bluehills3149

I found this mystery Romic frame on the street, dumped on a trash pile that looks like it was an abandoned fixed gear conversion as the gear hanger has been chopped off. I could just make out the remains of a decal with "....ic" and a google search of brands led me to Romic, which matches the decal exactly.
It had a Campy headset (no holes so not record), a Campy Strada crank (just the 39 tooth gear), 3TTT stem, campy bottom bracket and a few other sundry parts that look non-standard. The head lug is (I think) BMC brand and the rear drop-outs Shimano SF.
The top tube is about 54 but the seat tube is much longer at 59 c-top.
This looks like it makes it a Model 75 Racing but the cable guides on the bottom bracket are "on top", not under.
So, my question is, what model is it?
And what is the frame material? (Reynolds 351? Tange?) or how can I tell?
There's site called velocals which sells re po decals which should bring it back to new. I'll re-paint it as it is rusting away so what colors are original? It looks like it was a burgundy red originally. I will paint with a rattle can and coat with SprayMax 2 pack clear coat which I've used before and looks great.
thanks for any help!

unworthy1

pics are too blurry for me to tell whether it's an "exact match" to that decal or not...but if it's as you say then
A, What a shame it's been treated like that, drewed and badly rattle-canned !
B, Ray G. used Reynolds 531 almost exclusively, so I'd bet that's what this is built with. (Edit, Just looked at the CR site and it says he used Tange #2 and even "hi-ten" tubing which the writer says was plain gauge 4130, I've only seen his frames with 531 stickers)
C, the headlugs might be Bocama (as you say) which is abbreviated BCM, not BMC (British Motor Corp? )

bluehills3149

The headlugs are bocama (BCM), not BMC as I originally wrote. Although I can't positively identify which Romic it is, I've read that Ray customized his frames somewhat according to customer demand so it may be a one-of.
That said, I am going to paint it and want to put the original tubing decals on it so does anyone know how to identify the tubing on a frame so I can put on the original tube decal? It could be Reynolds 351, Champion or Tange according to Romic lore.
It weighs 2100 grams completely stripped and the dimensions match the Model 75 size 23.5. The fork is also unknown with unmarked lugs.

unworthy1

if you're lucky you might find the tiny stampings in the tubing itself that says "reynolds 531 DB" but it's tiny and faint, usually near the butted ends. The other clues can be fork: any marks on the steerer, usually a Tange fork is so marked and would be strong clue toward the entire frame being Tange, but not always. If it has old "Imperial" blade dimensions (cross section at top) it also might be more likely 531 blades.

bluehills3149

There are no frame stamping anywhere and I've now stripped all the paint off for painting so I would have seen any. The fork steerer has stamp on it "3G" in a semi ellipse. I googled this and found no matches. Anyone know what it means?

TimmyT 

The decal you show on the downtube is unmistakably Romic. Free in a trash pile is pretty good for a handmade frame, provided it's straight or pretty close.

Romic made several models at any given time from touring to racing. I don't know what yours is or what the tubing is. There likely would be a faint 531 on the steerer tube on the fork some place. The other option is to chase that serial number.

JAG410

Yes, absolutely a Romic decal, but the serial number is odd. Either way, nice find! The Velocals Romic decals are gorgeous and perfect, I used some for my restoration.

unworthy1

Sounds like a Tange date code, but can't recall how to decode. Search these here archives cause it has come up before.

zukahn1 

Very nice frame shame about the current condition seeing a frame this nice in this kind of condition just makes me sad . As for the tubing seatpost diameter, BB details and better photo's of the frame details would be a big help.

bluehills3149

I finally finished painting this and built it into a nice single speed with lay-about parts and gave it to a friend about a year ago. The paint came out OK using rustoleum and Spray Max 2 pack clear coat and it has held up pretty well.
.

marius.suiram 

I am looking for info about the Romic bikes and found this thread.

The serial number of your bike is the 97233076.
Coming from the end should be two digits for the year (76), two for the day(30) and two for the month (23 ????). And the first digits for the number of the bike(97).
Where am I wrong?
Or maybe 76 - year, 30 - day, 3 - month and 972 the number of the bike?
Who can help me?
I am trying to understand the s.n. : 1403412187
thanks

halfmile

Texpe

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...V0qywGgdaa-Xuc

its march 30, 1976 and only the 972 bike ever made