This started out as an unfortunate green bare frame and has been more or less in storage for a few years. I dropped it off with the painter, Jeff Bock when I was picking up another frame. After he resprayed it I built it up mostly with components I had on hand - leftovers from past projects. Junk from the drawers. Some vintage, others vintage in spirit.
Here is the end cap on the non-shifter side. It is a domed buffalo nickel, one of 8 from a leather hat band for a Western hat years ago. 
The rear brake straddle cables were an issue. Because the straddle cable had to be longer to clear the seat post they kept disengaging through the assembly slot. I bored the cable puck hole out to accept Mafac straddle clamps. Look and work damned fine I say.
The rear freewheel is the current iteration of the IRD body, but with the older stepped sprockets. 5-speed with 34 big sprocket. Of course the '79 vintage Campy NR derailleur couldn't wrap enough chain for that, so I installed Campy Rally cage plates. Eventually the Regina chain may be replaced by a "modern" chain, but I like the look.
Enough,
- Gunnar B.
6 comments:
Lovely bike, but - Eye of the beholder and all, but I don’t think the original green was at all unfortunate. Wish more of my herd had lively colors like that. I’m accumulating all the bits needed to start building my 1st frame since 2004. I think I just decided on the color.
Gunnar,
I LOVE the look of the Ron Cooper in the two-tone brown/beige (but would have loved it in a brighter green, too).
Please tell me more about the Silca frame-fit pump peg: is it part of the Cooper's original build? Is the peg triangulated from both of the twin laterals? I also love the brown accents on the light-alloy Silca pump "boot" - or whatever we used to call that thing...
Nice to see it a second time here on GC after seeing it previously on CR.
Bravo!
Jon Spangler
Alameda, CA USA
It was originally going to be black. But the espresso brown picks up the dark brown center stripe of the fenders and the straps on the rear baskets. I have nothing against green, especially "British racing green", but in person this one was really ugly to my eye. Not bright, not light, not dark, just blah.
The frame was modified to accept the pump.
Next I will be doing infill paint on the crank, RD and hub release levers.
On color. I have a book on garden design that commented that color is not the goal. If we just wanted color we would simply paint the sidewalks orange. I feel a little that was about bicycle frame colors.
When I was young I always sprayed my frames bright red, yes I had to build my bikes up from scrap parts! Then when I got a smart bright bike it was stolen so its replacement, though covered again with the finest Campy I could get, was dead black with not a decal on the hand built frame. I have never parted with it though that dullness still makes me sad every time I ride it. Very slowly I am stripping a seventies frame again hand painted black over sparkling blue to make it too look worthless when It was parked up at my place of work. In retirement colour is coming back.
Wish I had your patience with the details, only having one good eye is a darn nuisance isn't it! One of mine has never focused. Being lazy I thought a hanger extension might do same trick to get my record mechanism to wrap round a large sprocket.
Envious of all your builds...
Thanks. My "good" eye requires monthly injections to remain marginally passible. ;-)
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