26" Wheeled Tourers

velomaniac · Apr 20, 2012

Always liked the 26" wheeled tourers such as Dawes Sardars, Orbit Romany's and the like. Whilst thinking about these bikes my mind cast back to what I presume was a small brit builder who made bikes titled 'Caribou' :?

Is such a recollection true or has presenility kicked in. Does anyone know anything about such bikes, I'm just interested is all

hamster · Apr 20, 2012

IIRC there was a thread about them on the CTC forum a while back. I remember them form the mid/late 90's. Was it the chaps at Avon Valley Cycles in Bath who did them?

(Random senile waffling now)

one-eyed_jim · Apr 22, 2012

hamster":rer13gqg said:
Was it the chaps at Avon Valley Cycles in Bath who did them?

It was indeed. I was considering buying one when I lived in Bath in 2000 - I might even have a brochure kicking around somewhere. I was told that LA Cycles of Coventry did the framebuilding.

There were a couple of models - one was called the Caribou Taiga, another the Vamoose - but they were flexible with custom options. A guy in the local CTC ordered one with sliding dropouts and a Rohloff hub.

My Kona Kilauea has Caribou paint: I bought it from Gary Cooper at AVC, where it had served as a Rohloff demonstrator.

Incidentally, AVC has changed hands since those days. I ran into Richard Grigsby (who was in partnership with Gary) at the recent Bristol Bespoked show. They sold the shop to concentrate on Cyclescheme.

hamster · Apr 23, 2012

Aha, all the pieces come together. I hired one for a day from AVC around 10 years ago for a day riding the K&A canal route with a pal. I remember it was a nice bike!

velomaniac · Apr 23, 2012

Once more the repository of all knowledge that is retrobike has ridden to the rescue. Not going senile after all, Caribou did exist.
Thanks guys

SilverSurfer · Dec 9, 2012

Been researching the history of these and found this thread. Interesting as my main ride these days is this

www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=160537

And it is now for sale in the 1998 section

26" Wheeled Tourers

velomaniac

hamster

Retro Wizard

one-eyed_jim

Old School Grand Master

hamster

Retro Wizard

velomaniac

SilverSurfer

Retro Guru

Similar threads

Latest posts