Ribble Reynolds 653 Restoration

I saw this frame advertised on Retrobike last December and for the price I had to have it! With a house move and a job move on the horizon (Bristol to Oxford) my aim was to build a fixed gear bike to commute to work on. Anyway, 7 months down the line and I have moved to Oxford and I start a new job there in a fortnight.

The frame is a Ribble Reynolds 653 (56cm) frame and forks, nice and light. A Campagnolo Veloce was included also. Visually the frame was so tired it was almost asleep! No dents or deep scratches though, merely surface rust.

Colour choice will be something along the lines of Olive green, I’ve found a powdercoat RAL colour called ‘curry’ which looks like the colour I need. I’ve sourced and received replacement Reynolds decals from Reynolds themselves and found a chap online who has sold me some repro Ribble decals (Navy Blue).

Spec will be: Reynolds 653 frame & forks, Campagnolo Veloce headset, 3T stem, ITM drops or bullhorns – have both and not sure yet, Campagnolo Mirage front caliper.

Selco seatpost with San Marco Rolls saddle, Mavic Open Pro’s with Suzue flipflop hub at the rear with Campagnolo Mirage up front. Gearing will be 48/14 with a campag crank and NOS Specalized Turbo/S tyres!

Here are a few pictures of the frame in it’s current state, it’s currently in for shotblasting and I should get it back this week.

Pic from seller:



Last week when removing headset:



Headset after a quick clean:



New decals:



Will update in due course

Looks like a decent project this one, I remember as a kid staring for hours through the windows at Ribble when they were on Water Lane, Preston. They had dozens & dozens lined up across the four or five windows of the shop. There were a couple in the bikeshed at school as well. Always lusted after one.

Anyway, looking forward to see how you're getting on with this, and also how well the decals take to the powdercoating? (Oh and congrats on the new job).

Thanks a lot for the kind words. The decals were posted this morning and i'm hoping to have the frame back from shotblasting by the end of this week. Just have to drill the fork to accept a modern front brake and then mask the threads off and send for powdercoating.

Quick update…
After nearly selling up to purchase a Dolan track frame I was persuaded by my Brother to stick with this lovely frame!
I was mucked around by a powder coating firm in Oxford (V poor communications) so decided to go elsewhere – Vale Powder Coatings in East Challow, Oxfordshire. Service was amazing. Dropped off last Thursday and had the call yesterday saying it was ready. Not bad considering there was a bank holiday as well!
I went for moss green which looks a bit like British racing green – nice. These are the pictures which my Sister sent over to me so I haven’t seen it in the flesh yet.
Looking forward to applying decals and hardware in due course!

Looks like a lovely bit of work - i'm watching on with interest

Many thanks!

Currently wondering which stem/bar/brake setup to use. I must say that I do like cow/bullhorns with a bar-end lever for fixed-gear use.

Lovely frame and really like the colour. looking forward for the finishing product

That's come out well - nice job.

Has to be Mavic bullhorns if your going down that route

I bought a Ribble 653 c.1992/3 in Gios blue. It had Terry Dolan's name on a top tube decal; I remember he was building for Ribble at that time, having built for Cougar. I have recently had it resprayed. I didn't want to risk shotblasting so I used a heat gun, followed by rotary wire cups, then wet and dry emery paper. Got a local guy to do the respray, an excellent job for £80. Reynolds sold me a 653 decal for under a fiver but I'm having difficulty getting Ribble decals that will suit the narrow tubing. There are lots of places doing decals of your own design but it would be nice to have originals. Ribble currently have no stock of decals. Any suggestions?

Member Gil_M will sort you out. Try sending him an email at http://www.thecycleshed.co.uk/frontdoor.html