Dawes-man

Not obscure but very rarely seen, a 1956 H.R. Morris and only the 2nd or 3rd frame he made under his own name:

[IMG] Untitled by Dawes-man, on Flickr[/IMG]

So far, I've fitted balls to the head set, a bottom bracket and polished up the seat post… a way to go yet.

fiveshoes

I picked this up today for free, I've tried my best to research the brand, but with absolutely success. The crankset says 'Pointer' cast on the arm and again I can't find any info on this either. It's a low end 10 speed, but what the hell is it? Anyone?

Sixty Fiver

I should add some local content... names that are probably better known here and in Canada than they are further south or across the pond.

Edmonton was a little hotbed of custom building in the late 1970's and into the 90's with Brad Proctor and Bob Townsend building and selling bicycles out of High Country Sports and for a time they employed Jim Moulden as a builder. He went on to build frames under his own name and establish the Hard Core Bicycle shop that specializes in mountain bikes and this shop is still open although Jim has quite building along with Brad and Bob.

My Proctor road bike, early 90's with later Shimano 600 / Ultegra - Proctor / Townsend built road bicycles and touring bicycles to a very high standard.



My Moulden XC bike - it does not weigh much more than the Proctor and Jim MOulden also built some very nice road bicycles although these are rarer.



My partner started building frames 30 years ago and was a contemporary of the local guys and specialized in tandems and touring bicycles which are still built with steel and as such, Arvon Cycles continued and continues to build custom bicycles here although the name is much less known outside of touring and tandem circles.

Arvon is also quite pleased with his work to reproduce the the late 1800's Cygnet bicycle... you will not see one of these unless you come and visit.



Known for his longtail tourers...



And bikes that collapse into nothing...



I need to find my stash of tandem pictures...

Gary Fountain

WOW - This IS a thread that I could really contribute to!!!

I'm in Australia - You guys won't know any of the bike makers here, except for 'Malvern Star' or perhaps 'Kenevans'. They're all obscure and rare in North America of Europe. I could 'serve up' any old Aussie built bike as they would all fit the profile of this thread.

I wouldn't do that though.

I do have a few old Aussie built bikes lying around my garage but I will only show you guys one of them - and - it's a track bike. It's not a turn of the century piece of cycling history either. In fact it was built in the 80's for my favourite bike shop 'in the world' - DeGrandi Cycles. DeGrandi's have been in business since the 1930's and have been a builder of fine bikes. Their marque was the 'Valencia'. They also built frames for other manufacturers under contract for many years. The old shop was a step back in bicycle history in Australia - I loved visiting and having a look through the golden years of Australian cycling of which they were a part. Their's was one on the last true, old style, bike shops in Australia until the new bike boom forced the move to a new premises and a new direction in bike sales.

They began importing bikes and frames directly from Italy. I remember many conversations with Shane DeGrandi about his dealings with Ernesto Colnago, his visits to Pinarello, DeRosa, etc.

So, it's my absolute pleasure to have a frame with their name on it. I have come across 'Valencia's' but this is the only 'DeGrandi' I have seen. It was not built in their workshop as they were not building frames at this stage but it was built for them by George McDonald who was a very highly regarded frame builder. It's a dream to ride around the velodrome - it's strong and stiff. What you put into the pedal stroke seems to translate directly into rapid forward movement. I love it.

Built from Reynolds 531 it measures 615mm c to c X 615mm c to c and weighs in at 17lb. 73 1/2 degree seat tube and a 76 1/2 degree head tube. It's big for me but I really don't care. It's a rare Aussie bike from the era I love:

LeicaLad 

This thread is a great resource. It would also help if the listing of marques in the OP could be updated. . .

EBH

Is my Giovani considered rare?

danec99

A few of these have been on BF, but pretty rare. Bibliobob posted is earlier in the thread. Late 70's Echelon (Cherubim) Odyssey. Lightweight Japanese frame, 22 pounds as pictured. A real pleasure to ride.

Catnap 

wow, Dawes-Man, i didn't actually know about Nalsima / Nalshima. Thanks for the info!

Here's another two rare marques, from Spain and England, respectively:

MENDIZ (pronounced "Mahn-deeth") from the Basque region of Spain:


CLARKS OF HARROW (Harrow is a neighborhood in north London)

Roger M

That's a nice looking bike

Joe McElroy built about 35 bikes in the 1980s(I know of three). He's a retired Being Engineer from Northbend. Bob Freeman (from Elliot Bay Bicycles) is a friend of Joe's and put me in touch with him after I found the bike. This tandem was built in 1984 and sold to a local here in Snohomish(not who I bought it from though).

gomango

Thanks for the info.

Really a beautiful bicycle.

I certainly hope you will enjoy it.

Roger M

Thanks. Here is a link to a 650B Tandem that Joe built. I saw this bike in person several months before mine showed up on CL. It is a really cool piece. I've exchanged a couple emails with the current owner. He upgraded a couple things and added longer fenders.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8379107...7627688934011/

gomango

Yet another beauty.

Some interesting frame details that catch my eye in a favorable way.

Love the color as well.

KonAaron Snake 

Thanks Roger, I was really excited when it became available; it rides as good as it looks. Also agree with Grady - your bike is unique.

Roger M

Yeah, that bike is really neat. I spoke with Joe on the phone last year, and I believe he said that bike sold for about $1000 more than mine did back when they were new..

afilado

All are smashing. I want the blue Frenchy one with the great fork.

J

Sixty Fiver

Gorgeous work...

pcb 

Whole bunch o' sweet obscurities here! I don't have any real one-offs, maybe a few that numbered in the hundreds or so. Somebody posted an Echelon earlier, I've got one, too. Built by Cherubim, imported into Calif by a company called DIN Industries. This one is probably around '84, a sport-tour. I'm not sure any of them had actual model names. Very clean Japanese-detailed construction, especially for a production frame.

pcb 

Ron Stouts....
Stout supposedly built just over 500 frames, from '80-'81 till '92 or so. I've posted both of these here before. The burgundy is a very early one, #008 (1980?), the purple monster is much later, #466 from '92. Both have pretty tight tire clearances, I'm running 650b in the burgundy to get a little more rubber on the ground.

danec99

Looking good PCB - Now I can see how well mine will look when I put Paselas on it.

dyander

Condor of London has been selling under their own Marquis out of their shops from a large pool of builders over the decades. Here is a 72 Italia Model. Originally mostly NR equipped, I got it as a frame only from the original owner in 1980 and have been riding it with a 70/80's Japanese build.

Vonruden

Nice bikes PCB, that Purple Stout is drool worthy!

Gary that De Grandi is a beauty, Me likey!!!

Lots of Goodies here.

LeicaLad 

There's a Ron Stout current on auction. . .

Lenton58 

This one is not as exotic, pretty or fabulous as most of what appears in this fascinating thread. But, i do believe it is rare. And perhaps it is the only one in Japan. I bought it as 'frame only' out of Europe. I used it to build a single-speed machine on a strict budget. It has served me very well, but I am dying to know how it feels to ride on tubular tires and geared up using a friction DT-shifting 6 speed drivetrain and fitted out with vintage Suntour and Campy parts. So what is it? It is labelled as Simplon — the 4-Star model. Not as rare as the 5-Star, of which fewer than 50 were ever made.

Simplon was a boat builder on Lake Constance. For some reason they diversified and went into bicycles and chose Simplon as a name for the marque due to the engineering prowess of the famous tunnel. Today they produce very serious competition MTB racers. Very little information is available in regards to their early road bikes. But, I hav e spent almost three years trolling for information and pictures and have come to an interesting conclusion. I am dead to rights positive that this frame was constructed by Romani and badged as Simplon.

Romani was an old family firm that produced frames for many other well-regarded marques. They often made up frames for companies that were flooded with orders that they could not fill — apparently including the likes of Colnago.

As a Romani, it may not be so rare. As a Romani badged and perhaps specified by Simplon, it may be rare and unusual. The pic below has appeared on BF before, but before I knew what I suspect I know now. No doubt you may see it again when it is transformed and returned to it's more original form as a road racer. A certain lust has taken hold of me.

papik

A 1981 P.BLONDIN, a 3 Reynolds tubes French bike built in Strasbourg


The "SOLIDA" crankset

papik

An other late 60s French bike built by PAYAN, a little builder in Marseilles