Ribble 653 Refresh !

[Sharky]

My Ribble has been relegated to turbo duties since I broke my spine 5 years ago. Having sat there for a number of years, I was starting to get some corrosion on the top tube and down tube, so thought it high time I stripped and repainted it.

It would have been cheaper to powder coat, in terms of just paint, but decided to do it myself. Took 4 tins of primer, 2.5 tins of white pearlescent paint and a tin of lacquer. I opted for Halfords primer, and Halfords Nissan Pearlescent White.

The bike started out like this:- (although running black tyres now). As you can see it wasn't in shoddy condition, but I didn't want the surface rust to get worse.

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Like the Regal saddle. I had a ribble that came with that saddle. Liked it so much that all 4 of my bikes now have the same.

 

[fossyant]

Like the Regal saddle. I had a ribble that came with that saddle. Liked it so much that all 4 of my bikes now have the same.

I've changed it to a Spoon. Might pop it up for sale.

 

[raleighnut]

Looking good so far

 

[fossyant]

Starting to look like a bike

 

[dan_bo]

Starting to look like a bike

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Chain's missing.

 

[fossyant]

Chain's missing.

That's cos it's slack !

 

[Smokin Joe]

Lovely job, well done.

That frame looks to be from the nineties which was when Ribble were at their very best. You could get frames made in any Reynolds or Columbus tubeset and either pick from their extensive range of one or two colour finishes or have your own custom paint job. And you could kit it out with any components you liked, they stocked everything made for bikes.

Such a shame what they've let themselves become now 😢

 

[fossyant]

Lovely job, well done.

That frame looks to be from the nineties which was when Ribble were at their very best. You could get frames made in any Reynolds or Columbus tubeset and either pick from their extensive range of one or two colour finishes or have your own custom paint job. And you could kit it out with any components you liked, they stocked everything made for bikes.

Such a shame what they've let themselves become now 😢

I bought the frame on it's own. It's an early 90's frame and was a Terry Dolan built one - I've tried to save the 'signature'

 

[fossyant]

Seatpost is a SJS Cycles replica aero post, only £13 (plus delivery). It's not too different from the Campag and Dura Ace/600 Aero posts, but have you seen the price of scruffy vintage seatposts !

 

[Sharky]

I bought the frame on it's own. It's an early 90's frame and was a Terry Dolan built one - I've tried to save the 'signature'

Quite proud of the fact that Terry Dolan used to build the Cougar frames in Prescot. My home town.
We were both racing on Merseyside in the 60's and he was quite a good rider and used to do similar times. But I remember him most when I rode the IOM one lapper in 1969. I was a novice at road racing, but my TT fitness got me to the bottom of the final climbs. I remember him being just ahead of me when they started putting the hammer down. I let a gap form. But gritty Terry hung on and stayed with the main breakaway. I just solo rode to the finish, finishing 35th. Terry must have been in the top 15 or so. Won by Willie Moore that year, who had just come back from representing England at some games.

It was also the year Peter Buckley won the main event sadly before he was tragically killed in an accident (with a dog?).

 

[raleighnut]

Seatpost is a SJS Cycles replica aero post, only £13 (plus delivery). It's not too different from the Campag and Dura Ace/600 Aero posts, but have you seen the price of scruffy vintage seatposts !

Yep my 653 frame had a Campagnolo aero post in when I bought it, I could have made a profit on the deal by selling that however as it also had a Campagnolo headset I built it up with their gear although Centaur was the only level available in Aluminium at the time (everything else above that had gone 'Carbon' by then and I wanted Silver not Black anyway

 

[fossyant]

The cranks and brake callipers are from 86. I still have the original rear mech and front mech somewhere but changed them for the tricolour 600 in the early 90's as well as aero brake levers, as the rear mech was getting a bit sloppy and the pin kept coming a little loose from the parallellogram. The front mech got changed as a the orginal Raleigh frame was crash damaged, and a replacement Graham Weigh was braise on only, that got crash damaged, so this replaced it. The shift levers were upgraded to 8 speed about 8 years ago.

Hmm, better go dig in the spares bin as I've got the original 600 shift levers (6 speed), some tricolour ones (6-7 speed), original 600 front mech and rear mech and a braise-on tri-colour front mech. Might be worth a few bob.

 

[fossyant]

Headset is of course a cartridge one, and still on original bearings and smooth - original headset was OK, but I changed it with the frame. The UN71 BB (Ultegra/XT) was purchased after I upgraded my Herety to a Dura Ace/XTR cartridge BB (UN91 ?) when they came out. Not touched it since mid 90's, and still silky smooth.

 

[Hover Fly]

Lovely job, well done.

That frame looks to be from the nineties which was when Ribble were at their very best. You could get frames made in any Reynolds or Columbus tubeset and either pick from their extensive range of one or two colour finishes or have your own custom paint job. And you could kit it out with any components you liked, they stocked everything made for bikes.

Such a shame what they've let themselves become now 😢

There was a time (the 60s-70s ) when Ribble badged frames were made by Mercian

 

[fossyant]

A little more. Still awaiting tyres, brake and gear cables, new bar tape and new bottle cages.