Roberts Stratos-Elevated Chainstay-25th Anniversary.

Requiem.

What do you remember of 1989.....?

I asked my folks.

Apparently.....George Bush Snr was elected U.S president, the Berlin wall came down, China had the Tiananmen Square massacre, different parts of the world were trying to cope with the aftermath of tornadoes and hurricanes, Ford Motor company bought Jaguar, Yugo cars finally went bust, and Technotronic hit the charts with "Pump up the Jam"........LOL.

Aside from "Pump up the Jam" i dont really recall any of it.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifoy6_nARUc




My Heart and Soul was filled with little more than Bicycles.

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It was an exciting time.....Frame designs, components, tubing; everything was being assessed. The Magazines would hit the shelves of WHSMITHS and I would race to the nearest store, eager to see the latest offerings in the world's bicycle press....and not forgetting the monthly cornerstone of the UK mountain bike Scene...."Mint Sauce".

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Of Course, most will be familiar with Mountain bike Action magazine. For me here in the UK this magazine brought with it untold riches. Quite often displaying glossy photos of trade shows and often brands never heard of or seen on our shores. Of course, they too had reviews. Each detailing the advancements and progresses being made with the Mountain bike and indeed the sport in general. At the time even some of these smaller progressions ended up leaving their mark on the evolution of the mountain bike.

Some small progressions....
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I'm sure most will be familiar with this part of the story (and for me it will for ever live in infamy). However, I kinda want to touch on it, because I suppose that's where it all began for me personally and it puts things into some sort of context for me too.

I guess the frame design that will be remembered the most for being so radically different was made famous by "Mountain Bike Action magazine". (it certainly was for me anyway)

In 1989 MBA magazine commissioned "Yeti Cycles" to build a bike that alleviated all the issues frames were having with mud clearance, braking efficiency and chain line.

The Bike was Aptly named and fondly remembered as the "Ulitmate".

The E-stay had arrived in the world wide Press.

The Previews and and pictures speak volumes.....

http://www.cycleexif.com/yeti-ultimate
Special thanks to Pete and Geoff Waugh for this article and the inspiring build, write up and photos.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/v/M ... 2.bmp.html

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/v/M ... 3.bmp.html


Of course every story needs a beginning, a middle and and End. The "YETI ultimate" was the start gate of what was to become a very long journey for me..............

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Sometimes you can be so overwhelmed by a magazine review, so blinded by how amazing something is, you kinda forget to see what's sat there right in front of you.

And at this time, this is what happened to me. It took a while but eventually I asked myself........,
(what was actually quite an obvious question.......)

When MBA magazine Commissioned the design, what were we doing here...............?

Well it took many years for me to get a straight answer to my question, but eventually the question was answered at a trade show............

When the News broke here of a mountain bike that could potentially alleviate chain line, mud clearance and breaking efficiency issues, of what the Americans had planned and what was becoming known as the "Ultimate" mountain bike........ not a nation to ever want to be left behind.....a call was made.

That call came from our very own mountain bike magazine MBUK.

The call that was made was to non other than "Chas Roberts".

Respected and regarded by many as the UK's foremost Designer and Frame builder of race winning machines, and whose own history needs little or no introduction.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/feature-bike ... te-spider/

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Whilst Roberts was flattered to receive a such a call, Roberts cycles were already working on developing the "White Spider". However not one to ever disregard all possibilities, common sense told him all avenues had to be explored and his answer was yes.......

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And so Roberts cycles set about designing their very first "elevated Chain stay" mountain bike.

What was to be born was to become known as the Roberts "Stratos"....!

There were only going to be a limited run of these bespoke race machines,....The first developed, a Prototype, built using a Mixture of Reynolds and Columbus tubing..(see attached).

After testing, evaluation and development a further Eleven were built, all to use the new Reynolds magnum Tube set.

The Year was 1989.

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So on with the middle of the story.....

Being a big fan of the way Roberts framesets ride and the attention to detail on each fuselage that leaves the shop, I have been lucky enough to sample what are for me some memorable bikes. The white Spider, the WS-II/Ultralight and the bike that by the 90's the UK press were calling the "Ultimate" steel bike....."The D.O.G.S B.O.L.O.X".

The Missing Part of history in this small piece of evolution for me was always, The Roberts "Stratos".

After hearing first hand straight from the builder of how this bike actually came to be, it became just that little bit more significant, more than just a little piece of puzzle that had to be ridden and understood of all things Roberts.

For me this was quite possibly Ground Zero, and the birthplace of the British E-Stay.

And for a little over 10 years, I searched for a Unicorn and the missing English steel.

"On a Steel Horse I ride......Dead Or Alive"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BXHMfSR8C0

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Approx two and a half years ago out of the blue and to my great surprise, a misused and damaged frame was found and outed here.

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Speculation and interest followed, what I was seeing sat in front of me was indeed a near complete Stratos Fuselage.

To be honest I could barely contain myself. Sadly it was damaged through misuse and it had been suggested that it could be fixed by some or it couldn't by others and indeed, if it was even worth it?!

Well, Without doubt for me it was! My trouble was I was about to fly out to California and I wouldn't be there at the end of the auction.

My bids were placed and I left it for my son to sort out and kept my fingers crossed. Whilst away I learnt by going into an apple store and logging on, that to my surprise I had won the auction by the closest margin - £1 sterling.

A month later I returned from California to see a box waiting for me with a quite sad looking damaged frame inside.

Despite the break in the frame (it wasn't the first time I had seen this on an E-Stay) and whilst I knew it was going to be a journey, the wait for the missing part of the puzzle for me was over.

Or so I thought.

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That was the cool part......What wasn't so cool were the difficulties that followed!

The frame was originally damaged through misuse, a kid on an E-stay using it as a hand-me-down BMX bike, the eventual outcome was going to be inevitable...a broken frame.

Removing the seized after-market Syncros stem was the easy part. The difficulty lay with finding the right replacement tube to restore the bike properly.

Roberts cycles were happy to take on the work, but on the strict understanding it would take some doing and it would only be done if done properly.

The Tube was the issue. To find the right tube by the right manufacturer with the right butt length was hard enough.

Sure, if you wanted to by a batch of tubes at considerable cost I suppose it would have sped things up a little, but we only needed one tube with the correct diameter and the correct butt length, to ensure the join wouldn't fail if misused again, thanks to the internal butting at the join.

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Whilst waiting for the tube I turned my attention to finding out a little more. The bike was always intended to have had a custom matched stem but the original order eventually was fulfilled with a Flexstem instead. (all the rage at the time, I'm sure we all remember).

After multiple conversations with Brian he touched on the stem and said he thought Chas still had the custom stem in his desk drawer, but these days it was useless as it required a specific diameter handlebar which no one has anymore.

As you can imagine I nearly passed out at hearing this and I rummaged through every dam box of bits I had, knowing I had a handlebar somewhere.

Eventually (and it took some finding) I found the right handlebar, scrapped and scuffed but with that said, it was 753 and a period length that would fit the handlebar stem that was always meant to be with the frame.

If the frame tube could be found (cost effectively) the frame could be fixed. With the fork and the stem available the fuselage would be complete.

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Eventually after a little over a year, I got a call to say the right period tube with the correct internal butt length had been found.
As you can imagine, I was ecstatic. Finally I was one step closer.

With the correct frame tube now in hand, the old tube could be carefully removed and the new tube brazed in and jigged.

Chas and Winston very carefully undertook the work and I have to say imho, the work is exceptional...In fact, the fillet work from Roberts Cycles is Sublime.

I couldn't thank them enough and knowing Chas likes a drop of wine, a case was sent to say thank you.