Guerc 

I answered a Craigslist ad for a "1974 Strawberry frame, Reynolds 531", being sold by the original owner. He warned me that the frame was a little rough. No worries, I thought. This would be for a leisurely townie commuter. I was looking for an old innocuous frame with 70s style long wheelbase and plenty of tire clearance. I was looking for an old Raleigh or Peugeot racer, really. I was surprised by what I found:



The frame was far from what I recall as a 70s style frame. It had super tight wheelbase, short stays, and almost no tire clearance. It would be awful as a commuter. Not at all what I wanted. So I handed over my money, obviously.

The owner shared his story: He ordered it as a "time trial and hill climbing bike" at the Strawberry shop in Portland. He took delivery on October 6, 1974. He wanted it lightweight, since he was 135lbs max. He proceeded to race the heck out of it, including various crashes and other misadventures. For a while, it did duty as a SF messenger bike. He sold it, bought it back, and raced it some more.

juvela

as fragola go, this is surprisingly quite "normal."

always great to see another andy!

repechage

Looks nice. One appearing similar to this one as I recall had a new top tube put in it.
The description of tight clearances reads 70's to me.

Guerc 

the frame has all sorts of cool details. The workmanship is spectacular, with lugs filed super thin and seat collar sharpened to knife edge.



It has vertical dropouts, cut from steel sheet and reinforced with welded-on washers. The drops look fragile, just half the thickness of typical drops, and drillium cutouts. Hey, they survived several decades of heavy use so, what the heck.

Otis

Nice! And I'm as purist as they come. Just needs some fresh thin paint and decals. I'd love one of those in my size.....

Guerc 

The frame was in sad shape. It had ugly gold paint, and some unfortunate looking brazeons added at some point. Large swathes were covered in tan house paint to avoid rust in storage. It also had a dimple under head lug, indicating crash damage. I took it to Bernie Mikkelson to be looked at. Here's Bernie being Bernie...

He didn't like the look of the head lug, but he just happened to have a 531 tube of the right diameter laying around...so here's where the budget goes awry, and originality goes out the window. I had the down tube replaced, as well as updating the braze ons.

Funny enough, Bernie thinks he added those ugly braze ons back in the day, since he was the preeminent frame repair guy in the 80s in Oakland where the original owner lived. Despite the needed repair, the frame and fork were dead-on straight.

Guerc 

Given the crash history, I got queasy with the original fork. Mark DiNucci, the builder, filed the lugs down to paper thin. A little too thin, at one place were filed right through the lug. Again, it survived decades of hard use, but I didn't want to trust my dental work to a suspicious fork.


I'm adding these details to justify my resto-mod choices down the road.

Seabass_First

is it all straight? any dents? are you up for trades? how much money did you put into it?

juvela

great to read bernie is still framebuilding.

iirc he had a health challenge which kept him out of action for a time.

thanks for posting all these details. most interesting.

Guerc 

So the frame shows back up with a new down tube, inspected, aligned, and new powder coat, in an approximation of the original color. Per original owner, The original color was a Porsche paint code, Dalmation Blue. The powder oat was a bit "orange peel" bumpy, but nothing some 2000 grit sandpaper couldn't smooth out. Before decals...


Andy Newlands was kind enough to authenticate the frame, and send a 40th Anniversary set of decals. I decided on new style decals rather than the original style. After careful application, and several coats of clear, I think it came out well.

Guerc 

On to final assembly! I was pushing to get the bike finished by October 6, 2014, it's own 40th Anniversary (per the serial number). Now that originality was gone, I decided to go resto-mod. Campy 10 speed it is!




Most of the carbon fiber (fork, front derailleur hanger) was a functional necessity. The seatpost is totally gratuitous though. I like the glossy carbon against the filed down seatpost lug.

Guerc 

Final assembly took a lot longer than anticipated. Months, in fact. Remember that tight tire clearance?


Well a 23mm tire would rub on the derailleur clamp. I went through a handful of tires vs front derailleur combos looking for one that would work. Bumpkis. I'm not a fan of 21 or 19mm tires. I finally happened on this carbon fiber derailleur clamp.


Other issues cropped up. My rear brake wouldn't fit on non-recessed bridge, so I had to source a matching Record front brake (with longer post) to use on rear. And on, and on, and on.

How much did I spend on the build? Way too much. Remember my stated goal of a cheap theft proof townie commuter? Nope, missed that target.

Otis

I would do Record 10 on that one myself. But why go with a generic carbon fork? I'd run the fork the builder made.

Guerc 

I finally pulled it all together and took it for a ride last weekend. It rides like a dream. Handling is a little squirrelly, but as it was intended. If you sneeze, you may end up in oncoming traffic. I think I will enjoy it, especially after its transformation.

Guerc 

Take a close look at the original fork, with the lug filed away to paper thin. At one place on the shoulder, he filed right through the lug. Now consider a history of hard racing and crash damage. I'd like to keep my teeth intact, so replacement fork it is.

The fork, incidentally, is a Kestrel fork off a early-2000 Eddy Merckx Ti. Pedigree-wise, the fork is acceptable. For what it is worth, this is the very first time I've ever ridden a steel bike / carbon fork combo. It really does seem to smooth out the road. There may be something yet to this whole carbon fad.

mississippimud

Great save and the finished product looks great !

Fahrenheit531 

rbaisa

Very nice. It's a great blend of old and new. I really like the fork as well actually.

Bianchigirll 

Best part of the thread!!

Beautiful nice job. The fork and 11spd build make it look like 2015 "retro"

repechage

I think I would have sent the steel fork to DiNucci and got his opinion. If needed, had a replacement made.
Easy to type though, as it's not my bank account at risk.

Otis

Agreed, if it's worth doing it's worth doing...........

But I now understand the title of the thread. It was unfair to suck me in with the photos in the first couple of posts. If you had started with the finished pics I would have "Looked Away".

Drillium Dude

Interesting project. In replacing the down tube, did they have to do away with the points on the lower head lug? I noticed that in post #10 the shorelines stop at the head tube. Was he unable to fit the replacement tube without removing the points?

DD

poriggity

Very cool build.. That's some tight clearances on the tires...