Ron Cooper build

Going to put back on the road a Ron Cooper frame I have recently acquired. I am inspired by Ron's lifetime of work in the craft of frame making. Does anyone know about frame numbers and year of build ?

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What frame number is it? There were no records kept as far I know.

only 3 numbers - 349

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Ooh nice. I've got one of those little C's but the cable routing is a step up from my '87 Columbus SL. I don't know about frame numbers though; worth asking Colour Tech, where Ron was working?

'so that might be a clue - brazed on cable tunnels on the top tube appeared approx when........ ?

My 1977-79 track frame is numbered 600.

Mid Nineties is the usual period for internal cabling

No tubing badges, but drop-outs are Columbus - would it be fair to assume Coumbus SL tubes ?

Planning to build new wheels with 27" tub rims on Chorus 1st gen hubs - frame clearances seem OK.

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Can't help with frame numbers I'm afraid but I'll be watching this one, I'm a fan of Ron Coopers, mine has numbers on the fork and bb shell that I thought were either 600 or 009, I'll double check if I can tonight.

They are wonderful frames in craftsmanship and ride and your colour looks great. Have fun putting it together.

The only other pointer I can give from my SL tubing frame is that the fork crown and lugs looks identical.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/37023885@N06/11886685744/in/set-72157639651106443

That's helpful - they look exactly as mine - I would like to discover the lugs and fork crown make in due course - Reynolds possibly ?
I have to say that I can see why his frames are good - it's absolutely straight, the hub spacings are perfect, and the lug filing is super-fine. Gently thinned-out in the tapers and not a filing error anywhere.

Wow - that's superb !
What size seat pin did you use ? 27.2mm ?

Cheers! You've picked out the one single component that has survived the original build when my brother built the bike for me in 1987, so officially I wouldn't know! But it's a Dura Ace AX, so I'm guessing 27.2, yes.

One other route of enquiry could be a Ron Cooper owners' group on fb, which his son has posted in occasionally. https://www.facebook.com/groups/5780985847/

No head set with the frame so will be fitting a new one. Will need to cobble up a fork bearing cup pressing tool.

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Head set assembly done now - I like the dirt seal on the bearings...

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Have been sourcing some Gruppo parts - hence pause in postings !
Had made a decision to build with Campagnolo Chorus, and finally I have parts to move things along a bit ...

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More pictures, more pictures!

More pics please, that will be lush!

Ooff, impressive amount of NOS material there. This will be good, looking forward to bigger images ;)

First slight snag - NOS pedal bearings are very tight and virtually locked on one side. removed dust cap and found cause - for some reason grease has oxidised or polymerised into a consistency of stiff chewing gum. Looks like it is the famous yellow Campagnolo grease but I have never seen this before. I have an old small tub still which must be 40 years old and the grease is still OK. Maybe the pedals have been affected by heat in storage - anybody seen this before? Anyway nothing that can't be fixed, but will mean complete strip down of pedals bearings.

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These Campagnolo Monoplanar brakes really are quite amazing - to think they were second best to Delta's.

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Wow, cool project! Incredible with all these NOS components, can't believe they're still lying around in boxes here and there. BTW re pedals I've read on another forum about the exact same thing with NOS campagnolo pedals, grease had turned super stiff.

My kind of build. Sub'd.

This thread is like a time-warp from 1990! Amazing to see all this stuff coming out of the boxes looking so fresh.

I was chatting to a guy on a Cooper touring frame on the way to work on Wed morning; he runs a bike shop in Wandsworth (Stratton Cycles, I think?) and seemed to know a huge amount about Ron Cooper, having had some personal connection with him (aside from getting the frame built). (csb)

Anyway, I'm sure he'd be delighted to chat about frame numbers, etc... maybe give Stratton a call?

Just wanted to say I'm loving Current Projects at the moment. It's all Coopers and Roberts and shiny silver bells and pedals and stuff.