Cycling UK Forum

Agent57 wrote:

anniesboy wrote:It is the Real Thing as Coca Cola say.
I bought about 18 years ago from Ron Kitching ,only went in for water bottles for tandem.
I don't know who made it ,as you can see its wheelbase is short and toe overlap is tight .Especially with my size 13s. Frame is 531c ,this is the bike I did my super randonneur on .

Me too! Me too!



(Larger image here). Also bought from Ron Kit International (mail order), in around 1988. As for who made it, my memory may be playing tricks on me, but as I recall it was sold as a Nigel Dean frame.

Me Too! Me Too!
I found a rusty old CocaCola bike, which had 531c stickers & a frame peg for a pump.

I have just had the frame repainted at ColourTech in Crawford, Kent, in the style of the original.

markjohnobrien wrote:but it’s the problem with the soft modern paint finishes that aren’t durable that’s the issue. I used to own a Roberts and it was resprayed by Colourtech around 2014 (who did all of their frames): absolutely beautiful work, dazzling to look at, but soft as ....

Exactly my experience too. I had a frame resprayed at Colourtech via Roberts about the same time, beautiful, but even after leaving it a few weeks as soon as I tightened any fittings like seat bolts or bottle cages the paint flaked off to reveal white undercoat.

Any little knock or rub left areas that needed retouching. I suspect it may be a touch tougher now, but it made me too think of titanium.

Had 2 more Roberts frames resprayed a year later, they are still to be rebuilt, so hopefully have hardened off better.

Finally 2 years ago I had my 1987 Roberts that I was still racing in its original tough metallic light green, raced a lot, crashed a few times, travelled a bit and never even had a chainstay protector whereas the bike resprayed a few years ago chips through the chainstay protector! But due to surface rust I had it resprayed at C&G in Liverpool. Again a beautiful finish, thick as the frame number had disappeared under the BB, but the lugs were still fine. This frame has not been rebuilt yet either, so unable to give a full opinion on the robustness of the finish.

But in common with others here I agree it seems that the modern paints are just not like they used to be regarding toughness.

slowster wrote:Do Argos, Mercian, C&G or anyone else painting individual bike frames use an oven to cure the paint?

I presume the factories which mass produce bike frames all use ovens. I suspect that with the paints currently available an oven is essential to get what many customers would consider satisfactory results.

Bob Jackson and Mercian use an oven and it’s standard practice amongst good resprayers, https://www.merciancycles.co.uk/craftmanship/paint/

but it’s the problem with the soft modern paint finishes that aren’t durable that’s the issue. I used to own a Roberts and it was resprayed by Colourtech around 2014 (who did all of their frames): absolutely beautiful work, dazzling to look at, but soft as ....

Thank god some of my favourite bikes are late 90’s to 2000 and have superb, durable, and hard as nails paint that looks great as well!

peetee wrote:I agree about the top tube dent. It looks severe enough to compromise the frame.
IIRC, Condor frames were made in Condors workshops, predominantly then increasingly contracted out to top end builders in the UK. Then in the 90s, or later, they redesigned their range, moving away from Reynolds steel and sourcing foreign builders/suppliers.

To my knowledge they only had "their" builders many decades ago when the workshop was in Ball's Pond Rd., then they had some other british builder until the number of sales required a contractor able to produce a larger volume.
Since many italian companies had moved their production from local contractors to far-east ones, their italian contractors were then used by Condor, as far as I know they still used them to this day.

Btw, there's many places you can get a good repair done, aside from Yates, I've seen very good jobs done by Argos, Bob Jackson is ok too; in south London you can ask Dave from Colourtech, or if you're around Margate there's Petor (Dear Susan bikes) who's capable and very friendly.

billco wrote:I think it was the C&G flam finish that was the problem with mine. I know nothing about paint technology, but the flam green finish on my frame has a pale grey undercoat, which remains intact. However, the top coat is translucent/varnish like, and this doesn’t seem to have bonded correctly with the undercoat, and easily flakes off. This may be a common problem with flam finishes, so I may stick with bog standard enamel in future.

My Roberts training frame suffers from this exact issue. It was resprayed via Roberts at ColourTech and the paint chips very easily and flakes off near fittings to reveal the white undercoat. It is a metallic.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=113187&start=15#p1113147

I would expect any paint to be removed at dropouts.

Hoping that the finish from C&G will be more durable, but may be this is all to do with modern paints just not being as tough as those 2 to 3 decades ago.

If I ever need a new frame, other than just for pure racing, I will seriously consider titanium and put paint issues away forever.

Colourtech get a few mentions on these boards.

Shouldn't take too long to review the threads. Report back if you do go ahead.

Yes, a very nice bike as I had one from 2001 to last year when I sold it on this forum.

Paint finish was lovely to look at, as I had mine respayed a few years ago, by Colourtech of Dartford, who painted all of ROBERTS bikes, when I had the bike refurbished by Roberts, but it was very fragile.

Fantastic bikes but bloody expensive.

+1 for colourtech.

He did Robert's frames and mine recently. I gave him a colour to match which he did precisely. The price was ok, finish excellent (Robert's decals are painted, not stickers) and it took a couple of weeks. Highly recommended and when/if I ever need this sort of thing doing again, it will be an automatic visit.

Bit late I know but I renovated a 96 Stumpy twice, the first time in 98 after a respray and then in 2005 for a second. I had to get mine from the HQ in California. I tried to get a spare set in 2005 and was told that there were none available. Spesh UK don't have any of that vintage either. I was lucky that I got 3 sets to start with. If you do manage to get some, be aware that they're buggers to make a good job of. Both Colourtech and Argos left them wrinkled after the clear coat reacted.

i had my holdsworth done at colourtech. they do chas roberts and condor frames.

great finish, long time though.

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Roberts are sprayed by Colourtech!

Colourtech in Dartford 01322 555549

Thanks Paul! I'll try Colourtech too.