COUGAR Id info?

Hey there,

Hoping you guys can help me out.

So I picked up this bike a couple of years ago and didn't know a great deal about it. The eBay seller told me about the Dolan links but that was all he knew. I've since read up on the Cougar threads on here and learnt a bit more about the Cougar brand but haven't seen much about this type. The steel bikes are a bit easier to find out about but this seems a bit more modern with Aluminium frame and carbon steerer and forks.

I sent a message to Cougar bikes via Facebook and their reply was that it was built in 1988 but couldn't tell me anything else?

The top and down tubes have a clover leaf cross section profile which narrow down in diameter towards the ends. It has been resprayed around the decals which is quite funny. The 1988 dating seems too early for me I think?

Any ideas?

Many thanks
Tom

I'd say around 2000 if it has a 1 inch steerer, a couple of years younger if its a 1 1/8 steerer tube.
After 2005ish aluminium frames tended to lose the rippled welds for a smooth finish.
Nice colour, nicely set up

If its a Cougar, its not a Terry Dolan build. It'll be from the tail end of the Paul Donohue era, around 2000.

There are examples of this frame with Graham Weigh decals on here, again suggesting Donohue.

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=253934

Thanks for the info, mate. Yes that orange frame with the Graham Weigh decals is very similar with the clover leaf profile.

I'm fairly confident it's circa 2000 and a Donohue Cougar. It rides really well.

Time for a re spray and some new decals.

Thanks

i'm sure that the production of these frames was far eastern, the rear mech hanger is the give away, it's the same hanger that was used on the mid 2000's Fausto Coppi frames/bikes brought in by Moore + Large.

regards early steel Cougars, the Terry Dolan made Cougars usually had his sticker on them, a small signature sticker usually on the side of toptube towards the seat tube, the 2 i owned did, still have one but since the respray it didn't get replaced.

it was not uncommon for some of these brands to buy in raw frames made to their geometry to be painted here, Ribble i think also did it.

I'm sure there are more knowledgeable folk on here to steer you in the right direction.

For what it's worth, Cougar are notoriously difficult to pin down as to who made it and when.

If you've got the year, then you're doing better than most. I'm surprised they said 1988 though. 1998 looks more like it to me.

IMHO, as has been said on here, not a Dolan build.

They did export to Holland and Belgium for a time and I think it looks like one of them but I stand to be corrected.

A good rule of thumb for the steel ones is if its lugged its probably Dolan era and if its welded, probably Donohue. There are exceptions though.
The aluminium frames are a bit different in that the earlier, Dolan era ones were generally Italian imports made from Oria 7020. The later Donohue ones were both far east imports and local builds and far as I have seen generally 7005.
I dont know too much about the Donohue era or his alloy builds, so I wouldn't be able to say if yours is a UK build or not.