Last ride 76 

On my way back from visiting the folks on Cape Cod, I picked up a beater version (if there is such a thing) of perhaps not a grail bike, but pretty darn close.. Topping it off by a stop at the New Haven food trucks... 3 tacos plated to go.

stardognine

Good call on the tacos. 👍 I'd probably take that old beater, too. 😁 Congrats!

scarlson 

Were you on the cape this past weekend? Fantastic weather! If you saw a guy on a light blue colored Ron Cooper out there, it was me!!

machinist42

Yours came with Deltas?!! Lucky gringo.

Yours looks to be the same year as mine. The pantographing, embossing, debossing, whatever, and the chroming is the same, and it varied year to year, and if that is the shadow of a decal on the chainstay, they're the same decals as well. I have no idea what year that might be, but the date codes on your components might enlighten me?

There's a guy who has the same frame on eBay, and he doesn't know which year either. But here's the thing. His, though about the same size as yours and mine, seems to have steeper angles than mine, and perhaps yours, from what I can tell from your taco-ed photo. Yours may be a cm or two shorter?

Once you've ridden it, I think you might understand how it is a "grail bike"? I haven't ever ridden anything better.

Here's my beater:



(CL ad photo, I am woefully remiss in documentation. My bad.)


You have a high bar to best my beater status, sir...

Oh, and congratulations! A fine acquisition!

Last ride 76 

I did not make myself clear... I have been scouting for a Rossin for years... but finances and locating the right bike have always been out of sync. I've been offered some interesting Rossin frames and great deals too, when I just couldn't shake loose the funds. I meant that this particular one comes up a bit less than grail, due to rust/poor chrome. Nothing to do with the Ghibli as a bicycle. The crimping seems deeper, more pronounced than on the D'accordi of the same time. But maybe paint and shadowing.

The man I bought it from only had it for a couple of years, a racer of mountain bikes, using it as his road trainer. So zero history.

My first pair of "Deltas". I always ridiculed them, and never understood the attraction. They're smaller than I thought they would be, and better looking in real life. Uh, oh...

I'm about to take the "as found" pictures. I'm not sure what to a do about the paint/decals. The chrome will get cleared of rust, and then probably get the silver paint treatment discussed in a recent thread. It seemed in rough shape last night, especially the rear triangle. But yep, pretty rough looking, it's still a Ghibli. I consider myself lucky to have it, Shimano 600 RD and all. Photos coming.

machinist42

Decals. (The purveyors of these decals wrote me they thought they hailed from the early eighties. They don't know. No way early eighties.)

The Deltas should have a date code which could establish a starting point for the history of your Ghibli.

Rossin "rippled" the SLX tubing for the Ghibli in-house, so I would suppose there would be variations.

I think that's one of the most tasteful and attractive Ghiblis I've seen.

I look forward to your photos, whenever they may post!

rumrunn6

I like the tool bag

Last ride 76 

Darn, no I didn't...If I had seen anyone, even someone wearing a clown suit with big floppy shoes, red nose and a rainbow wig, riding a Ron Cooper anywhere, much less on my home turf, I would have risked giving myself a coronary, trying to catch up/ connect with him/her/it. Sorry I missed you. I'm in Woods Hole/Falmouth. Where are you centered?

scarlson 

I'm centered in Medford
Last weekend, I was riding from Medford to Provincetown. My occupation required I attend a retreat at the Cape Codder resort in Hyannis, so a colleague and I made the decision to ride down from Medford to Hyannis (Friday) and then we rode to Provincetown after the retreat was over (Sunday) and take the ferry back to Boston.

We rode on a lot of the gravel near Wellfleet and Truro. Such beautiful country! I've been trying to connect the gravel sections of Old Kings Highway up north of Brewster into a decent ride to keep me off of both the rail trail and the main road. I'm there a few times a year on my Ron Cooper. We camp at Nickerson and ride from there. It's set up for touring with 700x38 tires and big Nitto racks and fenders, so it's good in the loose gravel and sometimes-sandy surfaces of those roads.

I think I'd also probably hurt myself trying to connect with a Ron Cooper owner. I don't think I've ever seen another Ron Cooper besides mine, except in pictures.

Spaghetti Legs 

That’s a nice find, even if a little worn. I’ve been in the hunt for a Rossin Record or Ghibli for a long time. Last winter a got a later model Rossin in SPX that is truly beat up. I had to drill out a fubared dropout adjuster and it needs a repaint. Looking forward to more pics!