heidelbergensis 

Greetings!


I acquired and imported this frameset from the UK via an eBay seller from the estate of the original owner this past October. My intention was to use this until my custom road frame was ready in 2023. Ellis-Briggs frames are very rare here in the States when compared to other smaller UK marques, such as Holdsworth or Mercian. The threadless fork and 130mm rear spacing means that this frameset is ready for a fully modern build. Max tire clearance front and rear is 28c. One other thing to note is that the FD braze-on is mounted a little lower than usual for compact cranksets, so it's perfect for a ca. 50t to 46t outer chainring.



Unfortunately, this frameset has turned into a bit of a saga. The eBay seller provided the wrong top tube measurement; I offered to accept a partial refund to avoid the hassle of sending it back to the UK, anticipating that I would not have an issue finding a home for this beautiful frameset. About a week later I noticed something altogether different: namely, that the fork crown was improperly drilled seemingly from the workshop! As you will see, the front hole for inserting the brake caliper bolt was drilled off-center. The seller refused to offer a full refund, and eBay was no help, either. So, here we are. What's interesting is that the original owner apparently rode the bike like this, but the brake-pad shoes need to be toed-in at a crooked angle for this to work.



UPDATE: Since originally listing this, I took the frameset to framebuilder friend. After some discussion, including drilling out the crown and pressing in an adapter, we decided on a minimalistic approach: he filed the hole on the front of the crown towards the centerpoint with a Dremel and a 6mm bit. This was done just enough to allow the recessed nut to center and for the caliper bolt to now pass straight through the crown, resulting in a perfect alignment with the dropouts and wheel axle. Once the recessed nut is fully torqued there is no lateral play in the caliper whatsoever. For the first time in its life, the brake caliper sits straight in the fork crown!! Including pictures detailing the before and after, as well as caliper alignment relative to the wheel.



Measurements:

TT: 58 cm (c-c)

ST: 61 cm (c-t)

HT: 20 cm.



Included in sale are frame, fork, Stronglight 1" headset, 1" spacers and 1-1/8" threadless adapter.



(From original seller)



This frameset was ordered on 18 September 1992. Hand-built in Shipley with Reynolds 531c tubing, Columbus dropouts, Cinelli BB and fork crown.

Frame Number 6306.

24 inch 531C with Columbus drop outs.

73/73 10 3/4 B/B 1 1/2 FIR 16" R/E

Cinelli Spoiler Shell

2 sets T.A. bottle bosses

Twin Campagnolo lever bosses

Cinelli SCA fork crown

Wrapover seat stays

Columbus ends (no eyes)

8-speed rear end (130mm spacing)

Pump pip head tube

Chain peg

Internal B/Eyes TT L/H side

Clearance for Ultegra Shallow A/K

'Flame Ruby' finish

Pick lugs and cut outs gold

E/B transfers white full set vertical on S/T

Chrome complete forks, rear dropouts and R/H chainstay



$279 + shipping



Thanks for looking!
















Best view of the off-center hole!

heidelbergensis 

Here are some more pics:

mhespenheide 

I've clicked on this one too many times in both eBay and on Craigslist. I wish it were just a touch bigger. The opposite of yourself, I guess!

heidelbergensis 

Hey! Well, I appreciate the sentiment and the clicks regardless. And who knows, maybe it will have grown if I remeasure it!!

cudak888 

Just putting this out there: It is possible to fix that fork without paint damage with a small kludge: The existing hole should be currently 6mm. If it's offset no more than 2mm, you could file it open until the hole is centered, then properly drill it out to 8mm. Then press-fit a stainless 8mm tube in there with a 6mm ID - problem solved.

It's basically the same fix as undoing a recessed brake modification, only a bit more tedious because you have to bore out the hole perfectly so that the bit centers itself when it's increased to 8mm.

-Kurt

heidelbergensis 

Thanks Kurt! I hadn't thought of that (and clearly the local builder hadn't, either - though their imperative is of course to also make money). But that is a welcome development! I still would like to sell the frameset, so I would leave that open to whoever would be interested inbuying it.

Best regards,
Mike

smontanaro 

​​
Ooh, good suggestion! I have the same problem with my Atala, but it's fully chromed, making the plug-and-redrill option much more challenging. Inserting a sleeve should be doable, hopefully with minimal damage to the chrome.

Mr. 66

I would just file it so that the caliper can be centered, plenty of medal there. Maybe put some epoxy to make round but that shouldn't make a difference, a star washer will keep it in place when the brake is installed.

Bad Lag

That frame is gorgeous.

heidelbergensis 

Yeah, I hope someone here on BF will take it off my hands, as it doesn't quite fit me!

merziac

I would encourage you to sort it out to help facilitate a sale. Probably could be done with a file and patience.

Unless a buyer like Kurt or myself and many others here comes along, this will put many off for fear of the unknown.

Even with the disclosure it becomes a bargaining chip that sullys this beautiful frame and likely hampers the sale.

heidelbergensis 

Quick update here - will be taking to another framebuilder friend locally to see how feasible redrilling the fork crown will be as per cudak888 's guidance above! That is, feasible for my friend. If it's outside his wheelhouse, then I'll be exploring other options!

heidelbergensis 

Update: so, we opted for the most minimal approach here, which was to file out the hole with a Dremel towards the centerpoint:


This was done just enough to allow the recessed nut to center for the caliper bolt to pass straight through the crown, resulting in a perfect alignment with the dropouts and wheel axle:

Et voila! For the first time in its life, the brake caliper sits straight in the fork crown!! While there is some room to the side at the drilled-out opening on the front of the crown, once the recessed nut is fully torqued there is no lateral play in the caliper.

This was our minimal and low-fi fix to make the fork rideable. The next step would be to drill out the hole and install an insert/kludge.

merziac

There's still nothing stopping from using a piece of tubing for a long bushing to backstop this even more, especially if this decides to work against the offset even more now that it has some more play in the equation.

cudak888 

Bravo! All's well that ends well.

-Kurt

heidelbergensis 

Bump and price drop: $275 + shipping

heidelbergensis 

Bump! If you're reading this and interested, make me an offer!

jdawginsc 

If it was 56 or 57 it would have arrived to my door anyway. Something about that frame draws me.

Someone will get a bargain.

heidelbergensis 

jdawginsc Thank you for your compliments, it is indeed a beautiful frameset.

Accordingly, I am dropping the price to $279 + shipping. I really just need to move this on to its new home!

heidelbergensis 

BUMP! Any takers at $225?

heidelbergensis 

Bump!

heidelbergensis 

Any takers at $200 without the headset?

heidelbergensis 

BUMP - price is now $200 sans headset.

heidelbergensis 

BUMP! Still available at last price!

merziac

A bit small and waaayy to far away, if only you were only a couple hundred miles away.