jamesdak 

Looks like I'm on an English thing right now, second old british ride to make it into the house this week.

This is a 53 cm Reynold 531 frame. Being a life long Pittsburgh Steelers fan the minute I saw the color scheme of the bike I know I was in trouble, LOL!

I think the fit will work just fine. The saddle position is good for my fit but I'll need to raise the stem or get a longer one I believe. Quite a drop for this old man. Judging from the central saddle position I'd say it's a pretty relaxed angle. I normally tend to go with a 55/56 cm bike so I was worried I'd need to slam the saddle all the way back but turned out not to be the case.

It looks quite beautiful from 5 ft away and more. When you get right up on it you can see some minor touch ups and stuff. Here's some pics of how I picked it up. I like to document them a bit before I get messing with them. Standard double with an 8 speed setup. 22 lbs and 6 ozs as pictured, if that matters.

jamesdak 

And more:

bulldog1935

always makes me happy when I see a bike that's not my size - I don't have to covet.

That's a beauty - congratulations.

Bad Lag

AWESOME!


My Bob Jackson is blood red.

qcpmsame 

That is one very handsome bicycle! Good for you, great acquisition.

Bill

jamesdak 

Nice, and I take it you are a bit taller than me?

Bad Lag

LOL


Yes, mine is bigger than yours. But, yours looks better and yours is still shiny.


What year was yours made? When was it last painted? It looks brand spankin' new.

bulldog1935

uh-oh, that one fits me

supercharger

That's a nice looking bike. I believe it's my size so if it doesn't work out for you just drop me a line.

jamesdak 

I don't have a lot of info on this one. It's passed through some hands. From the groupset and all I'm guessing late 80s time frame. And does look really good from a few feet away. Just need to redo the bartape as they finished it off a bit short. May swap the stem too. It's pretty chewed up in spots and has a 1/4 long cut in it. Not sure it that makes it prone to cracking or not but better safe than sorry.

I'm going to shoot off an email to cycleart with some pics to see if they have any records on the paint job.

thinktubes 

Great bike with a great group!

John E

Very nice. I have always been partial to the Bob Jackson marque, and if you can't have the original factory paint and decals in decent condition, a CyclArt repaint is indeed the next best thing.

jamesdak 

So I swapped on a set of Look Keo pedals and my Zen Cyclery wheelset with GP 4000s II in 700 x 25c. Getting ready to head out with it on it's first real ride to see what it's got.

It's now 21 lbs even with those small changes. A one pound, six ounce reduction just prepping it to ride. Not too shabby.

It's probably going to feel really light today after a hundred miles on the heavy old Ventoux yesterday with it's heavy wheelset.

USAZorro

I was once seduced by a slightly too small Bob Jackson that was for sale for an unbelievably good price. It took me about a year to move past denial about the size (it was the same size as yours coincidentally). Hope you're right about getting the fit to work. Are you sure those aren't Saints' colors?

jamesdak 

Well, some observations from the initial ride of only 30 miles today. That Avocet saddle felt pretty dang good. I have some tender spots from yesterday's century but nothing else bothered me. Wasn't really aware of the saddle itself one I got the tilt adjusted.

My overall impression is it's really smooth on the rough roads yet maybe flexy. I was bouncing some when my cadence was in the mid 90s which is not normal for me. I'm thinking it's the saddle position still. I'm about 3/4" to far forward still and height may be a bit off too as I messed with it some based on initial feel but have measured it. I like the position of the bars as I have them but at 40cm they do have me feeling a bit pinched over my usual 42cm. No big deal as I'm used to swapping out the stems and bars for what I like.

Now I obviously was not recovered from yesterday's century. Legs didn't feel tight or anything but I just had no energy for most of the ride. Was only averaging around 17 mph for the first 20. But I finally got some energy about 24 miles in. I took off from a stop sign and within 1/4 mile hammered it seated to a top speed of 30.3 mph. So the bike will move! Ran around 20 mph the rest of the way home and the bike was feeling good and easy to hold speed.

Gonna measure this frame against my 53cm Lemond Tourmelet which is dialed in well for me. I think this Bob Jackson may just need a seat post with a tad more setback. Or maybe the Avocet rails are not quite as long as the ones on my normal Fizik saddles.

Anyway, no doubt this is a sweet ride. I just need to finish dialing it in and then testing it out with fresh legs.

Bad Lag

Bouncing?


What aspect of a bike's set up/ergonomics contributes to "bounce".


My guess - you're still fatigued from yesterday and your muscle control and fine motor skills are still a bit off. Combine that with a new/different bike and you got bounce.


I'm wanting to go for a ride right now! Mu bike don't bounce. Then again, I just heard a rumble of thunder which is bad news.

jamesdak 

Saddle height for sure, too low at high cadence and I "bounce". LOL!

Bad Lag

I sincerely hope you are able to work out an ergonomic position because that bike is awesome - just this side of perfect.

jamesdak 

Well, I just got done checking it. I messed up measuring somehow. The height is good but I had it too far back. It's dialed in now and hopefully with fresh legs tomorrow I can get a better feel for it.

I also just ordered a new stem for it. The one on it has a significant gouge and while it's probably fine I tend to descend in the 45-55 mph range and would really hate for something to go wrong. I think this will work out fine.

DMC707

really really great looking machine my friend !

jamesdak 

Well I am embarrassed to say i figured out why the bike was so "bouncy" and "boggy" feeling on that first ride. I had swapped out the rear tire before swapping on the new wheelset and totally forgot to fully inflate it. I doubt there was 40 psi in it for the ride, good thing I didn't hit anything or I would have pinch flatted for sure. I do stupid stuff like that every since the last concussion. I can't focus on tasks worth a darn anymore.

Went out for the second ride and the bike was so good. It's a bit weird because it's so smooth that it doesn't feel like I'm going that fast. But then I look at my speed and I'm flying. I ran an average of 19.4 mph on the second ride with a top speed of over 32 mph over 23 miles. For me that's very good on this course. Today was the same course with some climbing threw in. 18.6 mph average over the whole 35 mile ride and held my pace over 20 mph for about 20 miles of it. This bike just seems easy to hold up to speed and very comfortable. So far this old Avocet Saddle has been fantastic. I'd love to try a century on it this weekend but with a competitive century on the 27th I shouldn't be doing one this Saturday so that will have to wait.

All and all, I'm pretty impressed with this bike. It doesn't feel as "racy" as my Giordana's yet the times on it are really good. I really can't fault anything on it except the headset that I can't keep tight, LOL! Gonna swing by the LBS tomorrow to let them tighten the locknut with the right tool.

jamesdak 

Just thought I'd update on this bike a bit. Lots of little changes over the past two years. Added another bottle cage, new stem, frame pump mount and then today swapped in an older set of tubular wheels with some nice Veloflex Vlaanderen wheels. I think they will really make this ride extra nice. It's now weighing 22 lbs and 7 ozs as pictured in today's shots.





Just when I thought I was done with this I noticed I still need to trim the screws on that bottle cage clamps.



As you can see, decent clearance for these large tires.



This is my smallest frame as the tall seatpost illustrates. One day I'd like to get a larger one but until then this one is too much fun to give up.



The paint's not perfect on this 1983 bike but it's not too bad.

qcpmsame 

Very nice looking with your improvements, the stem and bars, as well as the taping, look much more in tune with the frame set now, IMHO. I still think that it looked almost unmolested when you initially acquired it, and it still does, well kept sir.

Bill

RiddleOfSteel

Gorgeous gloss black Bob Jackson! I won't ask for help, but...I am having the worst time finding paint flaws on that steed. Guess I'll just have to settle for ignorance and drooling.

jamesdak 

Thanks! The marks are there though, quite a few actually. Just hidden well in the black.