ja.cobra

My dad rode for Condor in the early 1960s. He had several good victories including a win in the 1963 London - Holyhead. My brother has tracked down a Condor frame from the time which is being restored. He is slowly collecting all the parts to do a complete restoration. However, we are having trouble identifying exactly which hubs and rims Condor were using at the time. If anyone has any information that would help we would be very grateful.

Thanks.

P!N20

Campagnolo large-flange Record hubs on Mavic sprint rims

https://www.classiclightweights.co.u...ow-frame-1963/

Now let’s see this frame!

ja.cobra

Excellent, thank you for that. As a new joiner I need to get to 10 posts before I can add photos. Will do that as soon as I can.

Stevensb 

Welcome aboard @ja.cobra.

We look forward to seeing your bike, but before you reach the 10 post limit you can post images to your personal BF gallery and then members here can provide a pic assist to get the image(s) into this thread.

The following image shows some of the lug sets in use in the 60's at Condor. Does your father's bike use any of these?

Condor lugs by bj.stevens, on Flickr

Cheers.

Brad

Kilroy1988 

Welcome to the forum,

A majority of the quality frames built by Condor (as with most British builders of the era) were custom ordered and would have been built up with components of the client's choice. The example above with the Campagnolo hubs and Mavic rims just shows off one of many likely choices available to British riders at the time. It's an excellent combination and if you don't feel like digging around further by all means go with that, but don't get the impression that any parts attached to such a frame would have been equivalent to a "stock" configuration.

-Gregory

ja.cobra

Thanks for all the interest in this.
My dad thinks they used Weinmann hubs at one point. On closer examination of photos it looks like they changed the components from time to time. We have a photo of him riding with Tommy Simpson, Jacques Anquetil, Piet Damen and Jean Simon in 1962 in the Isle of Mann. In that photo he is clearly on small flange hubs. There are other photos, including shots from Herne Hill and Crystal Palace where he is on large flange hubs. I have also just found a Condor advert from March 1962 which lists the team wins for that month, put also lists Team Equipment as Cyclo, G.B. Williams, Radium and Brampton. However my dad is also certain they used Benelux.
We have some complicated logistics due to me being the midlands, my brother being in Spain, and the frame currently being in London. Hopefully we will all be in the same place next week and I will be able to get up to date photos.

Kilroy1988 

Sounds like he was quite a passionate and skilled rider, indeed! Between his record and the bicycle, you might want to consider reaching out to some local members of the Veteran-Cycle Club, which was founded back in England back in the 1950s with the aim of preserving old bicycles of merit. I'm out in California but am a member and can tell you that there are many active, very educated folk over there who would be willing to help you assemble the right sorts of parts if you feel that you would like some assistance.

-Gregory

ja.cobra

The Veteran Cycle Club seems a good idea. In my shed there is a 1930s tandem, that belongs to my stoker, that we would like to get more information on, and I guess VCC could help with that as well. We believe the tandem was built for the 1940 Olympics that did not happen. It is badged Raleigh, but we think it was sold on to them, and they are not the original manufacturer. I will post some photos of that as soon as I can. We rode that tandem for many years, but now use a BurleyTamburello.

seypat

I have a 1972 Condor that the original/previous owner bought while living in England during that time period. As he upgraded the components through the year he kept everything. This is the original wheelset that came on it. 27" rims with no markings and Schrader valves.

big chainring 

Wow!!!! 270 miles or so, 5am start time. A true endurance event.
1964 event on film