Cycling Orphans - your 0ne-off builds

No, not some charity run, your 'cycling orphan' - the bike with no known parents, no identification or frame numbers, those custom builds or one-offs that will probably never be identified.

To start, my own 'orphan' from around 1986-7 - totally custom, totally bonkers looking and perfect for the UK...

I never did find out exactly what my unknown frame was. All I know is that it originally had a "Swatch Chrono" sticker, was made in Taiwan from Tange Ultimate Ultrastrong and came from Austria:



Still ridden regularly and to some extent I'm not particularly bothered about what it is.

Original thread: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... e#p1743220

legrandefromage":2nm2y5mu said:

No, not some charity run, your 'cycling orphan' - the bike with no known parents, no identification or frame numbers, those custom builds or one-offs that will probably never be identified.

To start, my own 'orphan' from around 1986-7 - totally custom, totally bonkers looking and perfect for the UK...

Click to expand...

I think that's an Overbury. I had a very similar fillet-brazed Overbury with SA drum brakes. Mine had 3 sets of water bottle braze-ons. No pics at the moment, I gave it to a friend who rebuilt it with 90s Shimano stuff. He loves it

legrandefromage":ae2c9ht4 said:

To start, my own 'orphan' from around 1986-7 - totally custom, totally bonkers looking and perfect for the UK...

Click to expand...

For me, this is still one of the most interesting bikes on this forum. If you ever get fed up with it.........

I dont think ive ever had/built an orphan. Usually my projects have a theme or a period build im attempting to keep true to year.I think maybe if i didnt have a direction to take the project it wouldnt get finished :?

I dont think ive ever had/built an orphan. Usually my projects have a theme or a period build im attempting to keep true to year.I think maybe if i didnt have a direction to take the project it wouldnt get finished

Click to expand...

I've never worried about that, bikes I've bought new have never remained as they left the show room for long. Bits are replaced as they wear out, or changed because something works better or purely because it looks better than the original part. It's what makes a bike such a personal and sometimes idiosyncratic thing.

Great thread,

This one my dad has and loves , he want to get it re finished but has no idea WTF it is still , I was thinking along a rock lobster ? Frame number is 0H94070490

Original thread viewtopic.php?t=78670&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=wishbone+content&start=0









Cheers

GM

Anyone else notice a pattern here? It's green bikes isn't it?

GM - Is the top tube on that frame flattened from side to side, so that it's tall and thin? I can't quite make it out in the photos, but if so, I would think that, in combination with the wishbone rear, is quite distinctive.

Can't say as I've ever looked for a frame number, and the only stickers are the Reynolds tubing ones, and a little bike shop sticker at the top of the downtube, of the bike shop / guy I bought it from. I bought it from a bike shop closing down sale because I'd always wanted a 531 frame, and up to that point never had one, and although it was a bit of a gate for me, I was only really going to build it up as a road hack bike - which I did and used it for a year, until I bought another frame, and used most of the parts on that.

I suspect there were various flavours of Reynolds framed framesets, unbranded, with similar design / build, sold by some bike shops that kind of brand their own frames. At the time of buying it (95 / 96) it was all a bit slack angled, almost horizontal rear dropouts, and almost road / touring feel to it (thinking about things like the cable guides and stops. Flick / ping testing the tubes, shows a reasonable degree of butting, but it's probably a bit lardy compared to mid 90s, mid-range steel MTB frames.

I've kept it for posterity, and the hope that when I've got more time, I can tidy it up a bit, and build it up again. That might be more than ambitious at the moment. It's a shame I haven't any pics of it built up - it was built to a price point, because I bought a STX / STX/RC groupset, and a pair of Mavic 230 rims - but in the mid 90s, taking photos wasn't quite as pervasive as it is these days, plus it really was only a hack / commuter bike.

Looks like it has down tube shifter mounts and a front and rear rack mounts. What size wheels does it take? Because it looks more like a touring frame than an MTB.