olffie1
 

Hi Steve, the tubing is definitely Reynolds 531!

And the drilled holes on the rear brake mounting is an absolute identification pointer that the frame is a Rih!
Fedor den Hertog once told me it was to also to get a bit of weight off the bike.

Dear specialists, I wonder about the date of birth : isn’t it more a 1968/69?
Because the T is after the serial number and the Z might be sometimes used as a “2”(?)

I have a 263Z and a 123T at home and I have doubts about their age now.

Great bike anyway ! (Steve, you need to keep the original paint eh😉, I do find the painting of the Fongers of better quality than the Bustraan by the way. Well it’s my humble opinion based on my stock only)

good day !
Patrick

RIH "Speciaal", ~1980
 

I always wanted a RIH and since I was looking for a frame to build a classic Randonneur, I was happy to stumble over this peace of garbage, which I got for 40 EUR.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...dcc98f3325.jpg

"Experts" wrinkled their noses. "What a cheap peace of junk!" And what about the tubing: Reynolds 500... The bike was built in Venlo and its frame number is 420835. Somebody told me, that due to the tubing, the bike must be build somewhere between 1978 and 1982.

However, I was happy with it, why not give a cheap frame a go, at least it was sturdy. Eventually, I salvaged only the frame, fork and brakes. The rims are new, the rest mostly bought 2nd hand or stuff me and my friends had lying around. At first, I mounted original ESGE racks, but I did not like the looks of them, so I replaced them with modern Tubus racks which are just a lot more practical.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3a7594f48b.jpg

A few weeks ago, we went on a trip and I didn't stop smiling. Love the bike, the way it rides (stable as hell) and it's classic look.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8aa1b96206.jpg

This winter, I will however build some "aero" lowriders for it. Fighting against strong winds got me thinking about that.

Hi Patrick

You are correct the "z"could be a badly pressed "2" whilst a closer examination of the last digit does lend one to assuming its a "T".

This will then make the farm a 1968!

I will amend my post if possible.

Regards

Steve

Additional information obtained on the frame 291T.

The original owner was a chap by the name of "Hoenders" (chicken) Hendricks. Hoenders and his brother "Tosie"where each bought a new RIH in about 1968/9. Hoenders' bike was red and his brother's blue. 291T was eventually sold to Arthur Els who then sold it to Lenny Stanford in Kimberley before being swapped to a dealer in Johannesburg.

I cleaned up the frame and plan to build it up with a Campagnolo Gran Sport groupset, except for Universal '61 centre pull callipers if I can fit the cable guide to the headset. The steerer tube is a bit short and I will try swap the crown race to a flatter model or use what may be the original headset.

The seatpost is 27.2mm and will be fitted once I clean up the lug a bit. It will sport a Brooks Professional saddle.

The bar and stem are newer Cinelli as I don't trust the older steel bars because of internal rust, especially if I use the bike for Eroica SA next year.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b38ac1481a.jpg

Got myself another RIH. Pearl white with RIH panto in front forks, no type, serial
81 110 on lower ballhead lug, oval hole at seatstay, 531 frame and forks.

Originally it would most probably have had aluminium "Maes/Kint" bars, and a steel stem, both made by Titan in Tielt, Belgium. These, as pictured on a 1968 Fongers-RIH:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ec63fcd9b7.jpg

1981? Or 2000's? The one time I met Wim van der Kaaij he told me that at some point after he'd taken over the shop, he ditched the old Bustraan serial numbering system and switched to semi-significant numbers, including the build year. Some numbers I've seen from the eighties and nineties seem to support that. After that, things get a little fuzzy.

1981. I'll upload some pics later. Framenumber is 81 118.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fd552182af.png

New

Up dated photoshttps://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...121dbb4b49.jpghttps://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9247d34eb7.jpg

Love that bike, cant wait to see more pictures!

As soon as I'm out of hospital, aroumd Dec. 10th

For those who doubted my 1978 Amstel Wielerploeg RIH (1978.20) was a genuine van der Kaay built bicycle.....
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8c27f40fc1.jpg
Taken from RIHsport website. Numbers are up

This is 197820

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f6170cd8e5.png

Very interesting.

I will be able to check some of my Rih's, well just out of curiosity.
I had heard they had started this archive a couple of years ago but is was getting quiet after the main apprentice of Wim went on his own.
They seem to restart again in the north of Amsterdam

Cool, It's for the first time I see a Ruitenbeek sticker on a RIH. Ruitenbeek sold quality bikes under the Olympia Sport label, in Hilversum. He didn't built the frames himself, but took the measurements and discussed the groups. He then aquired the frames from other (mostly Amsterdam) builders. Paint was done in the Bellamystreet in Amsterdam.
Maybe Ruitenbeek sold this one 2nd hand.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1688126294.jpg
1978 Olympia Sport with Suntour Superbe group.

Thanks for the heads-up! Had a quick look. Amazing. Feels like striking gold ... :)

One thing you can't fail to notice are the bikes built for the Soviet track team. A short search revealed a Russian RIH club, present on VK, the Russian Facebook competitor. Some really nice pics here: RIH Club.

1959/60 RIH build progress..
 

Finally making a bit more progress on getting this bike back together! Everything takes so lon
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a3d5639ec8.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e0f2380f83.jpg

I've just acquired a mid 70's amsterdam RIH - Serial no: 9231
I got it for a very reasonable £8.90 on UK ebay (not bad considering it has nitto bars and stem, shimano 600 brakes & sugino chainset)
It's a bit of a mess (as you may imagine for that money - I'll need to check alignment etc before building
Apparently I can't post the pics until I've 10 posts under my belt - watch this space

Nice! Best way to up your postcount is to comment on interesting threads. IIRC you can (in the begining) only post 5 times/day, after your 10th post you're free to go :).

I do have enough bikes (my wife tells me that, so it's probably true ;)) but everytime I visit this thread I have some kind of urge to buy a RIH from... somewhere.

Strange...

:D

I've checked the serial number 'database' on the new Rih shop page up-thread and it turns out to be a 1977 build
That makes it a "birth-year-bike" which is nice!
The campag ends have mudguard eyes and there's no remnants of script on the TT so it's not a "model Campagnolo" presumably a bespoke build for a clubman
It's a very nicely finished frame - nicely feathered lugs, an understated, no-frills tool