fvernon

I recently picked up a Romic frankenbuild (exactly as found):





The nervex-style lugs threw me, but I'm becoming fairly confident it's an x-100 touring frameset. SN is August of 1977. The parts are largely period-correct but a strange mix, so I'm guessing it was bought as a frame and built up:

130mm Cinelli stem (one of the longer 1A versions I've run across)

42cm SR Randonneur bars

Zeus levers & early Zeus 2001 recessed brakes (I don't think the frame was redrilled for the recessed brakes, so maybe a custom request? I'll get a better look when the frameset is stripped)

Fluted 3ttt 27.2mm seatpost

Tange Levin headset

Sugino BB and 1977 (if I'm reading the code correctly) Sugino Mighty Tour Triple crankset (with Campagnolo dust caps)

1st gen Dura-Ace black series FD; Suntour Cyclone GT RD

1st gen Dura-Ace black series shifters

Campagnolo clamp on cable guides

Campagnolo Record hubs that look original, laced to newer Mavic MA40 rims that are clearly a more recent edition

A large shadow of a former decal on the seat tube below the seat cluster; looks the right size for a Reynolds 531 decal (I'm fairly confident it's not Tange, but maybe a Columbus decal?)



There is a small crack & some damage at the seat cluster (looks like someone forced the binding bolt in from the wrong sides), and with the rest of the paint damage has me thinking I'll get it stripped, have the seat cluster repaired, and maybe have water bottle mounts added before repainting. I *might* see about mid-fork rack mounts & canti or braze-on centerpull bosses for a change in brakes before it gets repainted.


I'm curious if any folks here are knowledgable about Romic bikes beyond Rich Pinder's excellent tribute site. Specifically, I'm curious about the model--some info I'm working off of:

- 27.2mm seatpost

- no seams are visible on the inside of tubes (from what I can see with a flashlight)

- I haven't found any manufacturer hints yet; e.g., nothing on what appears to be a clean steerer tube

- campagnolo 1010a long rear & front dropouts with eyelets

- It's a 59cm/23.5" frameset. 2,160g frame; 685g fork. That seems about right for a full nervex-style lugged Reynolds 531 DB frameset of this size from the mid-late 70s...at least the fork seems much too light to be plain cromo or hi-ten.


The lugs are throwing me; everything seems right for an x-100 touring or maybe a 100 deluxe touring model (the dropouts have me leaning toward the x-100), but I don't know how much weight I should put in the consistency of the 80s(?) catalog descriptions available online. Were the Romic models pretty consistent throughout the 70s and 80s, or was there a bit of mix/match happening? Obviously a custom build may throw the whole 'specific model' idea out the window. The geometry screams 'all day comfort' for me, so I'd like to restore the frame and build it up as a light tourer, and to satisfy my own curiosity I want to be pretty sure of the model while I restore it.


Any thoughts out there?

Wildwood 

Certainly not a Romic bike expert. Only info from the 'hard to find' short spot at Classic Rendezvous. But I bought one not long ago. I have a European group of vintage bikes and call the Romic my Polish builder's bike. Haha.

Anyway, the price and the gold anodized Galli components drew me in.
I do not know if it is a custom build. The 8.5cm stem which looks (but may not be) original makes me believe someone bought a frame and had a custom assembly with a short stem to compensate a fairly long top tube.

Clearly a touring frame (slack angles) with R531 frame tubes. 61X59.5cm ctc with 17.5 head tube. Front center is a whopping 64cm, chainstays (without adjusters) are 45cm. Stronglight triple crank, Galli brakes/levers & headset. Derailleurs replaced. Suntour Cyclone hubs Araya rims. No braze-one for bottles or housing, above BB cable routing.








Touring bikes are not my thing, and I already have one. But I hate to strip a bike for parts, so ride it occasionally - until the Galli goes on a perfect 60X58 frame.

retroshifter

I like that a custom bike builder set up shop in Houston Texas in the 1970s. I don’t have any knowledge about the different Romic models, but from what I know about components from the 80s, the Cinelli stem is 26.4mm and the SR handlebar is likely 25.4mm (maybe 26.0mm). If there wasn’t a shim and the stem was cranked down it could cause problems.

Bianchigirll 

We’re all experts here

fvernon

It's a pretty frameset--I've seen yours in a couple of Romic posts. Mine is definitely different/tighter geometry; more like a 59 ST x 57 TT CtC (perhaps why the long stem) and around a 60 or 61 front center (I've got the bike fully stripped to the bare frame, so that measurement is imprecise. I'll double-check when a headset is back on and the fork is properly seated).

But, thanks for reminding me to double-check the TT measurement; it looks from the spec sheet that the 100 Deluxe Touring & the X-100 touring models both have shorter Top Tubes than the Model 50 touring frameset, just further confirming my suspicion about this being one of those two models. With the campy dropouts & low fork weight, I'm gonna go ahead and say this is most likely the X-100 Touring frameset unless someone who really knows Romic fabrication can chime in with some compelling evidence.

fvernon

Yeah I've run across a cracked Cinelli stem because of that issue. Luckily no damage here.

fvernon

LOL I know, I should know better!

fvernon

Yeah that's Rich Pinder's tribute site--I've digested the info there. Hoping to run into somebody with insider knowledge that doesn't exist through Google searches, if possible

Mr. 66

I have an early '80s, unfortunately I have not been able to correctly feed a bottom bracket into it.

Wildwood 

So I have learned anew again today! .

I knew it was 1980. But now 18 June 1980. And probably an X-100 touring given 531 main tubes. Confirmed Campa drop-outs and fork-ends. Edco headset. Will have fun confirming lugset next - commonly used I believe and worthy of a dainty lining = gold of course, probably the hardest color along with white, to do in a thinner line.

I am at odds with mine and am making decisions on other bikes that will affect this Romic's future.
It could be:
a. Fully rehabbed, lug lined , mounted with fat tanwalls - hopefully to be sold, at a profit, as a gentleman's 'golden' gravel bike. Likely not worth $350 to acquire the anodized crank and ders for the 'full gold' price appreciation.
b. Replace the gold bits and use as winter bike, given long wheelbase stability, triple crank and rubber Selle Anatomica saddle purchase for such use. I have black mudguards. But where does the gold go?, as there are no framesets to build (and really, none are needed).
c. Part out everything, trades for upgrades - on other bikes I will ride more. Who doesn't like gold? And Campa Super Record seatposts are light and nice!

My only remaining question would be, "Was this a custom frame build?". Can someone point me to the 'spec list/sheet' I saw mentioned above? OR, does someone accessible possess the records to indicate which frames were custom built?

Lattz

Google search info, otherwise I would have never heard about them over here, thanks!

fvernon

Here are some specs for different models, I believe from the 1980s and all thanks to Rich Pinder (embedded here because the direct link to this page on his site doesn't work as well as navigating through from the main page):




Given the longer TT and R531 main tubes with possibly something else used for fork/stays, I'd guess it's not a 100 or X-100 (if I'm reading correctly, these were full R531 framesets and the X-100 was sometimes full Columbus). There are some other touring or sport touring models that have R531 main tubes, but you very well may have a custom build, given the dimensions. Then again, that's all based on a single set of model descriptions--so your guess is as good as mine!

Note that the full-spread model listing has campy dropouts with eyelets on the X-100 only, whereas the other two spec sheets that show 2 bikes per page indicate campy dropouts used on the Model 50 touring frameset as well. On the full spread page, only the Model 25 sport touring is specific about having R531 DB main frame and the Model 75 is specific about a Tange main frame with Reynolds fork & stays, whereas the other models seem to be written as if the tubing used on the main frame is also the tubing used on the fork/stays (or there is inconsistency in how these descriptions were formatted). So it would appear there were some changes in production depending on the year...though I don't know what year these descriptions are from.

fvernon

Beautiful frameset! I hope you can get a BB working--any ideas what is wrong? Did someone damage the threads?

Wildwood 

Thank you so much fvernon for spec sheets.
Indicates that on standard size frames the dimensions for seat and top tubes are more in line with my guess of what is 'normal'. Ex = X-100 in 61 is 58 top. But the diagram shows sizes measured as 'center BB to top of seat cluster lug'. So what I call 61, is a 62cm with a 'std' top tube of 59. The wheel base on mine is longer than spec'd. I believe the model year spec'd is post 1980 as cable routing is under BB. But I doubt frame geo changed much over a few years. My speculation, tho'. Have yet to confirm lugset on this one.

Still guessing - who builds with a Stronglight crank, anodized gold, rides it, but keeps it in pretty good shape. Maybe a custom buyer.

WGB 

Just an fyi with all the talk here of Romic bikes.

There's one I just listed on the Craigslist thread located in Hilton Head with a Terry bike and a Silca pump for $200....😘

Mr. 66

Thanks! The threads appear fine, but after four or five turns they seize. One must have cross threaded a bb in. I've got a couple of ideas to move forward on clearing the grove, just not a lot of time.

fvernon

It's hard to tell with the all-black paint, but aren't those Nervex Professional lugs on your frameset?
https://www.classiclightweights.co.u...essional-lugs/

I'd lean toward this being a custom built touring frameset--given the size and what looks like a higher trail, it makes some sense that the main tubes would be R531 DB while the original owner might have wanted a more stiff rear triangle?

fvernon

Update regarding weight--since I stripped down the Romic, I decided to weight it out. 59cm frame came to 2,165g (4.77lb), and the fork is 685g (1.5lb), so 2,850g or a little less than 6lb 5oz. That feels pretty darn light for a 1977 touring bike of this size, especially with pretty bulky lugs and room to spare front & back for 700x35c.




I weighed a bare Trek 760 fork off a 56cm frame, which I know to be Reynolds 531c but has about a shorter steerer tube, tighter crown, and shorter legs for tight clearance around 700x26c, and that fork only came in at 665g (20g or about .05lb lighter).

That threw me; I expected the fork to be heavier, maybe over 700g. Not that I'm complaining--just surprised by the overall frameset weight clocking in at what I would expect a similar-era road-focused bike to be, with the fork especially bringing the total weight down. I know Romic used Columbus tubing on the X100 touring bikes, but I always assumed it was SP...I wonder if they used SL?

fvernon

Update on my Romic restoration:

I had a Phoenix AZ-based framebuilder strip the frame and repair the seat binder lug, add water bottle mounts, respace to 130mm, and do a full fork & frame alignment. He painted it in a Dupont Imron metallic orchid. I installed Reynolds & Romic decals courtesy Velocals. I guess I could have had him install downtube cable stops & top tube guides, but I wanted to use the original clamp-on parts for those. I also considered a 3rd bottle mount under the downtube, but decided against it.

What we found: the tubing is almost definitely a full .8/.5/.8 Reynolds 531DB set; it has Campagnolo 1010A eyeleted dropouts and Campagnolo braze-on BB cable guides; the lugs are stamped and the maker is unknown. I'd call them 'Nervex-style'. I'm not brave or skilled enough to hand-line the lugs.

I've slowly started building it back up with distance/rando riding in mind, with parts I had around, and I'm waiting on a Velo Orange 50mm rando handlebar to show up (it's on sale!):

- Original Tange Levin headset
- Nitto/Specialized stem from a mid-80s Sequoia
- Velo Orange decaleur (I'll install a front rack later for my rando bag)
- Wheelset is 6700 Ultegra hubs laced to Mavic Open Pro rims (tires will probably be 35c gravelking slicks)
- 105 BR-1055 long-reach brakes
- Ultegra 6503 triple FD/M900 XTR RD
- 115mm bottom bracket
- SR Apex 86bcd 47/28 crankset; XT 9sp 11-32 cassette, XTR 9sp chain
- 27.2mm Laprade seatpost (the saddle will be replaced with a Selle Anatomica); I also have the original 3TTT seatpost and I may use that instead

velomateo

Great color. I like how this is coming along.
I don't have any experience with rando riding, but are 50mm bars normal for loaded riding?

fvernon

Those Velo Orange bars are flared, so the 50mm is in the drops--they're more like 43.5-44mm across at the hoods, which is just about right for me (including with front loads), especially if I pair with a slightly shorter stem. I've slowly migrated most of my bikes to around 43-45mm at the hoods with a bit of flare in the drops, and it's been a positive change (no pun intended) compared to my comfort on 38-40mm bars.

I'm also loving this metallic purple, thanks!

tfbike 

That is a great color. I probably can't add much more but will throw some general stuff out there. Ray would build custom aa well as some production bikes. A lot of touring type bikes were used by the Houston Bicycling Club. I unfortunately didn't realize his racing background till much later as I knew so many tourist types that had his bikes. Around 87-88 he repainted my Raleigh Superbe and added some braze ons. Great work, but I wish I had realized what it was at the time. He also built a fork to replace my bent one from an accident. The bike is my Hujsak, built with SLX, but he used 531 for the fork. Not that he wouldn't use other tubing but everyone I saw was 531. A couple of shops around Houston would keep some of his bikes around. Mr 66's is a Team Eagle if I remember. Very nice bikes. Ray was a great guy to visit with, super friendly. He had a big shop space that was always fun to poke around in. Rich Pinder did an incredible job with his site and helped me figure out what I had bought a few years ago thru the serial number. Mine is from '81.

Have fun with yours.


Tom Forbes

in Wellington Co but from Houston.

fvernon

Very cool info; thanks Tom!

fvernon

geometry of the August '77 Romic doesn't match any of the model spec sheets on Rich Pinder's site, and draws from both touring-specific and racing-specific model specs. The outlier is the 56cm TT, which definitely isn't reflected in any models' dimensions. Seems like this frame was a custom sport-touring order, which fits with the nicer but hybrid campy/shimano/SR tour-y build.

BTW, the Serial Number is 1055482777; I have a hard time believing that Romic produced 10K bikes in the first 3 years and only 4K over the next 25 years, especially because by mid-1975 they were only on bike 750. So, this is probably bike number 1,055 or 1,554 and either the 4 or the 0 is an extra digit.

Seat Tube: 59cm
Top Tube: 56
Wheelbase: 101.5
Front-Center: 59.5
Chainstay: 43
Fork Rake: 50mm
Trail: I believe around 45-48mm with 700x35c tires

I'm very curious to see how geometry translates into ride quality--the longer seat tube, shorter top tube, touring-y chainstays, and lowish trail read a bit like a 70's take on the geometry of 1950's French designs

fvernon

We've been buried in snow since December, so it's ski season and I haven't gotten out on the '77 Romic, but right before the snows started back in December I got it pretty much where I wanted it and forgot that I'd snapped a pic. This pic was before one of my early Jim Blackburn front racks went on. I also ended up building a wheelset for it--DA 7400 hub up front and Ultegra 6500 rear hub with Wheelsmith DB14 spokes and H+Son TB14 rims. They came out to 1,862g...not too bad for this sort of wheelset. The FD switched to a Deerhead, because it's still the best friction FD I've ever used for a really wide-range double (46/28).

The whole thing is COMFORTABLE. Super comfortable. Definitely an all-day rider