Vintage Falcon road bikes

[southcoast]

Hope this is ok to post, found the forum looking an old friend. Attached are a few pics of my old Falcon training bike form the early 80's which i still ride today over the years a few things have had to be changed but its basically the same.
At the timI i was doing a lot of training with a group in Gloucester including a guy called Doug Sollars who i believe was the Team administrator for the Falcon pro team. I bought the frame and purpose built the bike to my own spec mostly campag with the then brand new Mavic Grey Rims.
I loved riding this bike so much that I often raced it coming 3rd in the Bristol Road club 2 day, winning the Tyne Velo 25.. managed to do a short 22 min 10 and a 55 min 25 nothing by todays standards but reasonable in the day, as you can see its still in use any questions please ask

Nice bike. My Falcon pro is also one of my favourite bikes to ride, responsive and smooth, always seems to be egging me on to go faster.

 

[Mandobob]

My understanding though is that after Reynolds took over A & P, they withdrew their Kromo tubing from the cycling market so as not to compete with 531 mang-moly.
I have sometimes wondered if Reynolds 501 was largely based on the recipe for A & P Kromo, when they needed a cheaper tubeset than 531. If you read Reynolds literature, 501 was slightly stronger than generic 4130 cro-moly. It's plausible they dusted off the Kromo recipe and relaunched it either with or without some formulation tweaking.
Very little is really new, after all 753 is heat-treated 531, and Reynolds had been making a heat-treated 531 option in the 1940's!

I think, SkipdiverJohn, that is a very reasonable assumption.

 

[Craig Gardner]

Thanks everyone for some great information

 

[Bici Colori]

Well here is to keepng this thread going still.....lol

Attached is my restored Falcon Professional.
Original was green like you see on this webpage John's Falcon . Velow

But I decided to modernize mine with modern components and change the colour scheme to a gun metal blue and pearl white for the rear stays.

Took me 4 months to complete balancing work and family and all.

I stripped it down to bare metal and epoxy primered the frame and then used matrix automotive paint and clear.
Got the decals from Lloyds.

I think it turned out rather well and I get a lot of compliments on the bike...........yeah its cool I guess lol.

 

[Cycleops]

Very nice @Bici Colori and done in the best possible taste.

BTW welcome to the forum

 

[Paulus]

Well here is to keepng this thread going still.....lol

Attached is my restored Falcon Professional.
Original was green like you see on this webpage John's Falcon . Velow

But I decided to modernize mine with modern components and change the colour scheme to a gun metal blue and pearl white for the rear stays.

Took me 4 months to complete balancing work and family and all.

I stripped it down to bare metal and epoxy primered the frame and then used matrix automotive paint and primer.
Got the decals from Lloyds.

I think it turned out rather well and I get a lot of compiments on the bike...........yeah its cool I guess lol.

An excellent job there. I love it.

 

[southcoast]

Looks a nice finish on the paint job.
Any makers name on the dropouts? Tell me more about the forks, they don‘t look standard?

 

[Bici Colori]

Looks a nice finish on the paint job.
Any makers name on the dropouts? Tell me more about the forks, they don‘t look standard?

The frame is all orignial
The front fork is not. I lost the original so I picked this up second hand locally.
I don't know what brand it is but I can tell you its 4130 chromoly

The components on the bike.....

Salsa compact bar
tektro brakes levers
Specialized Bridge saddle with original campy seat post
Shimano 105 brakes and wheel hubs
Alex R390 rims
Campy Xspeed 10 speed Centaur crank 53-39
Shimano xt mtb pedal clips
Shimano Ultegra RD and Microshift indexed downtube shiters for 10 speed
Dura-ace 11-28 cassette
Liv bar tape and falcon printed bar end caps

:-)

 

[Bici Colori]

Very nice @Bici Colori and done in the best possible taste.

BTW welcome to the forum

Thanks so much

 

[Bici Colori]

Very nice @Bici Colori and done in the best possible taste.

BTW welcome to the forum

Thanks so much.
I really love it.

I am so hooked on restoring old bikes now...lol

Looking at acquiring an Olmo now for my next project

 

[carpenter]

really looking forward to seeing it

 

[satkin]

I’m doing up my old 1978 Falcon Black Diamond. I’ve had it since I was a teenager.
https://falconrestorebike.wordpress.com/

 

[Mandobob]

Well here is to keepng this thread going still.....lol

Attached is my restored Falcon Professional.
Original was green like you see on this webpage John's Falcon . Velow

But I decided to modernize mine with modern components and change the colour scheme to a gun metal blue and pearl white for the rear stays.

Took me 4 months to complete balancing work and family and all.

I stripped it down to bare metal and epoxy primered the frame and then used matrix automotive paint and primer.
Got the decals from Lloyds.

I think it turned out rather well and I get a lot of compiments on the bike...........yeah its cool I guess lol.

That's a really thoughtful combination of new components which somehow resonate with the spirit of the original bike. Really well done and a high standard of finish too. Brilliant! Great to see a quality frame given a new lease of life after some forty years. Steel is so real.

 

[midlife]

I’m doing up my old 1978 Falcon Black Diamond. I’ve had it since I was a teenager.
https://falconrestorebike.wordpress.com/

Love it, used to sell them BITD I the bike shop I worked in

 

[southcoast]

I’m doing up my old 1978 Falcon Black Diamond. I’ve had it since I was a teenager.
https://falconrestorebike.wordpress.com/

I like that, looks like an old friend.
Good website too.