Barry Bond restoration/modification

Hi guys, i'm new.

I decided a few weeks ago that'd like a road bike for cycling to work on, rather than using my MTB. I previously had only a passing interest in bicycles and had never sat on a road bike, but though i'd buy myself an old racer and clean it up.

Then I started reading about things, Reynolds this, 700C that, chainset, groupset etc. and decided I needed a handbuilt Reynolds 531 frame, but could only pay bottom dollar.


This came up for sale for £75 from Biggs682, hand built by Barry Bond of Leicester in Reynolds 531, so I bought it



I liked the idea of the clean lines of an unbraked fixed gear bike, but with the practicality of stuff like brakes and gears. So after a bit of elbow grease, it looks like this (apologies to people who think things should kept original):





Well not exactly like this, as i've put pedals on and changes the seat post, and done the bar tape properly, but near enough like that.

I want to leave the frame bare to expose the brazing and quite like the veins of rust that have developed under the aging paint. The idea now is to polish up the lugs, but leave the tubes as they are (more or less). It's got a 3-speed SA hub with coaster brake and, to keep the cabling tidy, a reverse lever for the front brake and an SA bar end shifter for the hub

Attempt at showing brazing around seat post (crap camera):



At the moment i've got the frame coated inside and out with ACF50. I rode it to work today and it flies. I've got a 10% hill to get up and down everyday and it looks like I guessed the required gearing well enough as I was just able to cycle up the hill in 1st.

Yeah that one needed to lose some excess baggage! Looks like a good old racing frame. Any idea how old? Looks kind of early '70s. I like the idea of going paint-free too, letting the rust have it's playground, provided it doesn't start taking the piss... I've no idea what ACF50 is? Something that needs periodic reapplication?

torqueless":1xo0ocfu said:

Yeah that one needed to lose some excess baggage! Looks like a good old racing frame. Any idea how old? Looks kind of early '70s. I like the idea of going paint-free too, letting the rust have it's playground, provided it doesn't start taking the piss... I've no idea what ACF50 is? Something that needs periodic reapplication?

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The Reynolds stickers were the diagonal text sort which puts the frame at mid-1970s.

ACF-50 is a corrosion inhibitor, it is very good stuff. It's a non-drying thin gel, which actively neutralises salt and seals the surface from moisture.

It was developed by (I think) the US air force to treat aircraft on aircraft carriers. Maybe it's not well known in cycling circles, but it is known in the motorcycling community; due to the fact that riding a fancy sportsbike through the winter could knock ££££ off it's value due to everything getting furred up from the salt.

It's worth giving your winter bike a coat of the stuff even it there's no bare metal. It leaves a telfon-ey feel to everything and road grim etc. is very easy to clean off. A thin coating lasts a year.

It remains to be seen how it will fair on this frame, but i've got high hopes

torqueless":zzbzr3y0 said:

Yeah that one needed to lose some excess baggage! Looks like a good old racing frame. Any idea how old? Looks kind of early '70s. I like the idea of going paint-free too, letting the rust have it's playground, provided it doesn't start taking the piss... I've no idea what ACF50 is? Something that needs periodic reapplication?

Click to expand...

if it had been an inch smaller then i wouldnt have offered it , as i would have restored it back to originalish spec

I remember Barry Bond and his shop circa 1984/5. I'm a Leicester lad.