Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
Rory O'Brien bike
- Thread starter pubrunner
- Start date
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That looks like a six speed freewheel, not a (modern) cassette. If so, be careful if you ever have to take it off the hub. It might be the type that needs two chainwhips, the first pulling anti-clockwise on the ouside cog and the second holding the rest of the cluster still while you exert force on the first. Very tricky.
Tony Smith
Active Member
- Location
- Rural Staffordshire
Beautiful example. Didn't Rory O'Brien have something to do with Ephgrave ?
OP
OP
pubrunner
Legendary Member
^^^ Yes, Les Ephgrave built quite a few frames for Rory O'Brien, as did Vic Edwards - who also built 'Rondinalla' frames. It is highly likely, that some of the London frame builders also made frames for Rory O'Brien. O'Brien's did not build any of the frames that they sold . . . all were bought in.
For much more info. on Rory O'Brien, check this thread . . . . . . .
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/rory-obrien-bike.2483/
The bike owned by the OP, is simply one to which someone has fastened Rory O'Brien decals; whether this was done at the Rory O'Brien shop, or by a previous owner, is impossible to say. I'm not aware of O'Briens bringing in foreign frames, but I guess we will never know.
That's gorgeous, . . .
Whatever, you'll get some great miles out of that
Yes, whatever the frame is (not a 'typical' Rory O'Brien), it is very nice indeed !
BarryBonkers
Regular
- Location
- London, UK
Wow, I haven't seen a Vitus 979 frame in such good condition for ages.
Is there a serial number on the bottom bracket? That should give you the age of the frame. Perhaps 1985-ish?
As for the Vitus frames themselves, back in the day they had a reputation for being very light, and delicate. The delicate part stemmed from the comparison with steel, which was the predominant racing frame-set at the time. To keep it shiny you might like to try ACF-50, developed by the Lear Corporation for their aluminium bodied jets.
Looked after, the Campagnolo components will last a lifetime. You can buy spares, even today. If I was you, you might want to ask your local bike shop (LBS) to service and adjust the gears. And the Miche hubs, they're okay but now you're destined to search for wheels with Campagnolo hubs to complete the set...
Is there a serial number on the bottom bracket? That should give you the age of the frame. Perhaps 1985-ish?
As for the Vitus frames themselves, back in the day they had a reputation for being very light, and delicate. The delicate part stemmed from the comparison with steel, which was the predominant racing frame-set at the time. To keep it shiny you might like to try ACF-50, developed by the Lear Corporation for their aluminium bodied jets.
Looked after, the Campagnolo components will last a lifetime. You can buy spares, even today. If I was you, you might want to ask your local bike shop (LBS) to service and adjust the gears. And the Miche hubs, they're okay but now you're destined to search for wheels with Campagnolo hubs to complete the set...
graham west
New Member
Rory O'Brien was a friend of my father, whom he met at the stone sailing club, in st Lawrence bay on the river blackwater. Both Rory, and my father owned shearwater catermerans, and raced them on the river, although this part was more like an estuary, about a mile across, very open to strong winds, where these boats would move at great speeds. There were 10- 12 shearwaters, as well as many other types of dingys. Rory was a very nice man, always ready to help, and lots of fun too. This was around 1960-4, I was ten years old, but I remember rory as being tallish, with wavy grey hair, and legs with large knees. About 1964 my father sent me to boarding school at goring, outside Worthing. I needed a bike, my father spoke to rory, and a few weeks later a newish rory O'Brien bike arrived. I rode that bike into the ground, but it was up to my best efforts. I can't remember what eventually happened to that bike. The shop that the bike came from was in rush green, not far from roneo corner. graham west.
OP
OP
pubrunner
Legendary Member
Summat's wrong with the thread - there's a whole load of recent posts gone missing
Yeah , you are correct - IIRC, there were about 20 -30 pages . . . . . . . Weren't there ? Shame if they're gone, 'cos this thread is turning into the definitive resource, for all things Rory O'Brien.
OP
OP
pubrunner
Legendary Member
OP
OP
pubrunner
Legendary Member
I saw a Duckett bike just a month or two ago - and it was in excellent, original condition. Do you still have a 'vintage' bike, Bryan ?
Summat's wrong with the thread - there's a whole load of recent posts gone missing
They were in a separate thread - I've merged them with this one. As to a missing 20 or 30 pages, I can't (currently) find any evidence of that. If you can tell me some of the posters names or advise on some of the content, I can look.
Cheers,
Shaun
oh Christ, sorry Shaun. Senility can't be far off for me now....
