Paintking

Nice Centurion fvernon. And looking forward to seeing your 1977 Romic someday. I'm not sure about the model number of my '87 Romic. I assume its an X100, but I haven't found anything on the bike that identifies it as such (maybe there's something in the serial number?). All I know is that its 531 Reynolds tubing, which Ray Gasiorowski is said to have used for the X100 bikes (Columbus as well), and that this bike was specifically built for a woman as a tri-bike.
As you probably know there's isn't a great deal of info about Ray and his bikes, just some good notes from his shop and a couple of local Houston newspaper articles. Here's 98% of what anyone knows about Romic, Romic - History of a Houston Bicycle Builder. I've never had access to look up my bike in those notes to see what's there. When this bike popped up on Facebook Market place, it was the first time I'd ever heard of Romic. When I bought it from the original owner I was a bit surprised to learn that she walked into a bike shop up north (Wisconsin or Illinois) and ordered it custom. She thought it had been made right there and had no idea that it came from Ray in Houston.

fvernon

The full 531 and lack of eyelets on the dropouts made me immediately think yours is the X100 Road, but your access to Romic info is about as much as mine--though if the owner ordered it custom, it could be just that--it seems like Ray was happy to take full custom orders throughout the time he ran Romic Cycles. There are several custom Romics posted in here, and my own '77 doesn't quite fit any of the model specs floating around online and on Rich Pinder's Romic webpage.

Mine is also, as best as I can tell, a full Reynolds 531DB frameset with campy 1010A long, eyeleted dropouts and nervex-style lugs (I think they're Haden blanks that were treated to in-house cutouts in the style of Nervex Professionals). It mostly bears the hallmarks of an X100 touring frameset, minus the lugs, but I'm not even sure if the models described on Rich Pinder's Romic tribute website were solidified in 1977--the early SN logbook has other name and style descriptions in the 70s, so it could be something else altogether. I have some pics up in another thread on here, but at the moment it's with Omar Khiel (formerly running Oasis Custom Cycles) for some rehab--it needed repair to the seat collar binder/lug, and while it was under the torch I figured I'd add bottle cage bosses, spread/align for 130mm hub, and get it repainted in a Dupont Imron metallic orchid purple. He took a solid look at the frameset after it was stripped and also thinks--but can't definitively conclude--that it's a complete/standard 531DB tubeset and looks to be the 70's .8/.5/.8 equivalent to the early 80s 531C option. I haven't heard anything regarding the use of 531C vs. ST vs. mix-and-match for the Romic touring bikes.

As found Romic, but not at all what it'll look like in Cambria (if I bring it):




Once I've got it back & start building it up, I'll post better pics in my original thread!

I don't know yet if I'll build it in a way that fits Eroica standards--probably everything will work for Eroica except for the aero shimano 105 bl-1050 levers (i know they're allowed, but it still doesn't quite feel right). Everything else should be period-correct or close enough for funk, but I'd hate to have enough post-87 components installed that I feel like the bike as a whole misses the spirit of the event, whereas the Centurion Pro Tour is good to go and super-comfortable for that style of riding. The Romic was found with a mish-mash of nicer touring-y parts from the mid-70s (Campy Record, Dura-Ace, Cyclone, Mighty Tour triple cranks, Cinelli, and early Zeus recessed brakes), but I'm going for a more streamlined aesthetic for its final form.

I was able to access/register through the email to 2022 riders without a problem; I'm back on board for the 73mi ride next September. If the Scalatore route was on I'd be doing that, but I was happy I ended up switching to the Santa Lucia route instead of the Heroic route this past go-around when the Scalatore was cancelled.