RIH Mistral

Picked this up a month or so ago and just finished getting it all sorted, bar some suitable pedals as Wellgo B27's don't really go with it.

531 Reynolds frame
Shimano 105 "Golden Arrow" groupset/wheels
Cinelli bars & stem
Charge Spoon Saddle

Nice. Blue is my favorite color.

Ta, quite pleased with it as its my first attempt of a rebuild, will give it an outing this Sunday, question is short shakedown or straight in for a longer ride????

Congrats on a nice looking build. Started on retro builds myself a year or so ago and it's so good when the whole thing finally comes together.

Seen one or two RIH frames/bikes up for sale and may well be tempted in the future.

My experiemce says short test ride first. If you must go further, plenty of tools, phone, money, etc.

Enjoy those barmy summer rides with a big smile on your face.

Nice RIH, silentsparky

RIHs were raced to 63 Worlds and Olympic titles and a trillion National titles. When Bustraan quit in 1972 the shop was sold to employee Willem van der Kaaij and the valuable RIH brand to Cove in Limburg. In kind of similar fashion as Vickers sold Rolls-Royce brand to BMW and the Crewe factory to VW. I don't know whether Vd Kaaij were aware or could have been aware. Anyway, till today you can buy bikes from the original A'dam shop and from Cove and they both carry the name RIH :roll: From a legal perpective it is quite clear Cove is the only legitimate owner of the name, but as Cove never built a single frame in a way you would reasonably expect from a RIH, while Vd Kaaij is doing still the same as the Bustraan bros always did, it is easy to see who the sympathy of the bike aficionado enjoys.

It is a bit bummer both are often confused. I do not have a problem with one or the other, but I do have a problem with the confusion. For example on our largest classified site I spot multiple examples of which sellers claim it is from Vd Kaaij, while it actually isn't. For me it is easy to tackle, but without any doubt many buyers are misled and many owners reside in a kind of false believe.

I've heard dark clouds are now really gathering above Vd Kaaij’s Amsterdam shop. I think Cove fears a possible new owner could start bizz that is not in the interest of Cove in case Vd Kaaij sells. Vd Kaaij is not the youngest anymore.

Thanks for the history on the brand interesting stuff, but I now have to ask which type is mine?

Silentsparky,

Yours is a typical Cove example. A nice upper-midrange bike. A step up from a Gazelle Trophy for example, as it has nice chrome, pin striping and so on. An easy way to recognise an Amsterdam RIH is by the 4 digit serial in the lower headlug. Normaly their headbadge and decals mention 'Amsterdam' instead of 'Holland'. An Amsterdam RIH uses frameparts you won't see with Cove examples and the other way round.

Just seen an RIH outside the dry cleaners in the random bit of Manchester that I live in... I knew Retrobike would tell me what I'd seen! Thanks Elev.