For Sale 56cm Dave Yates 531 road bike (converted to comfort 700c hybrid) - great price £255/£145

I've decided to build another general purpose bike to replace my Dave Yates local hack, and what a great lightweight run-about this 3x8 fast-road flat-bar conversion is.

Its actually a lovely old late '80s 531 hadnbuilt F&F by Mr Yates as a lightweight road-bike of its day. It was clearly refurbed by the Mr.Yates shop at least once as it carries the later decals and a '531 refurbished' tubing logo from the M.Steele works.

I fitted an early Specialized comfort stem, some Icon alloy bars with ODI grips, Deore brake levers and Thumbshifters all work to good effect with 105 calipers, a STX triple chainset and 7 speed transmission with an LX rear mech and 105 front mech, and an effective Ritchey saddle

Wheels are modern: Shimano's R500 wheelset with radial front lacing and work brilliantly on a fresh set of Specialized 700x28 rubber
lightweight mudguards and frame fit pump complete this ride (the rack is optional - I fitted that for light shopping duties with pannier)

It's no exaggeration to say this is a light, fast and nimble ride - with the added comfort of a high riding position and back-saving straight bars. Its a really great creation.
I am 5'11" and you can see where I have the seat - the whole bike feels spot on to ride. I've not repainted it in my time with it, but I have touched up any chips or corrosion to stop any rust setting it. Cosmetically its not a show-stopper - some might want to repaint on close inspection - but I couldn't justify doing that as its nice and functional as it is and wasn't too flashy to lock up outside shops in town

£255 collected (Kent) (£295 delivered) for the complete bike, or £145 for F&F&headset&OfmegaBB (that I can't remove as I don't have their tool for it)
A great buy for a genuine Dave Yates - which he's not building anymore - now he's retired

Oooooooooo. That is lovely.

GLWS

Many thanks - it is one of those bikes that rides "greater than the sum of its parts". The off the peg modern Shimano R500 road wheelset and Specialized tyres transformed it when I was rebuilding it from what was originally a bit of a basket case that had sat in someone's shed for years on its original narrow drop bars with rubbish gearing, that had been 'serviced' by a local bike shop according to the previous owner (and not very well). Its just a really handy bike to have for general domestic use, and I've even found myself getting my road gear on and going for an extended ride on it to, rather than getting a road bike out of storage to ride.