velocipede
Senior Retro Guru
55cm Carless Reynolds 531 Road Bike.
Build thread and photos here
This is a late 70’s/early 80’s Reynolds 531 Carless road frame. The frame was handbuilt by either Derek Carless or Dave Hinde in Crewe (before Dave opened his own shop in Northwich).
It’s been newly built up with a mix of period and modern components so that it benefits from modern shifting and gear ratios, but still maintains that lovely zing that only an older 531 frame has.
The frame is 40+ years old and sill in its original paint so it does have a few scratches but absolutely no dents/dings/damage and the chrome is excellent.
I was expecting the frame to have really tight clearances but in actual fact it would easily take 28c tyres - it's set up with 23's currently (very recent Vittoria Zaffiros) and I've sat some wheels with 25mm Conti GP's on and they were fine too with planty of clearance still to go so if you wanted to go for some comfy 28s I'm confident it would take them
It’s built up as follows:
Stronglight alloy headset
Nitto bars and stem
Alloy unbranded seatpost
Selle Italia saddle (a bit too modern to be fair, but it's new and it's comfortable!)
Full SRAM Apex 10 speed groupset with compact cranks and 32t cassette
NOS Gran Compe brake calipers - these work surprisingly well with the modern SRAM levers - took a bit more faff to set up than modern calipers but they run great now I've fettled them! These saved me from doing anything mad and drilling the frame to accommodate allen key brakes, instead these are nutted just as they were intended to be when the frame was originally built.
Shimano Tiagra hubs - not sure what brand the rims are but the wheels are running smooth and true
Vittoria Zaffiro tyres
*Please note that pedals are not included
It’s a beautiful thing and rides lovely - best of both the old and the new! - only reason I'm selling is that I managed to buy two 531 frames in the same week (ebay overlap!!) and I simply won't use both bikes - the other is a slightly better fit for me so I'm keeping that one and someone else can benefit from the effort I've put into this one!
£450 plus postage from Cheshire Now reduced to £400
Build thread and photos here
This is a late 70’s/early 80’s Reynolds 531 Carless road frame. The frame was handbuilt by either Derek Carless or Dave Hinde in Crewe (before Dave opened his own shop in Northwich).
It’s been newly built up with a mix of period and modern components so that it benefits from modern shifting and gear ratios, but still maintains that lovely zing that only an older 531 frame has.
The frame is 40+ years old and sill in its original paint so it does have a few scratches but absolutely no dents/dings/damage and the chrome is excellent.
I was expecting the frame to have really tight clearances but in actual fact it would easily take 28c tyres - it's set up with 23's currently (very recent Vittoria Zaffiros) and I've sat some wheels with 25mm Conti GP's on and they were fine too with planty of clearance still to go so if you wanted to go for some comfy 28s I'm confident it would take them
It’s built up as follows:
Stronglight alloy headset
Nitto bars and stem
Alloy unbranded seatpost
Selle Italia saddle (a bit too modern to be fair, but it's new and it's comfortable!)
Full SRAM Apex 10 speed groupset with compact cranks and 32t cassette
NOS Gran Compe brake calipers - these work surprisingly well with the modern SRAM levers - took a bit more faff to set up than modern calipers but they run great now I've fettled them! These saved me from doing anything mad and drilling the frame to accommodate allen key brakes, instead these are nutted just as they were intended to be when the frame was originally built.
Shimano Tiagra hubs - not sure what brand the rims are but the wheels are running smooth and true
Vittoria Zaffiro tyres
*Please note that pedals are not included
It’s a beautiful thing and rides lovely - best of both the old and the new! - only reason I'm selling is that I managed to buy two 531 frames in the same week (ebay overlap!!) and I simply won't use both bikes - the other is a slightly better fit for me so I'm keeping that one and someone else can benefit from the effort I've put into this one!
£450 plus postage from Cheshire Now reduced to £400
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