gtipton55

So today I purchased a Ross Utopian 1980's road bike for personal use. I tried to look up some information about it before hand but could not find any information about it other than about 3 minor sources scattered across forums but no real information other than that it may have been one of Ross's top of the line bikes. The bike is equipped with full Shimano components though I have no idea what type of Shimano it is (need some help identifying it). All components work great and the paint itself is in pretty amazing condition. I'm currently getting the rear wheels hub rebuilt at my LBS so I those need a little work but other than that it's in great working condition.

Hopefully with some TLC, some new bar tape, pedals, possibly bars, and some loving to the wheels I'll be using this bike for a while.

I just thought I could get a thread going to get some information out on this bike since I could not find anything myself.

Thanks and feel free to ask any questions about the bike

Some Pictures of the Ross:

The sticker on the frame says
"Ishiwata CrMo
Double Butted Tubes"

gtipton55

So the components are the original Shimano 105's I found out. Also going by the Shimano "Golden Arrow" 105 components.

Poguemahone

This is one of a line up that included the Aristocrat and the Paragon. All of them had the funky fork ends, and I believe they were produced very briefly just before the Kellogg designed and in some case built Signature models. All three bikes had Ishiwata 024 tubing and I believe the frames were basically interchangable. Big difference seems to be the component layout. Aristocrats were Shimano 600; the Paragons IIRC were Suntour equiped (going on faulty memory here). They cannot have been built for long as I have seen a grand total of four examples in the last ten years or so. Two Aristocrats, one Paragon, and now your bike. Not much info, I know. The one other Aristocrat owner I've met had only seen my bike.



This is all open to revision. I've also seen a Ross Super Gran Tour XV that had many of the same features (024, fork ends) but no cable run braze ons along the top tube. Probably part of the same model line.

gtipton55

Awesome thanks for the contribution, Pogue. Do you think these were quality bikes for the time? It's cool to own a fairly unique bike.

Poguemahone

Yes, they were.

I think Ross became interested in building quality roadies and tested the waters with these models prior to hiring Kellogg. The ride and geometry are not as aggresive as the signature models, which are more race-worthy. Very comfortable riders.

gtipton55

I'm really enjoying the bike so far. The shifting needs a little work and adjusting (as do I since I have never used downtube shifters). I'm probably going to take it up to the shop later and order some new bars, get some new tape, get this plastic nasty saddle replaced, and buy some hoods for the brake levers. I'll probably try to do a white color scheme with the dark bluish frame.