FAO Other F W Evans Owners (mainly GrahamJohnWallace!)

[Sundayjumper]

I've recently bought an FW Evans frame, from raidan73, who bought it to rob some of the bits it had ! Sale thread with pics: HERE.

My purchase was was a bit of a whim, but I was vaguely hankering for something properly retro, and as a teenager I'd worked at the Kingston branch of FW Evans so I felt this ticked the boxes for me, even though the mid eighties were (just) before my time.

The frame arrived, and in Googling for images it was noticable that the distinctive rear cable hanger was not at all common. It was just on the early models, which were all silver. Eventually I arrived at THIS thread, where GrahamJohnWallace talks about when he hired a bike from Kingston FW Evans, that was black, and the invoice stated it was frame 0001.

Hmmm, mine's black. Has it been resprayed ? Maybe, but the badge on the head tube looks authentic and appropriately aged for a 30 year old bike

Where's the frame number..... does this look like "01" ??

It could be 61 I guess, or 10 or 19 even if read from the other side. I'd really like your input here GrahamJohnWallace ! If this turns out to be frame number one then it's a very nice piece of history.

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

Re:

Hi Sundayjumper, thanks for the p.m.

That's definitely an early frame so well done for acquiring it.

All of the first FW Evans ATBs were made from Reynolds 501. However as the downtube transfers are incorrect the 531 transfers could be likewise. And I have no idea how you would go about authenticating whether your frame is 531 or 501. If it is a 531, these were being made in late 84 but not in May & June when they first went on sale.

I can help with the parts lists & pictures if you want to restore it to original spec. In fact I still have some parts from my original 84 Evans. Parts that I removed early on as I upgraded the bike. I believe these include a wheel minus the axle, a hub minus the axle, a rim, and the cantilever brakes.

It's always good to hear when one of these first UK produced mountain bikes is saved.
And unlike most shop associated mountain bikes these were actually commissioned by FW Evans from Saracen who liked the design so much that they decided to also make and sell their own versions. So you could rightly say that the early Saracens were actually re-badged FW Evans.

Best Wishes,
Graham

 

[raidan73]

Re:

If it helps date it at all it came to me with Deore XT M730 mechs and shifters (which I believed to be more modern than the frame), a Sugino GT chainset and the wheels were solid axle Maillard hubs (5 speed 126.5mm) with Weinmann rims. The rest of the parts were a mish mash and definitely too modern for the frame.

 

[Unclejack]

Re:

Based on 4 similar aged Saracens, I agree that it'll be an early '84 501 rebadged not 531 and would have been Suntour not XT.
The Saracens with this canti bridge design also have pantographed top caps that say "Saracen" where they join to the seat tube, so not quite just "rebadged". and for what it's worth none of my Saracens have any meaningful frame numbers on them just postcodes, but I think Graham says that the 001 might have been the hire fleet number not frame number?

oh, and Kili is in Tanzania, not Kenya