1992 Arthur Caygill - Under new ownership

At the suggestion of Fluffy Chicken, I am starting a new build thread on the Arthur Caygill frame and forks I recently bought from Jinjrich.

Here's a link to Rich's original thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=243910&p=1955964#p1955964

I spoke to Scott Caygill a couple of days ago, and he suggested the frame is around 1992/3 ish, so, for once, I will be doing a trad build, although I may deviate a little when it comes to canti's, as I need my brakes to be effective.

Here are a couple of photo's of 'Art' with his nice new decals applied.

That looks marvellous! Are you religiously sticking to period spec? I ask as I always felt M737 { link } was the best looking drivetrain.

Funnily enough I was just looking at an M737 crankset.

I'm trying to keep relatively period, but I don't think creeping forward a year or two makes too much odds, and looking at the XT rear mech I have, it turns out to be M737, so I may well lean in that direction.

Sweet bike Neil - your increasing collection makes me feel much better

NeilM":24n3bq3h said:

I spoke to Scott Caygill a couple of days ago, and he suggested the frame is around 1992/3 ish, so, for once, I will be doing a trad build, although I may deviate a little when it comes to canti's, as I need my brakes to be effective.

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Cantis are plenty good if you set them up properly (unless you regularly top 40mph ) - those M System XT ones from around 1993 are very good and have fool proof straddle wires.

Looks like a British Yeti in that colour with those forks. Very cool!

Havent heard of Caygill before, look forward to seeing it progress. . . .

Adrian: In theory, this is the last adition, as I have completely run out of storage space, to the point where I am taking two bikes to bits in order to box / store them. :facepalm: I wish I had the rafter space you have in your garage.

I'll have a look at 93 XT cantis, but I'm no fan and always found them a real PIA to set up, something I was reminded of recently when I had to set the brakes up on my wife's newly acquired 91 Bear Valley and then on my scrapheap Raleigh. Those experiences, compared to setting up the FSA SL-K canti's on my Rourke, convinced me that modern canti's have come a very long way.

Luke: When I spoke to Scott he said they used to build a lot of mtb's back in the 90's, so I have to wonder what happened to them, as I had never heard of them either. They still make steel frames at the shop in Richmond, Nth Yorkshire, they buy in aluminium frames and have their own carbon frames (designed by Scott) made in Italy. I only wish they were my LBS.

I have a few bits to clean and fit, and the next items to arrive should be a pair of tyres, a stem and a pair of ss5 levers. Then I need to either polish and fit a DX crankset I have, or buy something a little more up market. I have a Turbo saddle already in stock, so I'll also be hunting for a seatpost. Bars will be X-Lite titanium, as I have them here, shifters will be XT thumbies, also in stock, pedals will be the original Time ATAC types, which may be a little later, but they are what I use (along with the newer design) on all my bikes.

As I said on the other thread, I am utterly impressed with the workmanship on this frame, it is as good as any of my other bikes and reminds me a lot of Dave Yates work.

I can't wait to get onto the Mendips with it.

More soon.

There is another one on eBay at the moment...

nevadasmith":3ffp8ymu said:

There is another one on eBay at the moment...

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Typical, just like bl**dy buses...

That's a big'un mind, 19.5" with a 23" top tube, and it's a bargain.

Looks very nicely made, will be interested to see how this finishes up.

Is it just me or should it really have a shorter fork on it than that P2?

shogun":17i44o12 said:

Is it just me or should it really have a shorter fork on it than that P2?

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I'd not measured it before but the A to C is around 410, I'm not too sure 20mm would make much difference.