Cheers Carl,
Made an offer, there may be a couple of salvageable parts in there, problem with Exage is its predominantly plastic and it degrades over time, I've bought a fair bit of stuff as bulk buys and it's not salvageable when it arrives.
Generally parts would not have been changed out until ruined...., so finding good Exage will take time.
I heard a rumour its was still being manufactured for bikes in Thailand, not been able to confirm this so far.
It's interesting the spec sheet above states B.52 yet the frame carries no B.52 logo.
What do thing the cranks on that bike are, it's not Exage as Exage has a dull satin greyish finish and those are definitely shiney...
The get out of jail card is the last line on the spec sheet above.....
Its certainly every manufactures get out of jail free card for sure. Im limited to Tushingham info all i have is what Roger Tushingham provided im afraid, there is additional mag spec listings provided by Adrian in the Tushingham thread too and the odd image splattered around that might help.
Shimano had a strong arm back then, and this played a part in how bikes got specd for sure.
Ref B.52, i was told the bike was always destined to be called the B.52, the original brand bore only one bike with the custom "works replica" added shortly after.
The original had one set of bottle bosses and a chainstay mounted U brake, the slightly later model, twin bottle bosses and a seat stay mounted U- Brake.
Given what happened to the company, on a time scale this would have been mere weeks and months, not years. certainly some Dave Yates (TWG) built "works Replicas" did get manufactured, adding to the brands depth prior to Lester Noble separating from Roger Tushingham and forming Orange mountain bikes.
This certainly might have seen the need to add the model decal to the frame especially given the other alterations, or it simply might have been because Muddy Fox sharing the same platform stepped into the Shimano Foray too which had previously been dominated by Suntour et al. (even the seatstay mounted U brake version Orange still have, has the original decal kit, so the reasons are anybody guess i suppose)
Either way mate, you impressed me because its a detail you took notice of.
Andrew, have a word with Antstark, a long while ago i noticed in a thread he had several Exage Mountain chain sets around him. It was a long while ago but might be worth an ask none the less.
I thought I would throw up some notes I made on the frames when I started with this project for anyone that may be interested,
I'll post it in the Tushingham resource pool also, so apologies for cross post!
I've pulled this from looking a what little photos there seems to be of Tushinghams, as more info. comes to light I'll add it in somewhere.
All is from photos of surviving examples, I've not seen a restored Tushingham...are there any?
General information.
All Tushingham were Neon Orange (Standard colour) over Diamond white according to the sales sheet, however all the frames I have seen are Pearlised White.
Headtube, downtube, BB lugging and approx. 1/3rd of the seat tube/chainstay are Neon Orange, paint fade demarcation varies between individual frames.
Early models all appear to be badged as ‘Tushingham’, although those more knowledgeable than I state it was always going to be called a B.52...more later on this...later models are badged as ‘Tushingham B-52'...there are late models badged as Tushigham only!
The original B.52 sales brochure from Rodger Tushingham via Sinnerman showing a complete lugged frame does not show the B.52 decal.
The brochure also states ‘Fully lugged frame’ of which some later versions are are not fully lugged.
There are two styles of ‘Tushingham’ decal, an outline type in blue seen on early models which do not carry the B.52 script, and a blocked in full colour type, blue centre with orange border, seen on later model frames which also have the B.52 script which is solid blue in a different font.
Headtube and seat tube badges are identical across models.
Tubing decals vary depending on the tubing used in construction..my lighter tubing frame is heavier than the cheap tubing frame! (Same frame size)
To try and make sense of the Tushingham frame timeline, I’ve decided to simply identify them as Early and Late frames, anyone with a more scientific method please chime in!
Early Tushingham
Early – Fully Lugged construction using Tange Cr-Mo MTB PG (Plain gauge) Tubing, there are also some using Tange Cr-Mo Triple Butted MTB tubing. I have seen photos of an original survivor, lugged construction, U-brake etc with the blue/yellow Tange Triple butted decal.
Chain stay mounted U-Brake.
Single water bottle boss mounts on the lower section of the down tube.
Seat stays brazed to the lateral aspect of the Seat tube lug.
Triple cable run boss to the downtube.
Upper and lower mud guard attachment boss.
Cast (Muddyfox type) stem with roller, also seen with the tubular welded stem.
Later Tushigham.
Late - Some fully lugged, others not.
Tange blue/black & yellow tubing decal - Tange Cr-Mo MTB Triple butted tubing.
Seat stays entering into the lug below the centreline of the Toptube.
Seat stay mounted U-brake/Cantilevers.
Narrow welded tubular stem with cable roller.
Double water bottle boss on down tube.
Single cable run boss to top tube.
Double cable boss to downtube.
No upper mudguard attachment boss, others with mudguard bosses.
Later frame with Seatstays brazed into the Seat lug.
The ‘Odd’ ones…
The one Orange have which is claimed to be a B52 prototype at their factory has some features that did not make it onto the later frames, the seatstays finish higher on the lug than production frames, the seatstays have cross bracing (seen on the Works replica frames), it does not carry the B52 script.
Question is if this is a prototype, then it must be a prototype development from the earlier frames to a more modern approach (Seat stay mounted brake) and not a prototype of the original first Tushingham frames which had Chainstay mounted brakes.
Orange prototype with the high brazed seatstays, rear cross bracing, odd fork and no B.52 decal.
I have seen at least one example (magazine advertisement photo) badged as a Tushingham B-52 with the early lateral seat stays, a lugged seat/top tube and Head tube lug only with the a single cable run on the Top tube. Narrow welded stem with roller. This also carries the yellow/blue Tange decal. Perhaps a transition frame between fully lugged and non-lugged filet brazed?
A note on tubing decals...
Blue/purple & blue/yellow Tange PG/Triple butted tubing decals do not appear in the 1988 Tange tubing/Frame brochure.
My Tushingham decals were not lacquered over, the Tubing decal was above the lacquer however.
My Tushingham B.52 decals were lacquered over, the tubing decal was again not lacquered over.
Stems appear to have changed from the early cast Muddyfox/Sakae type with roller, to a welded tubular type with roller during production run.
It all seems to make sense, the only info i have been able to provide is txt and conversation provided from Roger himself. Obviously there might be variations if Lester gave his account too.
Ref the Orange Owned Tushingham, was this a pre-production UK built bike by the TWG or was it fabricated in the far east to a specification . The box crown fork, the X-Brace and the cable route are all different to production models, and all that have been seen and mentioned. The X-brace was certainly a trademark feature of Dave Yates (TWG) at the time, but if you look at the Works Replica produced by him, the top of the seat stays also share the same profile as on similar period Araya built bikes, i have always naturally assumed this was the supplier of the tube sets work and not the fabricators.
My late frame B.52 is H8C33612, the early Tushingham is H87 10 ?3 8244
I've another two Muddy Fox Couriers with the late frame identifiers at my mothers, i'll check their serials later.
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Cheers Carl,
Nope, not sorted with a full Exage groupset as yet.
I have some ropey 'bulk-buys' on route which may have some salvageable parts in them.
So far still looking for a good set of crank arms, rear Mech and brake lever assembly.
I have NOS U-brake, front cantis, front Mech and hubs...may not use these as I have a good used set of hubs on some good rims ..and some quite good shifters.
Rear Mech is probably in the realm of rocking horse poo as they tend to get smashed up quickly and cranks.....hmm...
That Diamond Back has a later style of Exage Mountain where it was predominantly black, the shifters have a flat top to them, Tushingham Exage has a different style (and colour) shifter. The cantis and mechs were not black either.
I suspect that is the transition to Exage LX and Exage 500 etc. ?
