Omega TT...

[Mortiroloboy]

I've got the loan of an Omega TT bike from one of the old blokes in the club, not a name I'm familiar with, he's just collected (the last) in the UK Spesh Transition DA, lovely frame, very space age.

Anyway he has let me borrow his Omega Columbus zonal framed TT bike, with MDT 54t chainring, 11t 23t campag block on campag hubs laced to MDT deep V rims, ITM aero bars and bar end shifter, Shimano 105 brakes.

I have no idea of age, but its owner is 70, I'm hoping to get the option if I get on with it, what sort of money should I be looking at as a reasonable amount to offer?

Does anyone in the cafe have any knowledge of this make of bike?

 

[fossyant]

Yep it's a 90's machine - Omega did a fair amount of stuff and MDT did loads of specialist bits - carbon head fairings and stuff - from my era of racing - It's a nice machine by those specs.

God knows how much to offer.... I had my SLX built in 91, and Zonal is later than that - maybe mid 90's.. depends upon condition though.

 

[domtyler]

At seventy, what does he want money for? Offer him a tenner and a pint every friday night for life.

 

[fossyant]

Dom the guy's just bought another TT bike - so may not 'depart' for lots of years ! - Might be expensive in the Pint dept.....

 

[Mortiroloboy]

He may be 70 but he can still turn in a sub 26 minute 10! I have been googling, looks like they are/were made in Brighton, my birthplace, so sort of odd bit of syncronicity there. no mention of price. the one I'm babysitting is yellow with red decals on the seat tube and down tube,internal cable runs, rims are a red anodized finish,it has a braze on for the FD, but obviously this isn't in use. It looks a bit tired, but I'm assured it goes pretty fast (maybe not with me aboard?) Looking forward to making a few adjustments and giving it a blast.

 

[fossyant]

Nothing a repaint won't sort... Steel frames, so long as rust worm hasn't set in terminally, last years with no performance loss !

Ask him if you like it... you may be surprised about the price.

 

[wafflycat]

At seventy, what does he want money for? Offer him a tenner and a pint every friday night for life.

I know of women & men in their 70s and 80s still doing decent time trials...

 

[Mortiroloboy]

There's a club mid week 10 on Wednesday evening, I will start for that (hopefully). This will be my first ride for three and a half weeks though, so not expecting much, but it'll be good just to get out on the Omega and see how it (and I ) perform.

 

[Keith Oates]

Have fun with the TT and the bike, then if you like it ask him what he wants and start from there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Fab Foodie]

Omega were very good custom builders of top-quality steel frames, I had a nice Columbus Nivachrom model, but it was just slightly too big for me. The company went downhill about 2 years ago, much due to issues IIRC of sourcing/suppling carbon frames, people ordered bikes which almost never quite turned-up, or if they did they were waaaay late. The Co eventually went down and the Current Enigma company was formed to rescue what was left. It's a shame really, Omega bikes were/are very nice, again if memory serves me most were custom builds.

No idea what the bike is worth, but if it works...go for it!

 

[Mortiroloboy]

It was a custom build for the owner, I have had to put a longer stem in it to make it fit, the frame tubes are nemo columbus zona butted, I'm still to ride it yet, may try and get out for a short ride this evening, just to see if I have got the set up sorted, with a 54t dinner plate of a front ring will this offset the small rear block 11t23t of which I can only really use the third from smallest cog in order to avoid massive chain stretch.

Oh dear :0( I went for a spin, and despite making all the adjustments I could, it was clear that the bike is just too small for me, I terrified myself when I got down onto the aero bars, it was way too twitchy for my liking, my bike handling skills were severely tested, shame, I was quite looking forward to giving it some TLC and using it on the club 10's this season, Oh well.

 

[llllllll]

Shame it doesn't fit, I've got an Omega TT bike of a similar vintage, Columbus Altec 2 if memory serves and it's great. I bought mine second hand, I was a bit lucky really, I bought it online from Omega themselves based purely on the geometery figures they'd published. I attacked the head tube with a hacksaw to fine tune the position, but other than that it fitted like a glove. If I were to have another custom frame built it'd be pretty much exactly the same. The quality of the welding and paint is amazing and it's very stiff, not even on noding terms with comfort, though it's not that sort of bike.

As for the company, their head office was in Brighton, but I believe the welding was done somewhere in Kent. Later they specialised in Titianium frames and had a great reputation, though there were rumours that they actually started manufacturing their frames in Russia. They also stuck their name on a generic far eastern carbon frame. What posesed them to think that was a good idea is beyond me. I'm no businessman but why would anyone go to a boutique brand to buy a mass produced frame? As said above they had problems with frame delivery and not just the carbon ones, which suggests the Russian rumours may have been true. That basically finished them off, though the current Enigma range is basically what Omega were offering when they went bust.