F W Evans Late 80s project

Been after the right late 80s frame to use up some stashed bits for a while... I think I might finally have found it. To me these frames represent an important moment in UK mountain bike history and sit in a comfortable position between the exotic and the run of the mill...

I bought this off of retrobikeguy on here who (I believe) found it at a car boot sale. He dated it as 1985 based on the 531 decals. I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination but I reckon it's later. For one thing, most of the pics I've seen of these, and Saracen Conquests seem to have horizontal dropouts. To me, vertical dropouts indicate late 80s... but I have no idea how long these were made. No numbers on the frame.

Previous owner's build. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=399459&hilit=evans&start=0

I haven't even started cleaning it up yet but I've been getting some parts cleaned up and ready to fit. Frame is pretty scruffy and part of me would like to get it rennovated, but I think I'll build it and see how it rides first.

Came with stem, seatpost and headset. Stem is rather nice actually. Seatpost is a 28.6mm and has "89" stamped on it. Hmm... I reckon that's a date code on the stem too but I don't know how to read it.

Excellent stuff!

I hovered over this myself for a good while.. just couldn't pull the trigger as I'm pruning the fleet. Pleased you ended up with this one

What's the plan for the build? So many options to be had with it... I would even be tempted to go drop bar, if the stem has enough rise to make it comfortable.

Tuned in for updates

Full resto or clean & build?

Very nice

Clean and build...see how I like riding it. Might put some primer or something on the bare metal to protect it. Long term I think it's a good candidate for a full resto and if it's a keeper I might send it off to Argos or Bob Jackson or someone...

Re the flavour of build I have a mostly full set of MT60 which should suit it, and I couldn't resist pre-ordering a set of fillet brazed Nitto bullmoose bars from Planet X. Shame not to use the original stem, but been trying to think of an excuse since they reintroduced them. Given that these frames were apparently directly inspired by the early Ritchey frames it seems appropriate enough.

I can't decide what sort of saddle I want though... maybe a brooks for at least a little bit of england...

Love a Brooks... got a Swift on my 1951 Olympic Sprint, a Swallow on my 1954 Jubilee and a B17 on the wife’s 55 Ladies Sports.... got the idea?

Late 80’s Lugged ATB.. gotta be a Specialized Lamda....

RBG has got in touch to confirm that stem and seatpost are both later additions. Wonder what you guys think about the vertical drops and dating...

Lovely frame. A pot of red hammerite might be a good temp solution rather than primer.

Ta, I'm pretty chuffed with it.

That reminds me... I've got a tin of red rustoleum combicolor in the cellar...

Had a message from a man from bournemouth who thinks i'm barking up the wrong tree with the dropouts and that it's 85/86. He's probably right, but whatever. I'm mostly going to be building it up with parts from around 1987...

...starting with this wheel. Hub serviced. Will give the spokes a tweak later.