it.

+1 Looks like a very lovely frame.

It actually appears there is a bit of info in the archives. I didn't read all of it so I don't know how useful it will be, but it's a place to start.
http://www.google.com/search?q=rober...w=1293&bih=870

There was a thread a couple years ago by a guy hunting down a frame built by his father. I thought it was Roberts but perhaps I'm mistaken, as I couldn't turn it up. Anyone remember this?

A Pair of Peugeot's. I had a friend stop by yesterday and ask if I wanted to take a couple of bikes off his hands. Well here is what he had to force me to take. :) As far as I can tell they are 1974 models of the UO8 and UO18C. In pretty good shape and some of the cool original accessories (frame pump and a Mafac tool kit). They both still have the brake levers condoms on them.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps882396a2.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps0e44c964.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps765887f7.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps41ba9562.jpg

I'll take that mixte stem off your hands? Looks awesome, and polished it will be stunning.,,,,BD

I'm not sure I want to part these out. They have been kept well. This is the AVA stem that I have read certain models have a problem with breaking. It is not stuck,but I need to pull it out and check it.

Late 80's BRC Ricochet... 4130 frame and stays with threaded mounts at the chain and seat stay bridges. Would have been one of BRC's nicer offerings and came as seen save for the fenders which I pulled out of the spares bin and will have to adjust a little.

Pretty much a 0 mile bike and was rolling on some Ritchey 700:38 cross tyres and it has room to accommodate much wider tyres than this... :)

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=349373

If you ever decide to rid of them, ive been looking for a matched pair of bikes for the lady and I.

This is too cool of a pair to split up. I'll send a PM.

I'm glad you didn't want to split the pair of too, it is too cool to have a matching pair like that.