Venom Racing Cycles

[Tsundere]

What does RB know about these bikes? I do know that they were made in the Midlands by someone called Matt Norman during the 1990's, he also made MTB's which is where I first encountered the brand, beyond that I can't find any information.

Just bought this with a view to converting it to flat bar, the tubing is Reynolds 853, I'm sure road purists will be offended but I'm also thinking of getting some slightly wider rims and tyres (32's?) to cope better with light trails, so it's possible that I may need to change the brake calipers to accommodate that?



It was love at first sight as far as the frameset goes, I like that it was hand built by a little known regional frame builder, and regardless of whether or not it's a particularly prestigious brand I'm really looking forward to riding the hell out of it.

Any thoughts or insights would be very much appreciated.

 

[KermitGKona88]

Titanium stem ? Not easy to get wider brakes but 32's should just fit ...

 

[Tsundere]

Titanium stem ? Not easy to get wider brakes but 32's should just fit ...

Bike is due to arrive on Tuesday so I'll be sure to investigate that stem, that would be a nice little bonus

 

[Tsundere]

Found this link where others are asking for info regarding Venom Cycles, anyway Matt Normans daughter suddenly shows up and then Matt himself, apparently he relocated to Australia and is still building frames, he did say in that thread that he'd post some history about Venom on his website but I can't find it, sadly that's where the trail goes cold.

There is a Facebook group dedicated to the brand though, but I don't allow spyware on my PC and so cannot access it

 

[Weeksie]

What does RB know about these bikes? I do know that they were made in the Midlands by someone called Matt Norman during the 1990's, he also made MTB's which is where I first encountered the brand, beyond that I can't find any information.

Just bought this with a view to converting it to flat bar, the tubing is Reynolds 853, I'm sure road purists will be offended but I'm also thinking of getting some slightly wider rims and tyres (32's?) to cope better with light trails, so it's possible that I may need to change the brake calipers to accommodate that?

View attachment 621198

It was love at first sight as far as the frameset goes, I like that it was hand built by a little known regional frame builder, and regardless of whether or not it's a particularly prestigious brand I'm really looking forward to riding the hell out of it.

Any thoughts or insights would be very much appreciated.

A bit late I know but I knew Matt when he started out cycling. I used to ride with the Birmingham CC. Matt was a rower who took up cycling - joining the BCC. He was phenomenally strong. He moved across to the Solihull Cycling Club and was quite a successful road racer - but he remained a good friend of the Birmingham CC. Matt wanted to start a business spraying bike frames and asked me for some input on names and logos. IIRC Matt was going to use his name for the business and I suggested he might also consider something a bit more punchy and off the top of my head threw out the name venom. I think i may even have designed a logo. Matt liked the name and went with it. I lost touch with Matt when I moved away from the area. Terrific guy - I hope things are going well for him down under.