overburys touring bikes

[gnvqsos]

please get intouch John

[Jamesh]

Cracking overbury on eBay at the moment.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Overburys-Cy ... 635-2958-0


I'm 5'10" would it be too big?!!

A steel if any good to anyone?

Cheers James

[alexnharvey]

Cracking overbury on eBay at the moment.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Overburys-Cy ... 635-2958-0


I'm 5'10" would it be too big?!!

A steel if any good to anyone?

Cheers James

Looks much too big for 5,10 to me.

[Jamesh]

Agreed that's what I thought!

However given by the number of larger frames bitd they must have ridden a large frame IE not much seat post showing?

Cheers James

[simonineaston]

The brand was active in the '80s / '90s. I recall Eric Newby used one of their MTBs to potter round Eire - see here. For a while the retail shop tottered on, becoming increasingly disorganised and run by a dear old lady, who as she grew older, ceased to have quite the entreprenerial grip she had had in her youth. It was near the infamous Prince Of Wales pub in St Pauls and one often had to dodge flying bullets and navigate dense clouds of ganja smoke, making one's way in & out of the shop... on the plus side, one could hear the Massive Attack crew, busy mixing their albums in the nearby Coach House.

[tatanab]

For a while the retail shop tottered on, becoming increasingly disorganised and run by a dear old lady, who as she grew older, ceased to have quite the entreprenerial grip she had had in her youth.

That was Mrs Powell. I was in Bristol 1978 to 84. She was widowed about the time I moved there. Thursday night was CTC night when local members would do a few bits of work in the shop, especially those Sturmey experts. It was the CTC shop of choice and bikes always went inside the shop. The frame building was set up for her son, Andy Powell , in the very early 80s and so the date on that ebay frame is wrong. I recall the St Paul riots where the shop was one of those targeted, but only specific items taken. Empty boxes were found along the M4 heading east.

[buryman]

I was a regular customer in the early 70s when Arthur Powell ran the shop. It was THE shop for CTC members.

[AndyK]

Cracking overbury on eBay at the moment.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Overburys-Cy ... 635-2958-0


I'm 5'10" would it be too big?!!

A steel if any good to anyone?

Cheers James

Looks much too big for 5,10 to me.

We rode 'em big back in them days. My old Overbury's tourer and its predecessor both had a 23" frame and I'm 5'7" (on a good day). They were fine.

[GideonReade]

Just chanced on this old thread, I bought a Connoiseur (sp?) in 86 when I left college. Still got it after one rebuild and two resprays.

As of right now the frame, fork, RH crank and smallest 28T ring are original. Possibly the front shifter. The rear rack would be if it was still on it.

The bars and stem and saddle and shifters I changed for ergonomic reasons, the wheels, transmission and brake arm springs wore out. The LH crank I caught on a kerb and bent, after a surfeit of Japanese whisky.

I say the frame and fork are original. But when I asked a reputable frame builder to cold set the rear to 135OLN, he said it was built crooked and rebrazed it. That explained why it took an oddly dished wheel, although apparently it was not a known form of dishless offset rear, just crooked.

Thereafter it shimmied when loaded. On inspection the fork dropouts were badly asymetric, making the front track about 5mm out of line. Another framebuilder fixed that.

Also, the canti bosses were too narrow set and too high. No replacement brakes would fit the forks after the original brakes springs went. They were rebrazed at the same time as the fork dropouts. I have heard that this boss error was widespread amongst English framebuilders at the time.

They don't make them like they used to, thank goodness. Well, mostly not. I had some cheap steel forks from Yorkshire that were, are, a bit off track, so that bike shimmies under big loads, unless it's coke can shimmed. Apparently the required standards for forks allows some crookedness, so it's ok.

Anyway, now Overburys is going nicely, but its sturdy touring wheels and especially tyres, and 3x8 gears with BES don't suit its now usage as a winter day bike to keep up with those guys on their carbon, so yesterday ordered parts for 3rd rebuild. Possibly a triumph of heart over head.

Anyone know where one might get Overburys badges for its next respray?

[mumbojumbo]

These are rare but good-the first uk firm to make a decent MTB. True pioneers.

[Redvee]

I regulalry pass the shop and despite it being closed for ten years plus nobody has taken over the shop and opened another business in the premises. I do wonder if there are bikes na dstock lurking behing the ble roller shutters.

[ChrisButch]

My first MTB was Overbury's. Beautiful fillet brazing on the 24" steel frame; Campag Centaur groupset and pedals. With that and the steel chainring guard it weighed a ton.

[Hemipode]

Resurrecting an old thread, I've just finished a renovation on an Overbury's Connoisseur.
I used all period parts, the frame was resprayed by Argos Racing Cycles of Bristol and they did a fantastic job of it.
There certainly weren't any tracking issues as with a previous poster, it's a lovely ride.

[Brucey]

...Also, the canti bosses were too narrow set and too high. No replacement brakes would fit the forks after the original brakes springs went. They were rebrazed at the same time as the fork dropouts. I have heard that this boss error was widespread amongst English framebuilders at the time......

......Anyone know where one might get Overburys badges for its next respray?

when cantis were first popularised using Mafac bosses, the rule was the narrower the bosses the better, as long as you could still get the wheel in and out. Simple geometry tells you this is the best way; all brake blocks must travel in an arc around the boss, so if the brake block can move near-tangentially towards the rim, the alignment will stay better for longer. So a lot of older bikes have the bosses close together; c-c spacings of 60mm are not unusual. When MTBs came along, they had to use the same brakes (there was nothing else) but to get the inflated tyre through, the bosses needed to be set wider so c-c distances for bosses quickly shot up to 75-80mm and today this is accepted as 'normal' for all brakes and all bikes despite the fact that everything is distinctly sub-optimal when narrower rims and tyres are used.

Of course many older frames were designed to use 27" wheels too, which made the bosses appear to be ~4mm too high when 700C wheels were installed. Some brakes had ~4mm adjustment in them, which meant that frames with accurately positioned bosses could use either wheel size and the same brakes. I converted several frames to use BR-AT50 cantis, which worked as a 'wide arm' brake on narrow bosses, and had the necessary 4mm adjustment. These brakes shared geometry etc with the original 'Deore' brakes, but fortunately had steel hardware (which didn't crack) instead of Al (which sometimes did).

Having post mount blocks, the BR-AT50 brake also worked on wide-spaced bosses, but usually as a mid-arm canti. It had about the same geometry as the XT mid-arm cantis, in fact.

So anyway the bosses on older frames may appear to be in 'the wrong place', but it was often actually 'the right place' at the time, and it is arguably a better place than what we have become used to more recently..

Lloyds have most transfers, so I would tap them up if I were doing a refurb.

[GideonReade]

Thanks Brucey, and also above it looks like Argos can do the transfers.

But it won't be for a while, I'm away for a long trip.