Tony Oliver

I have a Tony Oliver bike based on a frame from 1982.It is quite a work of art with phenomenal braze ons for rear cable hanger and very narrow conduits.It is virtually unmarked and built with TA c/s Campag Reord wheels etc.I have lent photos to potential buyer.

What would be value of a perfect specimen-I believe he made under 500 frame sets in a relatively short career

Yes, he was an excellent builder, based on Angelsey, north Wales. Like so many 1980-1990s British builders, the market wouldn't support the craft, and steel was dying on its feet, so he found other employment. He was probably best known for tandems, but also made some excellent touring, racing and serious trekking machines.

He wrote quite a lot of magazine reviews and touring tales and an excellent book on framebuilding and touring bikes. It's a bit dated now, but still has a lot sense (and a lot of photos of his bikes):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Touring-Bikes-P ... 1852233397

Oh, and spoke calculation program called Hokus Spokus

Originally I think he worked in IT at the Wylfa or Trawsfynydd nuclear power station or something. He was really helpful when I was starting out on my brief framebuilding career in 1992, but I haven't heard anything of him in bike-related circles since...

I'm pretty sure he's now in Scotland pursuing his photographic career:

http://www.colldigital.co.uk/

All the best,

He used to be a university Metallurgy / Materials Science lecturer I think.