A Little Lloyd

My friend Donna is 4'11" tall, she is a strong rider and just loves riding with the local club, which is how I got to know her as my daughter also rides with that club. After riding with me and hearing my constant babble about steel framed bikes, she issued me with a challenge "find me a vintage bike"... vintage meaning retro steel, I agreed, despite knowing that she rides a 44cm / 17" frame.

So having accepted the task, I started to talk to a few forum members and search all the usual places, and then it just popped up, a Dave Lloyd in exactly the right size, admittedly a little more money than we were hoping to pay, but never the less the right bike.

Not being a lady to be rushed into anything Donna decided to wait....if only I had such patience, and the wait paid off and today we picked up this delightful little bike.

It was made in 1995 from Reynolds 531, has 650c wheels, 8 speed Campag Mirage running gear and looks like it has hardly been used as it is in such good condition.

The saddle and pedals will soon be changed and the Campag aero seatpost we collected the bike with has already been replaced with a different Campag seatpost I had in stock, so it's pretty much ready to go.




And for comparison, here are a couple of pictures with my Quantum 650




And an arty shot, just because...

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Nice. The chainring is nearly as big as the wheels!

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52/38.

The cassette may need a change, I did not count the teeth but it looked suitable for mostly flat roads, OK on the Somerset levels, a little less friendly climbing on the Mendips.

It is a stunning little machine and I assume it was made for s child.

With the colour scheme I'd reckon it was made for a little lady looks nice "well found sir"

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I think you are probably right.

Donna loves it, although the seatpost may need to go down even further depending on what saddle she fits.

Talk about serendipity, right bike, right time, right place.

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Yours looks ace Neil, any idea who Geoff Weir is?

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No idea Mike, I did find reference to him racing in the past, but just a couple of results from quite a few years ago. I also found a picture of a Concept 90 in the same colour scheme and with a different name, but the same font... so that's another bike to look out for. :facepalm:

That looks great Neil, a really nice in proportion machine, which is sometimes hard to find due to the size.
Great find

Jamie

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Donna is chuffed to bits with the bike, but I think we will be changing the cassette once she starts doing club rides on it.

Giving the bike a once over / cursory service, it really looks like it has hardly been used, so we got a real bargain as well as a bike that I think is pretty much unique.

Donna would love to know more about the history, so she may well try contacting Dave lloyd; I have warned her that his history of replying, or not means she will be lucky to get an answer. That said, this is such an unusual bike, it may just spark a reaction.