Nigel Dean 531 - first road project!

[Hallsy]

A couple of months back I bought a Nigel Dean 531 frame, not sure of model or age, I'm guessing late 80's to early 90's. Anyone have any ideas?

Just today got chance to finish building it up..

From this:

To this:


Nigel Dean 531 by Hallsy01, on Flickr

Hopefully get chance to take it for a spin tonight, and if I get on with it, I'll slowly upgrade the drivetrain.

Cosmetically I'm after some tan hoods, also new pedals wouldn't go amiss. I think maybe tan bar tape would have worked better, but I went with green at the time.

Will be an interesting experience after years of mountain biking anyway!!

 

[paininthe]

Certainly dressed that up nicely. I like those frames, it was one of those that brought me here. So beware!

 

[Hallsy]

Thanks!

Just took it for a quick spin to see that it was OK.

Feels very different, seeing as I've never owned a road bike before!! At speed it feels great, but slow manouvering is very twitchy!!

Main thing is that riding on the hoods feels a little odd, not that comfortable on the hands, and doesn't feel like I'd be able to brake hard/quickly if I had to do an emergency stop!! Do the bars look like they need to come up a bit (in terms of rotation), or move the hoods up further?

Or is this normal, and something I'd get used to!!??

Nice and fast though!

 

[biggs682]

i watched that finish on the bay and was very tempted but unsure about the sellers any comments re them

 

[Hallsy]

The seller was ok, it was packed up reasonably well, not great, but good enough.

It was as described, looked like it hadn't been used in ages but cleaned up ok. Get the feeling it's a dump selling off what they think they can get money for, but then I was happy with what I got!

 

[terryhfs]

Your bars aren't set up quite right which could explain the odd feeling on the hoods. They need to be rotated backwards a little so that the ends of the bars are directly below the centre line of the top of the bars. Then you need to move the levers further down the bars - this will give you a position that's slightly lower and slightly more extended than the one you have now. It should feel like bar ends on a mountain bike.

 

[Hallsy]

Thanks Terry, I had already moved the bars around a little, until the emblems on top were facing upwards, I also moved the saddle forward a bit and it feels much better

 

[Chapeau! Velo]

This frame (or one just like it!) was my first 'proper' racing bike in 92. It had 105sc running gear and brakes and a Cinelli bars and stem - White bar tape and brake hoods look good with the frame colour too.

With regard to fit, as it's your first road bike it may take a few try's with stem lengths and bar widths to get it comfortable.

 

[Hallsy]

Thanks LDP, can you remember what the model name was? My frame seems to be missing any kind of model identification.

I'm currently considering gradual upgrades, ideally early 90's stuff, either 105 or 600

 

[pigman]

Thanks LDP, can you remember what the model name was? My frame seems to be missing any kind of model identification.

the name Edge seems to ring a bell somewhere ...