1995 Roberts DOGS BOLX Team

Change of plan, or rather there are now two plans.

The ultimate goal remains - to get it back as close as possible to original spec, that will be a long term, expensive and ultimately perhaps an impossible project, but that is what I am aiming for.

In the short term the plan is to get the bike set up more how I might have wanted it had I bought it myself BITD. I make no secret of the fact that I'm not a massive fan of the rasta trend, I know a lot of people love it and it is very evocative of that era. This bike will one day return to being a full on celebration of red, yellow, green and anodized blue madness, but until that day it's going to have to cool its jets and wind its neck in a bit.

I'm going complete the XT M737 group, by pure chance I already have a wheelset, it came fitted to another bike that has already undergone a full period resto. I didn't even know for sure they were 737 until i checked this morning. They just need a good clean and service.

P1010363.JPG

Minty brifters are on the way from Romania, so all that's needed for the group is a chainset.

As for the other bits - stem, handlebars, saddle and seatpost, I'll begin a hunt for anything that matches the year and suits the bike, and I'll stick with new rideable rubber as this bike is going to be ridden a lot this summer, and hopefully for many more summers. Which brings us to the main benefit of doing it this way, being able to better preserve the bling that currently adorns the bike, until I have everything else needed for the catalogue restoration.
 
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Change of plan, or rather there are now two plans.

The ultimate goal remains - to get it back as close as possible to original spec, that will be a long term, expensive and ultimately perhaps an impossible project, but that is what I am aiming for.

In the short term the plan is to get the bike set up more how I might have wanted it had I bought it myself BITD. I make no secret of the fact that I'm not a massive fan of the rasta trend, I know a lot of people love it and it is very evocative of that era. This bike will one day return to being a full on celebration of red, yellow, green and anodized blue madness, but until that day it's going to have to cool its jets and wind its neck in a bit.

I'm going complete the XT M737 group, by pure chance I already have a wheelset, it came fitted to another bike that has already undergone a full period resto. I didn't even know for sure they were 737 until i checked this morning. They just need a good clean and service.

View attachment 841245

Minty brifters are on the way from Romania, so all that's needed for the group is a chainset.

As for the other bits - stem, handlebars, saddle and seatpost, I'll begin a hunt for anything that fits the year and suits the bike, and I'll stick with new rideable rubber as this bike is going to be ridden a lot this summer, and hopefully for many more summers, which brings us back to the main benefit of doing it this way, that I'll be able to better preserve the bling that currently adorns the bike until I have everything else needed for the catalogue restoration.

Perfect way of doing it matey 👍
 
Great idea.

No point wearing out those catalog parts any further & you can put together something you actually want, whilst preserving the parts for 'history'. good idea,

Black Z Max WCS can be had new for not much.....if your so inclined.
 
While the hunt continues for a Roberts stem I'm going to begin work on a placeholder.



I found this cheap steel stem on fleabay, it matches very closely the silhouette of the original, the main differences being the top cap isn't angled and it has cut outs on the handlebar clamp.

It's very light and has really tidy little welds, so I think it'll make for a decent substitute.

wait.jpg

P1010369.JPG P1010370.JPG P1010377.JPG


This will be a nice dry run, assuming I manage to source the right stem it's almost certain that it'll need repainting, so this will give me the chance to practice my technique and experiment with colours.

Here's the stem next to a 1995 Roberts stem.

stemeg.JPG
 
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Apologies for being ignorant. But I have been building bikes for quite a few years now and I had never heard of this bike before. Is that a local UK thing (I live in Bavaria and we do have a few local brands - but to my knowledge no collectible ones)

Anyways it looks good
 
Apologies for being ignorant. But I have been building bikes for quite a few years now and I had never heard of this bike before. Is that a local UK thing (I live in Bavaria and we do have a few local brands - but to my knowledge no collectible ones)

Anyways it looks good
The world of cycling is vast, and even the specialized area we here are concerned with is a deep and complex labyrinth, with many little known or undiscovered corners, part of what makes it so fascinating.

Roberts bikes were popular in the UK for several decades, a small family firm hand building road, touring, audax, track and hill climbing bikes with which they had success in competitions.

In the 1980's they were also making 'Rough-stuff' off road tourers, inspired by the British off road cycling club (the oldest in the world), as well as adventure touring bikes. So when MTB became popular, for a firm with experience building lightweight rigid frames designed to withstand the British countryside along with a proven racing pedigree, it was a small and natural step to take - along came the 'White Spider'.

The Dogs Bolx was the pinnacle of that evolution, made with a variety of tubes selected carefully for their properties and role within the frame, the top and down tubes ovalized to maximize strength, the very short rear triangle, the reinforced horseshoe stay, all cutting edge stuff at the time, combined to create a very light, very strong and rigid racing MTB frame that delivered a unique riding experience.

Being hand built production was limited, they were highly sought after by anyone in the UK who was into the sport back in the early to mid 90s, most of us only ever got to see them in magazines, so there's an added elusiveness and mystique that is attached to them.

I'm sure every nation that had an MTB scene back then has their equivalent.
 
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Stripped the bike down today, gave it a thorough inspection and unfortunately I found a ding.

ding 2.jpg

It looks to me like it could be a bad one, Fortunately that's the only damage, other than the usual chips, scratches and scrapes.

Thoughts and opinions appreciated.
 
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Thanks for the history. Where I live we have a few local shops/brands. Maxx, Corratec and Ralph Denk (rdr) come to mind. They all make nice bikes. Idk if they are known in the UK. But collectible they are not.
 
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