Les Rigden 653

Thats a lot of detail at the top of the seat-tube, didn't see if from the 1st pics.

Looks very nice. I did another search today on Les and there was a now deleted Gumtree link for a Rigden Tandem that was built for a father and son pair. Seems the son was Blind. Would loved to have seen that.

Yeah, a very nice bike, wrap-over seat stays interesting, especially with the cable guides and the braces.

Will keep having a search and see if a few more start to show up - Les Rigden appreciation society perhaps

Rigden Tandem

Well, you can see it, because I bought it. I find it one of the the most unusual bicycles I've ever encountered. I have some (bad) pictures up at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40147489@N05/

I will try to get better ones today.

Anyway, I get the impression from the frame that Les knew it was a special project between that father and son, as the lugwork--you can see--is more ornate than anything I've seen on a tandem. Full 531 tube set, and but for a hefty rear wheel assembly including the drag brake (also a very unusual piece) it seems to be nice and light. I repacked the wheels when I got it and the boys got some good miles in on her, as the hubs are pretty well worn out. I have a lovely NEW set of Maxi-car hubs that I'm building up for it.

The frame obviously needs a respray. The decals have worn off, but the outlines are still there, and they are in that funky art nouveau font.

I am very interested in joining, or starting, a Les Rigden society. There is very little about him anywhere, and judging by this frame, and the couple of restorations of his I've seen on the classic lightweights web site, he was a master who deserves greater appreciation.

Re: Rigden Tandem

dafeller":29cwujy6 said:

Well, you can see it, because I bought it. I find it one of the the most unusual bicycles I've ever encountered. I have some (bad) pictures up at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40147489@N05/

I will try to get better ones today.

Anyway, I get the impression from the frame that Les knew it was a special project between that father and son, as the lugwork--you can see--is more ornate than anything I've seen on a tandem. Full 531 tube set, and but for a hefty rear wheel assembly including the drag brake (also a very unusual piece) it seems to be nice and light. I repacked the wheels when I got it and the boys got some good miles in on her, as the hubs are pretty well worn out. I have a lovely NEW set of Maxi-car hubs that I'm building up for it.

Click to expand...

Thats a lovely bike and thanks for putting it up - did try for a few mins to get to find those pictures from when the ad was up originally. You are right, the work in that is very special. Are you planning to get it resprayed?

Really must get on and sort mine out soon - it still needs a bit of work on it. I would be interesting in sticking a bit more info on the web if you are interested - pm if you like.

Rigden Tandem

The pictures that the seller posted for the Ebay sale, and on Gumtree, were awful, but that was due in part to the seller's relative lack of knowledge. I could barely see from the Ebay pictures that the lugwork was special, and that if that was the case, I assumed a full 531 construction. Forged ends, eccentric bottom brackets--really loaded for a tandem in that period. I honestly haven't seen anything finer in person.

I do want to respray it, and am making some mechanical changes to suit the 'new team', as I suspect we're a bit more rider than the old father/son. The Suzue hubs are pretty pitted, but roll alright at the moment. I have some NOS vintage Maxi-cars to put on it, and want to replace the Stronglight chainset with a Shimano Ultegra to go with the derailleurs. We're riding it as it is at the moment and the ride is wonderful: very lively

The original paint was just a dark blue, with the Les Rigden decals. I want to do it a bit more to show off the lugwork, but I'm not sure what to do. We're playing with color combinations at the moment. I am also not sure where to send it: Mercian would be great, but pricey. The frame may deserve it, but I'm happy to save money.

The black and gold bike above perhaps is an idea, perhaps not the same colours but a nice colour with lug lining would work well as they are a bit special. Also good to keep the art-deco decals. I had a problem with my Roberts in that getting the logo's re-done at the time was not possible but actually the frame came back a lot nicer as a result. I am going to look at a re-made limited run of the makers stickers to get mine back to normal. Anyway they are something special and preserving that would be a good thing.

Alright, let's do this thing. I have started a blog which you may find at

http://lesrigdenbicyclefans.blogspot.com/

I am hoping we can get people to start contributing information about their Les Rigden bicycles and experiences, start a registry, etc. I have no idea how many of us Rigden fans there are out there, but let's see what we can sniff out.

Looking forward to seeing your bikes and hearing your tales.

D

Been busy of late but what sort of info are you looking for?

As previous I am not far from where they were made so can get a few pics of the building - my bike has been mothballed for the near future but it will get a refurb from somewhere suitable.

I have been askign about in regards to the bikes but there is little info, which is a shame.

Any updates on the Tandem?

Cheers

D

Rigden update

Nothing much new with the tandem at the moment. I just turned in my doctoral thesis and am hoping to have some time to focus on the rebuild. I have a painter in London to do the respray, which will happen during the 'non-riding' months around Christmas. I had rebuilt the Suzue hubs when I got it but they're quite pitted and the replacement wheel is going to be (drum roll please) a pair of lovely NOS Maxi-Car tandem hubs from the 80s, lashed up to NOS Super Champion 48H rims. Very excited about them.

The really good news is that Peter Underwood of classiclightweights.co.uk has put up a page on Les Rigden in his Classic Builders section of the web site! Check it out at

http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/bu ... lders.html

As for the blog and information on Les, I think we're interested in documenting the man's career and understanding all we can about our bikes, so just about anything explaining the business, his training, the bikes he produced, his role in the bicycling and Bristol communities, etc., would be fun to know. I've only seen two or three of his bikes including my tandem, but he seems to have had a very, very broad interest in styles and types of frames. I put up the blog so we could get as many owners' pictures up as we could dig up (Peter won't be able to post every bicycle on the CL site, but I don't have any problem with it).

Thanks for noticing the thread, btw. With the thesis off my back, I'm hoping to spend a bit more time on this whole enterprise.

Rigden update

Nothing much new with the tandem at the moment. I just turned in my doctoral thesis and am hoping to have some time to focus on the rebuild. I have a painter in London to do the respray, which will happen during the 'non-riding' months around Christmas. I had rebuilt the Suzue hubs when I got it but they're quite pitted and the replacement wheel is going to be (drum roll please) a pair of lovely NOS Maxi-Car tandem hubs from the 80s, lashed up to NOS Super Champion 48H rims. Very excited about them.

The really good news is that Peter Underwood of classiclightweights.co.uk has put up a page on Les Rigden in his Classic Builders section of the web site! Check it out at

http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/bu ... lders.html

As for the blog and information on Les, I think we're interested in documenting the man's career and understanding all we can about our bikes, so just about anything explaining the business, his training, the bikes he produced, his role in the bicycling and Bristol communities, etc., would be fun to know. I've only seen two or three of his bikes including my tandem, but he seems to have had a very, very broad interest in styles and types of frames. I put up the blog so we could get as many owners' pictures up as we could dig up (Peter won't be able to post every bicycle on the CL site, but I don't have any problem with it).

Thanks for noticing the thread, btw. With the thesis off my back, I'm hoping to spend a bit more time on this whole enterprise.

Found these today.

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=rigden&w=43319534%40N00

Nice pics of the workshop - much as I remember it.