lightning222

Hey gang, I have come across this beautiful handmade steel road rig and cannot seem to find out much about it. Ron Stout was the builder of the frame and forks and seems like he operated out of Salt Lake City in the mid 1980's to early 1990's. The serial number is 17383, which means it was the 173rd frame built in 1983??? Am I right?

I picked it up because of how nice it looked even though it is too small for me (a 55cm). The frame and fork are lugged and in great shape minus a few scuffs and scratches. A Columbus Acciaio Speciale decal is on the frame and the fork has a Columbus Forcella Originale decal. The bike itself is a smooth running machine that has been maintained pretty well to the best of my knowledge.

Does anybody out there know much about Stout bicycles? Is this a desirable bike?

Otis

He was building in the 70's. I do not know a lot about him, but from the few I've seen he had a very nice aesthetic sense. Very clean straight forward racing frames with minimal graphics. Very "U.S. 70's" in the best sense to my eye. Here's a tiny one I had which I really wish had been my size (cuz then I would still have it).

dgodave

Friend of mine has a Stout, with the "wishbone" seat stays. I'll have to ask him.

zukahn1 

I haven't seen many but the few I have seen where great examples of classic handbuilt American frames. Very nice asthetics overall clean smooth lug work nicely finished with nice paint. I would consider them comparable if not better than almost any high end 70's or 80's frameset. If I had one in my size I would diffenitly keep it and build it up with nicer components. This is the kind of bike your not likely to come across again and nicer American built frames seem to be going no wear but up value wise.

lightning222

Thank you for the information. It is a cool bike with really clean lines, just too bad that it doesn't fit me.

rootboy 

Darn right it's a nice bike. I knew Ron a little bit. Lived in Salt Lake most of my life, and my buddy and I used to hang at his shop sometimes, drooling over the goods. This was in the late 70s when his shop was on 2nd South and 13th East up by the U of U. And then later he moved his shop to Highland Drive in Sugarhouse. He was a bit of a curmudgeonly guy but a soft spoken one. A little secretive, as I remember. Sort of a semi grumpy artisan type. But friendly in his own way. Sorry I can't give much info on the frame itself, just reminiscing about the man. Though i didnt know him all that well. Im not sure what ever happened to him and I think he had some health issues later. Lost track.
He had a pearl white frame with blue green graphics hanging in his store I used to covet madly.
Bought my first new in the box Nuovo Record derailleur from Ron.

rootboy 

By the way, I could be way off, I lost track in the mid 80s or so, but my guess is that most everything on that bike is non original.
I always remember Ron's bikes to be outfitted with full Nuovo or Super Record groups. Usually the latter. But maybe he changed up later on.

rootboy 

BTW 2. Ron used DuPont Imron paint. One reason his paint jobs hold up so well.
His workmanship was meticulous.

due ruote 

Beautiful clean lined frame in nice shape in a great color and just my size. Yes, it's desirable, I can confirm. Not that I'm in the market, mind you. But I had fun looking.

mpv1989

Ron numbered his frames sequentially, I'm the original owner of number 26884. He didn't restart his numbering every year, I believe he only built about 60 frames a year. He may have gone to around ninety in the late 80's. I have a brochure from his shop, and even my original receipt. I think he built into the early 90's. Mine has a Campy SR Seatpost, Headset, and Front Dérailleur, Crankset 42x53, Campy BB, Campy Dropouts, New Record Rear Dérailleur, Record 32 hole hubs, Modolo Professional Brakes, Matching Silca Frame Pump. Cinelli Lugs, Stem, and Handlebars. Columbus tubing. Mine is a mixed frameset, sp for the chainstays and downtube, sl tubing for everything else. I had Campy Pedals and then put a set of Shimano PD7401 on n the late '80's.

longbeachgary

Great first post.

63_dorinte

I seem to have missed this thread the first time around. Thanks for the information, I currently own three Ron Stout framesets and just finished working them over (see the Classic Rigs and Rides sticky page 49). I have seen a few others for sale, but they all have been too large for me (rule no.1: don't buy if I can't ride). The craftsmanship on my frames is far above everything else I own, with the single exception of a Andy Newlands built Strawberry. These are keepers .

pcb 

Glad to see this thread resurface, thanks to all for the info. There's not a lot out there about Stout, so it's great to find folks like rootboy and (maybe?) mpv1989 who met/knew him. I saved a bunch of posts I'd seen over the years, which sketch bits and pieces of the story, but I've never run into anyone who seemed to really know the whole arc. And, as could be expected with memories fading, some info has been a little contradictory.

I have two Stouts, one very early (#008 ---the earliest I've seen) and the other fairly late (#466 92---latest I've seen).

Before reading this thread, most of what I'd read said Stout built from '80-'92 or so, with production winding down by '92, for a total production of about 550 frames, avg of about 50/yr. If that total is right, 63_dorinte only needs 2.5 more Stouts to own 10% of all frames produced! Ron supposedly first shared space with his brother at Stout Cycle, with Ron building frames in the back and his brother running the bike shop; later Ron moved to a separate space. One post said he stopped building "after a change in marital status," and started a construction company. Rootboy thinks there might have been health issues?

From my sample of one, #008 , it looks like his earliest frame serial numbers didn't include the build year; next number I've seen is #92 81 . A serial number scheme of seq unit # plus build date fits pretty well for those later bikes. I've seen some serial numbers with an extra letter at the end, "A," "J," and "O," not sure of the significance. Build month is about the only thing that makes sense, but who knows? I wonder where the 550 total number came from, since I've heard he wasn't building much by '92, and if #466 was built in '92 how did he build another 80+ before he put the torch down? Otis remembers him building in the '70s, which is earlier than I'd heard before, but if Stout started slowly and didn't build #92 until early '81, he could have been building in the late '70s. I always figured my #008 was an '80, but it could be a '78 or '79. It does have top tube brake casing guides and under-bb der cable routing, though, don't think it could be any earlier than that unless it was all added later.

I have scans of an undated catalog with a "3474 South 2300 East No. 5A" address, one photo shows an unfinished frame with ser# 26284A, which should be #262 , '84 production. Catalog copy reads: "For over eleven years Ron Stout has been dedicated to creating precision bicycles..." 11 years after '80 would date the catalog to '91, 11yrs before #262 84 would have him building in '73. The catalog shows three levels of frameset, Prestige Road/Touring ($375/$405), Custom Road/Touring ($490/$520) and Signature Road/Touring ($620). Prestige was a production frame available in std sizes only, with simpler hidden-bolt fastback seatstays, Bocama semi-sloping fork crown and external cable routing. Custom/Signature could be custom-sized, for an upcharge, both have the same fancier fastback seatstay treatment, Cinelli bb shell/fork crown and fder bz-on. Signature has internal cable routing and lug cutouts as standard, avail as an upcharge for Custom.

None of the three models is shown with the chunky wishbone fastback seen on 63_dorinte's track and my '92 road. There is an "Aero seatstay" option for Custom/Signature, but the upcharge is only $15, not sure if that would cover the whole wishbone enchilada. A lot more mitering there.

The catalog also shows complete bike prices, including an Aero Road not listed as a separate frameset.

There's an interview with Stout in the Jan 2 '85 issue of The Deseret News, which says he's been building for a dozen years (= since '73), and builds 50-60 frames/yr. Not sure if this link will work, the article is on page C1 & C3, which is pg 13 & 14 of the entire issue scan:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...rontpage&hl=en

OK lads, I'm spent. I'll try to post catalog scans tomorrow, meanwhile here's my Stouts. The burgundy is at present a 650b conversion, tire clearances were narrow; Purple People Eater also has tight clearances, but the Takahashi unicrown wouldn't fit 650b in the front. I just posted these in the "Obscure Marques" thread...

LeicaLad 

There's a large 60cm example that appears to be going cheap on the auction site. . .

No connection to seller, yada, yada.

mpv1989

I found a copy of an article from the Canyon Times published in August 1983, written by a friend. Ron was 37 in '83 and he built his first frame over ten years earlier in the shop he had with his brother. By '83 the shop was gone, his brother was doing something else and Ron was building frames in another shop and he had just hired an apprentice. He would turn out about one frame a week. It also states that by then he had built 275 frames. Since I have frame 268 built in late October of '84, he probably didn't start numbering them until around 1978 - 79? I'll try and scan the article and post it as well.

ronaldm

I have serial #0001 /STOUT on the bottom bracket of a dark blue, full campy beauty with sew-ups. Has been in storage for 20 plus years. Tried to contact Mr. Stout about specific info on this bike, to no avail . Still pretty excited when i discovered that serial number!!

Ciufalon

I can verify that Ron Stout was building bicycles back in the seventies. He live up the street from me and came to speak to my Boy Scout troop about building bicycles. I picked my first good 10 speed bike - a Gitane for my 13th birthday in 1973 from his shop on 13th East and 2nd South. The shop was called "Transition Cyclery." After he sold it, I seem to recall it became just "The Transition" or "Transition Sporting Goods" and sold some other sporting gear as well.

pcb 

Wow! The first numbered frame, very darn cool! Please post some photos as soon as you're able, would love to see what this looks like.

It's very cool that we've got folks here who knew/met Ron Stout back in the day. I can't recall anybody saying they had recently spoken with him, haven't heard about any contact since he stopped building. Anybody know anything about his current whereabouts?

ronaldm

pcb, will post some pictures as soon as one of my kid's show me how to

ronaldm

Here are some pictures of the Stout 0001

bradys007

Ron is my Uncle, I was raised in the bike biz and know anything there is to know about his frames. I currently have 6 of them and I was lucky enough to receive the one he built up last year after stopping production for 20 years. Any questions and I will do my best to answer them. Up until recently (last year) he had tinkered with starting up again. but the demand was very selective.

rootboy 

This is way cool. Glad to hear an update about him, Bradys007. Please give Ron our best, if not by name as I know he wouldn't remember me at all, then from a guy who used to haunt his shop and admire his bikes and bug him.
And please let us more about Ron and what he's been up to, if it's not too much to ask.
And PLEASE let us see the recent build you are talking about.
Thanks for stopping in to update us.

rootboy 

Great stuff. Thanks for jogging the memory cells. Transition Cyclery.... yes.
Gepettos Pizza. The College Bookstore, where I worked for a spell.
What else was on that block? A dry cleaners?
Ah, the early 70s in Salt Lake. Good times.

-holiday76

stout currently on ebay

RARE Vintage Ron Stout Bicycle FRAME57CM x 57cm 82' Cinelli Campagnolo Dropouts | eBay

rootboy 

Funny but I just did a search this morning for Stouts, for some reason I'm not sure of...just came into my head....and saw that frame. And then this thread pops up again.