Doug Fattic 

One of my curiosities is what happens to frames/bikes I made years ago. I got this email recently from a guy cleaning out a storage unit. He recognized without training that this frame was made to a high standard. It has obviously been altered from it original configuration. Besides the upright handlebars, I spot kickstand. If taken off there will probably be indents where the top and bottom were pressed together. It looks like the original Campy brakes are still there. I’m curious about the drive train. I don’t recognize it. Every frame I made was custom designed with no 2 being exactly the same. He hasn’t responded yet to my return email where I hoped to get a little more information so I could identify who I made it for. I’m guessing I made this frame 35 to 40 years ago. I liked to do tone on tone colors and blue was a favorite. If only the bike could talk! It would tell an interesting story. One thing I know for sure is that I did not design this bike for upright handlebars!

Here is what he wrote me:

“Hello! I was wondering if you had any information about a bicycle that I found while cleaning out a storage unit. At first glance I thought it was just another old bicycle, then the frame caught my eye. The joints and cuts were perfect, The rounded cut on the seat tube, just the little details. As someone who appreciates craftsmanship I noticed these things. Someone made this bike, there was pride in the work quality. I am an avid automotive guy but bicycles are not my thing. I grew up in the era of BMX so the styling couldn’t be different. But was curious of the story behind this bike.”

Schweinhund

Love to see more pictures The head tube graphic is very tastefully done.

jdawginsc 

Looks my size...

🤪

stardognine

It can't be much good, it has stem shifters. 😋😁😉 Too bad the guy didn't send more & better pics. 🙂

cb400bill

Mine, too.

Doug Fattic 

I'm wondering if there is a Brooks B-17 hiding under the seat cover. I've always been a fan of Brooks even when they were seen as old fashioned. Customers always chose whatever saddle worked for them but often I'd have them try out a Brooks if they hadn't had the opportunity yet.

JohnDThompson 

Crank looks like it could be Shimano Deore; incongruously low-end for such a nice frame. I can't see the rest of the drivetrain clearly enough to make any guesses.

https://velobase.com/ViewComponent.a...=115&AbsPos=30

Darth Lefty 

I haven't seen a chain in a tube like that in ages.

Reynolds 531 

Shimano Dyna Drive Pedals. So epically awesome

https://bikeretrogrouch.blogspot.com...ng-gruppo.html

dedhed

Curious as to what part of the country it ended up in.

zandoval 

Like that sweep on the fork... Must have a nice ride...

OK... Find that oil can and get this baby some new shoes then

Fire-Er Up!

She deserves it...

curbtender

Oh, not the chain on the top tube and the seatpost flutes in the frame! Looks like it went into utility service.

Doug Fattic 

I'm really curious too! I hope he replies to my return email. My typical marketing area was mostly in the Midwest, Michigan of course but only the western half as Matt Assenmacher was a painter builder near Flint on the other side of the state. I got lots of orders for both frames and paint in Ohio and Indiana and Illinois. I sent a few frames to Colorado and Texas and some overseas too. However in most cases I would like to fit a customer personally so that limited my reach to those that could drive to my shop.

dgodave

I had those Deore cranks and weird offset bearing pedals on my very first MTB, but not half-step gearing. I never thought of it as low end, but as pretty high end for a triple at the time.

due ruote 

I’m just impressed that he knows what a seat tube is. That sets him apart from the vast majority of pickers, I’m sure.

JohnDThompson 

I seem to recall that the arms were cast, rather than forged. Perhaps I'm wrong about that.

dgodave

It so happens that I have an original Shimano touring components catalog from 1983 to hand. Lets see....



Says "forged outer sprocket with smooth lines". Doesnt mention the crankarms but I'm almost certain they are forged too.

philbob57

With a tight budget, I was taught, one is likely to enjoying riding more if one rides a good frame and cheap parts that work. The economics have changed since I last bought a bike (1981), but the value proposition then was good steel with cheap parts over less good steal and better parts. 40 years ago, it was possible to put together a bike with reliable used parts. Today, maybe it's more difficult. Maybe it's more expensive to buy a good frame and a donor bike. But the only way I could have gotten a 531 frame in 1981 was if I could also get parts from my LBS's box of unsellable parts.

Having said that, the Campy brakes never were cheap.

*****

I don't get the Deore chainset's purpose/place in a product lineup. I can see using a 50.4 BCD crank, but why not do a full Cyclotouriste copy? Why introduce yet another BCD for middle rings connected to a 5 pin 50.4 BCB crank, especially with a 3rd BCD for the inner ring?

tricky 

That's gotta be cool to see your work pop up again like that. That fork crown looks really interesting! @Doug Fattic do you remember what crown that was?

jdawginsc 

That is a cool fork crown, Tricky, I agree.

Love the color scheme. Tasteful and classic.

Components would put it 1983-1985, maybe?. If that’s what it was originally equipped with.

Doug Fattic 

The fork crown is a Henry James. The lugs probably are too but I can't tell from the pictures he sent. Hank Folson started making frame materials in the late 70's until he retired a few years ago. One of his casting houses was near me in Indiana on Lake Michigan.

Back 40 years ago (+ -) I would make a custom frame for someone with a modest income (like a teacher for example) and put more affordable parts on it with the understanding they could be upgraded when funds were available. It is possible I put these parts on it (or I just sold them the frame) but that doesn't seem likely. This bicycle has been obviously modified some. It looks like it has a band shifter cable stop above the braze-on lever bosses. This is for when they put on upright handlebars. If the original owner wanted to put on a rear rack, I would have put on braze-ons to hold it.

I would love to see a side picture so I can tell what kind of design I used on this frame. We'll see if he ever writes me back.

dgodave

I would like to see a profile pic too. This is quite interesting.

I wonder what the fate of the bike will be. Do you have a desire to see it back out on the road? Or is it more whatever happens, happens?

RCMoeur 

I know I'm not the first one to point this out, but when Deore first came out it was Shimano's top of the line group for touring bikes. It was a couple of years later that someone figured out it was also quite suitable for those new-fangled "mountain bikes". The Deore DynaDrive cranks were a great experiment, but time has not been kind to most of their pedal bearings. I have a right-side DynaDrive crank, but no pedal.

I also have a "Deer Head" Deore group salvaged from a crashed early 80s touring frame awaiting its next adventure.

Doug Fattic 

The frames I carefully made one at a time for a specific person are like my children (obviously to a much lesser extent). There is a wide quality difference between "custom" frames. That means I would like them to continue to be well taken care of.

I've noticed a kind of shift from collecting European frames to American made frames. The irony is that the best made frames were made in much smaller volume so are not as well known so don't get as much recognition with the result that they are not as desirable. So it would be nice to see this frame modified again so the parts fit the purpose for which it was designed.

With we started our charity Ukraine Bicycle Project in 2000, I went into a deep study of how to make a transportation/utility bicycle with upright handlebars. But that wasn't what we were doing 40 years ago. Customers wanted a bike that would make them ride faster/easier. My guess that one aging option for this bike was that as the owner got older he needed a different more upright position.

dgodave

Back then I swapped out the dyna drive pedals for "regular" mtb pedals using an adapter someone made.