Bikerider007

My understanding is mid nineties or later for LeColin but it's been a while. And built by him or maybe help from a son. One of them may chime in.

015 seems crazy thin for that size and is rarely seen. Some unique finds coming out of Az this week between this and the Gilmour Team bike.

For the BMX guys. VDC (Voris Dixon) is also near Tucson. I considered seeing seeing if he would build a fixed/track type bike in his style. Loved those Monkey bars and other crazy parts and frames he created.

deraileurloveur

The guy I bought it from said that he met Mr. Laing and that he told them that he made it in 1978? Third hand information here, so who knows.

It is 64cm c-c seat tube and 58cm c-c top tube. Very odd design. In many ways it is quite similar to the old school measurements for riders, so 1978 for the frame doesn't seem that far off. Both dropouts have eyelets on them. Again, odd.

I'm 6'3 and the bike actually fits quite well. I think that is mainly because of the top tube length.

Time trial bike seems like the most likely explanation.

I'm leaning towards some clean white cloth bar tape and riding it. Saddle has already been switched out for a selle san marco.

What are the general thoughts on riding 015 as a 190lb rider? I'd take it on 20 mile rides at the most. It doesn't really ride that noodley.

The history of this bike is still very intriguing.

deraileurloveur

Then again, 92 may be the year it was made in the serial number. Were 015 bikes being made in 1992? That doesn't seem to add up.

Bikerider007

I don't know. I just recall the names changes as he came and went from Europe to Az and back. The info is on the web somewhere. I did a quick search but could not find.

015 should be very lightweight. Someone here may be able to ID it. I think that tubing was for 160ish lb. Again, just read that somewhere. But some of the frame would be stronger I assume. Not something I get too far into to know how those were pieced together.

Good luck. It's a nice bike.

deraileurloveur

That's the whole oddity of the frame. 6'3"+ never equals under 160lbs, and no one under 6' 2" could comfortably ride this bike.

selaing

A few things. I never made bikes with my Dad, that was my brother Ian. Le Colin was a name used by Dad when working for Tempe Bike shop a long time ago, I believe in the mid 90's when he returned to the States for the 3rd time. Before that Colian was used when we moved back to the States in 1985/86 until he moved back to England in 1992. During that short time, he worked for Colin Lewis.

Now about the bike above. I would believe Dad made this bike. He has built bikes with Reynolds, Columbus and Isiwata.... Never any Alloy bikes which had the Le Colin name on them like an old mountain bike frame.
cheers and all the best
Stuart

Zombie Woof

I recently purchased a bike from CL Tucson. The guy who sold it claims that it is a Colin Liang. It was a basket case. A box of parts, and a frame. He had stripped off all the paint, and lost interest.

I hace since reassembled it. I used most of the parts it came with, but the hubs were crap. I found a nice set of vintage Campy records on ebay that fit. The I reused the rims, and tires for now, until I can afford something better. The rear derailleur was trashed. The Phil Wood BB needs a rebuild, for the time being, I'm using a cheap shimano.

One notable feature, the frame is similar to a GT with a triple triangle configuration.

Anyhow, with all the activity in this thread recently, I was hoping that someone might be able to tell me something about this bike. I hope you're still watching Stuart.

Well, I was going to post a couple of pics, but the site won't let me post URL's until I have ten posts?

selaing

In the day, some large frames did have seat stays cross over (GT copy), for added strength. This made a big frame more rigid.
Hope it looks like a nice frame.

Zombie Woof

Thanks for the reply Stuart.
It is a large frame 68cm, I'm 6'-4" and can barely straddle it. It rides very nice, I like it better then my Specialized.
Also it has Cantilever Brakes. a feature I have not seen on any other Colin Laing bikes.

I have uploaded some photo's here:
https ://ibb.co/ album/ cAef8v
(remove spaces)

The photos from the Craigs List ad, a couple of the bike as it stands now, and a couple of the campy hubs.

Zombie Woof

Thanks for the reply Stuart.
It is a large frame 68cm, I'm 6'-4" and can barely straddle it. It rides very nice, I like it better then my Specialized.
Also it has Cantilever Brakes. a feature I have not seen on any other Colin Laing bikes.

Zombie Woof

Ok, so I have accumulated ten posts, and can now post some pictures.




And a link to the album, which includes the original craigs list photo's.https://zombiewoof.imgbb.com/

Not sure why images aren't working, but at least the link to the album works

KSleeman

I have inherited my father's old Laing bike . There is a serial number under the bottom bracket 5126 . I can't post a URL because I haven't made enough posts yet I guess .idk

Zombie Woof

Looks like ours are close together, mine is 5174.

And yes, you have to make 10 posts before you can post an URL

selaing

Thanks all for posting messages about Dad's bike frames. I wish I had his brown book with all the serial numbers in it and date made and materials.
One day I will look for it.
I would venture to bet though, those two frames mentioned were made in Tucson AZ,
On another note, I am really happy to see my brother Ian is now back in the frame making business. He just finished making me a cyclocross bike for work.
Cheers
Stuart

KSleeman

My father got it back around 76 when he rode for the wolverine sports club In Detroit . I believe he was training for the Olympics back then and was a runner up for the team but we boycotted because of Russia and our riders never got to compete that year.
Just trying to come up with content so I can post pics

Zombie Woof

Thanks Stuart. It doesn't look like much in it's current state. I'm hoping to get it powder coated some day. But it rides really nice. If you found your dads book, that would be awesome, as I'm really curious about it's origins.
Good news about your brother, it would be great if he continued the tradition!

Small world, I grew up in Detroit, before moving to Tucson. Great story, I remember the boycott, and that Russia returned the favor in '84.
Looking forward to seeing pics when you can post them.

KSleeman

It's been real interesting rebuilding the bike and seeing other Laing bikes here . Great to know his family still is working on bikes too.

KSleeman

Number 5

selaing

https://m.facebook.com/IanLaing2017/
Please take a look at my brother for frames.
Cheers

selaing

It seems I cannot post in the for sale section, but one of my best friends is now selling his Colin Laing bike: here are the details.


For sale - rare, 1986, handmade custom Colin Laing complete bicycle - Columbus tubing (one of the first he made in Tempe Bike Shop - Tempe AZ after moving back to the States from the UK).
Approx 57c with tall 1 inch head tube. Campagnolo 10 speed Racing Triple group (front derailleur replaced with Shimano), 52x42x30 chainrings, 12x29 cassette, Campy seat post, Flite gel saddle, Planet X 100mm stem, Planet X 46cm bars with Cinelli cork wrap, Campy hubs, Mavic Open Pro rims, Kenda tires.
Powder-coated in 2015. Only has head tube badge as Colin did not have a complete matching set of decals after the powder-coat.

I have some photo's if you are interested. I have ridden this bike and love it, but still have a one-off made by Dad.
cheers
Stuart

merziac

You have upgrade your membership $$$, you can post it in ebay/cl are you looking for one of these? thread.

friendofpugs 

Here's a Colin Laing or Colain or Ian Laing bike I got yesterday - honestly I don't know which one to call it. It looks like a few Colain bikes I've seen online, so I'll go with that for the time being. I usually ride a 54cm square frame, this is 56cm seat tube with a 54cm top tube, so it fits pretty good. There aren't any decals, so I'm going to ride it a bit to see if I'll keep it and then put some decals on, if I can find them, that is.

It's sort've a "retro-mod" build - the Record hubs are laced to new DT Swiss rims, Thomson seat post, Brooks Pro saddle, Nitto stem and bars, and the rest is Campy Nuovo Record. The nice gent I bought it from seemed to think it was made from SLX (and so added the SLX stickers), but I haven't taken it apart yet to look for the ridges in the tubing.

I love how the rear mono stay looks and it's a very stiff, sure-footed bike so far.

repechage

Interesting bike, drop bolt at the rear brake.... all for appearances I think.

Henry James head lugs by the looks of it.

friendofpugs 

Thanks for the info. It has Suntour Superbe dropouts for the rear and I can't make out the front, maybe the same as the rear based on a letter, the typeface looks similar.

easyupbug 

As of a couple years ago Andy Gilmour, Tucson frame builder had some of Colin's decal, NOS. I love my Laing.