non-fixie 

Welcome, @miloman! Thanks for your elaborate post and the link to the film project. I hope they get to finish it.

If anyone wants to join us in sponsoring this film about the RIH brand, have look below. Hope to see you all at the premiere!

https://vimeo.com/130421240
EDIT: link to the project

PierreSeb

@non-fixie
That's great! Many Thanks!
I will prepare a draft of the decals.
One question, what means the 24 in picture 3?

non-fixie 

You're welcome. The '24' is the height of the '<RIH SPORT>' decal. The second yellow marker line isn't very well visible.

PierreSeb

Okay, I thought it was the Diameter of the tube.

pullup

Hi Pierre, nice Rih

I think the right colour code is RAL 3000. I was told this once but to be sure it would be wise to send a mail to Rih

My own red supercourse was possibly repainted once as the paint is still supernice. The people @ Rih were helpful in finding me a nicer fork to go with the frame which had a replacement fork.

@ Non- fixie I think did not post this one here before but here it is and the serial number is 9177 for your database

PierreSeb

@pullup
thank you, RAL 3000 looks good, I also think about RAL 3001 and 3003.
What do youu think about the shadows of SUPER COURSE? RAL 3018 or 3027?
RIH couldn't help because of the colour, they didn't have any informations about that.
Where did you find the decals?

pullup

Lester who is running the framebuilding shop at RIH at the moment told me it was probably repainted in this colour by Wim v/d kaay himself so Wim would have apllied these decals. This type of decals can be found the 70's Rihs so they are a little bit more modern than the ones on your frame ( I own a pair of those decals if you are interrested )

Someone was offering some home made sets of the type you are looking for last year so I sent him a mail for you if he still has them.

PierreSeb

That is nice, thank you very much! Maybe he can sent a picture?

Because of the colour, I will take RAL 3000 even if Wim himself toke it.

PierreSeb

@pullup
Please tell me your mail adress in a PM, I cannot write back!
Best regards
Pierre

non-fixie 

Thanks! Much appreciated. I really need to update the list this weekend.

PierreSeb

Hello,
today I search for te frame number but didn't find one. Is this possible?

pullup

I checked your pictures Pierre but I definitly see a framenumber on the bottom headtube lug where it should be

PierreSeb

Oh no, that is not my bike. the pictures only were an example how my bike looks befor ist was painted white/blue

non-fixie 

AFIK any RIH should have a frame number, either on the lower head lug or on the BB shell. Maybe the painter was overzealous and filled it with paint?

Asphalt_World

Hi all. Brand new to this forum but I've just come across a bit of a barn find at a friends place. It's an RIH with 837441 on the bottom bracket. I think it's late 80's or early 90's. Any help with details and what the original spec was would be greatly appreciated as I am hoping to do it up. Will post pictures later.
Thanks all.

non-fixie 

Welcome, @Asphalt_World! A serial number on the BB shell usually means a Cové-built RIH, but without pictures it's impossible to determine what you've got there. For me, anyway. Is there a model name on the top tube?

Asphalt_World

It's an Elan with a solida chain set, suntour cyclone 7000 rear mec but a shimano rx100 front. Shimano 600 levers.

non-fixie 

You mean this one?

EDIT: might as well add the pic:

Asphalt_World

Yes, blimey. How did you do that? So the spec appears original? can I get hold of spec details anywhere?

non-fixie 

That, sir, is the kind of magic we do here on Bikeforums C&V


Kidding aside, the Solida cranks appear on several examples I've seen so far, sometimes together with a Shimano Altus transmission . I suggest you do some more Googling and that should give you an idea of the bike and the parts it came with. I'm not too well-versed yet when it comes to the Cové RIH models. I think the Elan was the base model, followed by the Mistral and the Luxe.

haroldkip

Hi all! What an awesome RIH resource this thread is! I really enjoyed ploughing through it! I ploughed through it because I want to date my - just today - newly (secondhand) aqcuired RIH. As an avid cyclist, recent fan of classic roadbikes and citizen of Amsterdam, I thought it was time to buy a RIH.

My RIH (that sounds really good!) has serialnumber 5324 on the right rear drop-out. See the attached image.

I have quite a hard time dating my RIH; the seat tube has a sticker on it, that states that it is a Cové build. However, the lower tube states 'Bustraan Amsterdam'; which means - if I understand all the information in this thread correctly - that this is only common on the bikes that were built in Amsterdam. I got this information from this post:

Another funny detail on my RIH is, that the front fork has a mount for a dynamo, which implies that it isn't a true racebike, but a touring bike. I destilled that information from this post:

(This serial number is close (enough) to the one on my RIH)

Projecting that information to my RIH, I believe that it might be an early Cové build too, as it has Nervar crank and a Huret front-derailleur. Moreover ... Fongers-RIH en RIH Cové | Klassieke Nederlandse racefietsen states that Cové produced their first RIH bike in 1973. So the conclusion by @non-fixie makes sense. Of course!

If Lester and his friends at the RIH shop really have a box with the framenumber archive, I should probably visit them to see if they can help me make sense of this all ...

What would you say? How would you date my RIH and even more interesting: when was my RIH built? I hope you can help me figure this out

non-fixie 

Welcome to C&V, @haroldkip! That's a very generous first post! I'm still no better informed on Cové build dates, but early to mid seventies looks like a fairly safe bet.

If it fits you well, and you like its ride, it would be a good starting point for a nice touring machine. Lots of inspiration on this forum!

jcdevos

I have been told that there has been a short period in which Wim van der Kaaij@the Westerstraat and some Cove builders worked together in Amsterdam, somewhere in the seventies, maybe your frame is from that cooperation, the framestickers (Bustraan Amsterdam, head badge Amsterdam )indicate a Westerstraat build, but Cove indicates Venlo. Mail Lester i'd say.

Spoonz

Hi there - new to the forum.

I found out today that I am the owner of a genuine RIH. It's a track bike and I've had the bike about 8 years but wasn't aware that it was a RIH as it was sprayed up with other decals. I was thinking of selling it but it was pointed out to me (by RIH verzamelaar - see rih verzamelaar on Facebook) that it was in fact a RIH. The frame number is 8786 so I think this was one made in the Westerstraat. I feel I should restore it it its former glory now - any suggestions as to how I can find out the original paint scheme?

Here is how it currently looks:


Many thanks.

pullup

Hi Spoonz

Nice trackbike

I can see your location is Amsterdam and you have found the facebook page already from one of the big Rih collectors and probably have contacted him already as he was the one who identified yopur bike as a real Rih.

I can see on that face book page a picture of one of the pages that were kept from all the bikes that were made an know that the people from Rih had plans of digitalising them.

I am not sure wether or not there will be information of the delivered colourschemes with each bike but I am positive that it will be your best bet just to go to the new workshop and ask the people over there if they are able to help you.