1986 Ernie Clements tourer

No, I havent seen one before either.

Around 1986, 531 butted, Suntour mechs and cassette, Nisi rims on Maillard hubs and a Stronglight double to finish

Gipiemme dropouts with the fork fitted with a dropout which has an 'S' with a line or a hammer through it. Cant find the details.

Barely ridden! It had been stored in a garage from new with just the odd outing. The owner had passed away some years ago and this and others were left forgotten about until the son decided to help his elderly mother have a clear out. Of course none of this gets mentioned on ebay and I just see a bike with potential thats not even 15 minutes from my house.

The original Hutchinson tyres were shot but the tubes were good and pumped back up nicely.

The 34t Suntour Perfect freewheel was too much for the ARX mech so that had to go along with old style chain.

The wheels were a little narrow for the frame too so they were perfect for another bike, off they went with some Mavic/ Campagnolo Record in their place. A useful looking spare Sachs freewheel turns out to be a bit worn. Poo.

The ride was lively but I do miss Shimano indexed shifting. I just cant do friction shifting anymore.

As you can see whatever oil had been used prior to storage has stained the parts a nice gold colour. It would have been nice to have found it was real but it was bit of a bugger to get off.

No obvious serial number either but the shop sticker is still on there for a long defunkt retailer in Cambridge - Which turns out to be Billy's/ Ison Distribution/ Light Blue Cycles

Anyway, cleaned, tidied, new tape and a few adjustments later, its at its shiniest best.

No plans at present, will get a new cable hanger for the front and then maybe think about the gearing.

Nice find, how does the ride compare to your Stag?

Surely nothing compares to the Staaaaaaag!

Nice find LGF, looks very tidy, did you manage to steel it for pennies?

More boingy but the two frames are totally different

Looks to be an updated version of the Falcon Cotswold

Wasn’t that Falcons copy of Holdsworth’s Claud Butler Majestic?

More likely the Dalesman

Thought that the moment I pressed submit

That's really nice, I had a saved earlier & slightly lower end by the look of it, Ernie Clements last year (or the year before) It rode really well, I'm kind of kicking myself for parting with it seeing yours!

Where have you been hiding the Dalesman? Old project or new?