Rory O'Brien frame

alright guys, well bascially im about to buy this rory o'brien track frame for 340 quid which seems to me to be really well crafted but i want to make sure with u lot if these frames are any gd? and what the value of other rory o'brien frames? and any of u lot out there with a rory o'brien frame?

cheers

Pics!

£340, you'd want it to be pretty fuckin good!

never heard of him

Rory O'Brien had two shops in the East London area, and was a well established lightweight dealer. The main shop was in Romford and had been in business since at least the early sixties, his other shop in Manor Park closed in the mid seventies. Rory himself sold the business some years back, and it was latterly owned by the John's of Romford motorcycle chain before finally ceasing to trade three or four years ago. Rory was a member of the Easterly Road Club, and he was probably the premier dealer for club cyclists in the East London and Essex areas for many years, the Manor Park branch resembled a clubroom on a Saturdaymorning, packed with cyclists. His frames were widely used by local riders, and it was rare to come upon a clubrun on the Essex roads without at least one Rory in the peleton. The frames were not made on the premises of either shop, being built on an industrial estate in nearby Dagenham for at least part of the time. They were well regarded as a good quality frameset, even non-cyclists would often be heard to exclaim "Wow look, a Rory o'Brien".

Jacqui:1- dogsballs:0

frame only for £340 ;)

300 odd nicker for some old thing built by the bloke off the crystal maze?

bollocks to that.

Wow look, a Rory o'Brien!

Jacqui:1- dogsballs:0

Based on what I have seen of his work it (should) be a pretty nice frame.
I've seen Hurlow's Holdsworths go for that (frame and fork) so if you're into vintage bikes it could be not an obscene amount.
Having said that if dude is just looking for a first fix or street hack, I'd say its a lot of dough.

http://www.essexroadscyclingclub.com/images/bikes/JY20070801R077163.JPG

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/88/260514698_284fabed68_b.jpg

Rory also did some Ephgraves in his workshop... incase you have ever heard of those Dogs...hehehehe

hmm well it looked like a pretty damn nice frame which is lugged but very well made i think
its way nicer then either of the 2 links jacqui put up
its defs a very old frame though and its 57cm which mite even be a lil big for me
and yea the price is quite alot, but quality is never cheap
and i want a frame i can keep for a long time

hmm well it looked like a pretty damn nice frame which is lugged but very well made i think
its way nicer then either of the 2 links jacqui put up
its defs a very old frame though and its 57cm which mite even be a lil big for me
and yea the price is quite alot, but quality is never cheap
and i want a frame i can keep for a long time

those definately are not the best ones i have seen.
Good luck with the frame, post pics when you can.

My dad used to ride Herne Hill and Eastern Counties time-trials on a pale blue Rory O'Brien. He got it from the Romford shop, and used to ride to the track or out into North Essex from East Ham.

From what I can remember, he had it set up with a double Campag Strada chainset, but the chainrings were only a few teeth different from each other. Plus he had a double fixed in the back and therefore could get 2 fairly widely spaced ratios using the same chain.

It was in the loft for years, and got chucked out about 5 years ago when he moved to Spain. I would've had it but I'm 5'7" and he's 6'2", and I couldn't be bothered with cottered cranks and other vintage parts - not my scene.

Reckon it was well made - it stood up to pretty heavy usage in the 60s, though not a lightweight by modern standards.

yea alright well im gna try get sum pics up either 2day or 2morro an ure opinions would mean alot!

Originally a Rory was quite good frame to have but that was sometime ago......At some point in the 1980 i visited R O'Bs shop in Romford to look for a frame.....but all that were on offer was Raleigh, Dawes etc....the best bloke in Romford was Vic Edwards of Rondinella fame...so it really depends when it was made...will depend if it is worth £340!

My father rode all over the UK on some of the early Rory O'Brien bikes and I have a number of frames from when he also competed back in the 70's
Did you get the frame? Do you have any pictures? Seems very good price to me.

This thread is 8 years old but here's a pale blue one, that still gets used.

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This is a Rory O'Brien circa 1974 been powder-coated 1984. no decals possibly original invoice for complete bike. Purchased in Rory's shop in Romford, Essex.

Here's my Rory O'Brien frame, not sure on the date, looks later, Reynolds 853.

https://www.pedalroom.com/bike/rory-obrien-34925

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Rory 1974 been copper powder-coated.