Re: Dave Yates Barn find ?? .......or a turd wearing Pace forks
It’s finally managed to make its way south from Toon land and found its way in doors to be greeted by the wife with
“MMMmm ….I know you said it needed some work, buts its aaahh bit ruff and can’t stay there, a very polite way of saying WTF now get it outside. Which was soon followed up by “You used to look at me once, like you’re looking at that …. Thing!”
Anyway before “it” went to my special area (Area 51 where time seems to stand still and I can lose two or more hours in the blink of an eye and a whole day in the time it takes to drink two cups of tea) I took a few (Quick) pics to document and share the starting point.
I’ve measured the frame and its
17” C2C or 19” C2T so not sure what size Dave would call this
Top tube is 22” C2C and the headtube appears to be 5¼
The first thing I spotted …….. I’ll save to last, and in the meantime feast your eyes on these dent free tubes,
With the exception of the seat tube all the others are oval, with the form spinning through 90 degrees as transition’s from the Vertical to horizontal and meets the BB etc
No idea who
Robin Gunn is, but he sure as hell chose and spec’d the bike and colourway of the paint as his name (Whats left of it) appears to a water slide under the lacquer
Anyway Mr G wherever – whoever you are, you have great taste,
This will be the first and last time you’ll see a pic of any of my bikes upside down as it’s always really bugged me when folk do it and rag the ass end of the saddle and their bar ends or brakes up, particularly on gravel just to change a wheel (lazy bastards)
Hope the pic above is the serial number…. Is it ?
Would really like to know more about this frame and hoping Dave Yates has a record of it,
The crap on this frame and fork tells of just one story …. Neglect, however I lot of the dirt is stuck to grease and grime and the combination appears to have acted as water proof barrier, but that’s ^^ just dirt
The forks are rather nice and in reasonable shape, complete with what looks like a smoke paint job
Well that’s what it looks like to me as is zig zags and you can see who it was applied, With the exception of the yellow this smoke theme continues throughout the frame (see pic above of Red tubing)
What original equipment has survived appears to bear out Carls thought that it would be either Mavic or Suntour, and theres enough left to confirm it’s the latter
Suntour SE Pro
Suntour / Pederson Self Energising brakes and standard ones up front.
And the remaining hub now laced to a lot later rim
Period brake Levers, as is the XT 730 headset which makes it a bit mix and match even back then.
Now for the howler……
Coleman":3jdxm3hi said:
I remember mine used to creak!
Great find chap
Well this one clicks
The Seat post wasn’t seized, although I believe a 27.2mm is too big for the frame, but then the guy who fitted it must have thought the same.
As the bottom section has been cut off in order to get it in the frame.
Thankfully the pinch section hadn’t been noticeably damaged / overly stretched,
But this mother is a show stopper
Admittedly for the purpose of a photograph I’ve gently put it into an extreme position but even so, it explained the unusual clicking every time you pick it up/put it down.
Okay lets look at the facts
It came for next to no money, just a few beer tokens to cover the fuel cost of collection.
Had it not been broken, I guess the previous owner would still be riding it or have sold it for a few quid as a knackered pub bike,
I certainly wouldn’t have had the opportunity to own it.
Of course I’m a little flat, but if it had to happen thank god its the down tube and the only tube on the whole bike that appears to be almost cylindrical top to bottom. As for cost, well that’s dependent on who does it and what materials are used I guess.
In the meantime I’ll be dropping Dave an email to find out more.
In the words of Ronan Keeting ……..Life is a roller coaster
