For Sale: Ian Piper "Time Trial Special" Columbus SLX lo pro

SOLD

New bikes and no space means I've got to say a sad goodbye to this awesome ride. As far as I know this was a one-off frame originally made by the framebuilder for himself to use. It then got passed to someone else, then lay unused for years and then I picked it up.

I got it as frame only and spent the next three months trying to source suitable chrome 650c forks. Eventually I hit the motherlode and bagged these 531 straight forks which were as-new if not NOS. They are as badass as forks get. After hooking up with true gent Retro Di Corsa for a bit of work I built the bike up Sept 09 and rode it when the weather was nice enough. The bike has only seen rain once since it was built.

This took me round Berlin last autumn with a big smile on my face, it was my ride for the London Lights ride last year and got me in clown mode for LoProPoLoCo. It recently got a quick blast round Brussels with the Belgian fixie crew. You can ride at least as far as Windsor in comfort on it if you fancy putting some miles in. Every time I've ridden it I've got a massive kick out of it and over the summer I used it brakeless.. any way you ride it it's a blast.

So anyway, the bike.

Frame: Columbus SLX, Seat tube C-T 62cm, Top tube C-C 57cm. Vertical dropouts. Flourecscent pink that changes colour depending on the light: starts out light pink in the day and then goes electric pink as dusk falls. So, probably due to its age, one of the most incredible paint jobs of all time.

Forks: Reynolds 531 chrome, straight blades.
Headset: Black Tange Levin NJS
Stem: Nitto Pearl 90
Handlebars: Nitto risers chopped to 40cm
Bottom Bracket: Campag Veloce
Crankset: Sugino 75 165mm w/ Gebhardt 46T chainring
Pedals: Shimano 600
Cog: Condor 18T
Lockring: Dura Ace
Seat Pin: Dura Ace aero 27.2mm
Rear Wheel: Velocity Aero, 32H Black rim, silver spokes onto silver Formula hub
Front Wheel: Wolber Profil dark grey with 32 bladed spokes radially laced to Mavic 501 hub
Tyres: Rubino Pro 23c (25c looks awesome on the back and the clearances are super dope - you can fit a Randonneur too. The Rubino Pro 650c is not easy to find and much nicer than the Conti 650c in my opinion). I will also include a few boxed 650c inner tubes in the sale.
Saddle: You can choose between a Concor Slimline (grey/black) (excellent condition) or a vintage Arius Gran Carrera (dark brown) (good condition)

The chain line and chain length are basically spot on. I rode it originally with a half-link in a normal 1/8 chain, which snapped in Berlin traffic. Since replacing it with a half link chain it has ridden like a peach and the chain tension has bedded in and is just about perfect. I've ridden it more than enough miles to have got past the "stretch" stage so as far as I'm concerned the half link is great and the gearing is perfect.

The bike rides frisky and responsive and the acceleration is wicked. It's a blast in rush hour.

The paintwork saw a few scrapes before it got to me so hopefully I've shown those in the photos.. however I don't think they're worth losing the paint job over, thought that's your choice I suppose. The frame is sound with no dings or dents. The forks are in near-perfect condition, and the rest of the parts are as you'd expect for a bike that's been ridden a couple of hundred miles in dry conditions.

Price: I'm looking for offers based on [B]£450 for the complete bike.[/B] It will be perfect for anyone from 5'10'' - 6'1'' and you can be a bit shorter too if you were to change the seatpost.

Complete bike gets priority so I will only be splitting if there's no interest. i will be happy to talk combos of price for the person who buys the frame - the 650c front wheel is awesome and you should have it - however, not all the parts will be on sale if that happens. For £450 - bearing in mind the work that's gone into it - you're getting a lot for your money.

No posting.. collection from Hackney or at a push I can ride it over to somewhere easy to get back from.

pictures here: http://s590.photobucket.com/albums/ss344/samajap-pajamas/Ian%20Piper%20Lo%20Pro/

Cheers

P

SOLD

Beautiful.

bada-bing

Gorgeous, if only I had space and cash...

If you had cash you'd make space I'd imagine.

Haha true.. And no moaning flatmates..

I'm interested but can't PM just yet as I've just joint, can you PM me?

Bargain!

Pedals: Shimano 600

A pint of fine ale and maybe a bag of crisps please.

Provisional dibs if not for signor could you pm me as can't you, or email jjjnr1979@hotmail.com cheers. Nice bike

look at your user cp settings jj ('edit options') .. as far as I know you should be able to pm as you've been on here a week now.

Useless info- Ian Piper's son- another Ian, was in the Willesden CC a few years ago, we had some tussles in 10's & 25's in Time Trials.

Ian junior got married and was into horse riding, not sure if Ian senior is still around these days, probably a work from home frame builder.

A mate sold a 700/700 in plain white very similar to this one last year.

Quite possibly a silver solder built frame.

cheers for the info El Diablo, interesting. The scant info I got was from the previous seller obviously.. I have wondered how many Piper frames are around...

not many as he was a one man band- seemed to be into TT frames, not seen any road or track frames.

If desperate to find out there's probably still contact details for son Ian with the Willesden CC, or someone in the club would know more. I'll ask of some of the really old farts anyway. PM if you want to pursue.

heh.. I wish I'd known there was a forum contact who might get me some info last year.. i couldn't find anything on the frame. good to know he's as into tt frames as he seemed to be.. ;)

sometimes it pays to be an old fart...... not often mind you! :-) HTH

You seem to have more fun on your frame than my mate ever did in TT's on his! He moved onto a Trek full blown TT machine and does a little better now.

nice bike pajamas
good price too
good luck

I like this a lot. You were on this at Wests (when Wests was on tour), were you not?

hi b&d - yeah I was at the crabtree on this a while back when you were there.

cheers murts.

In fact, I really like this. A lot.

You utter swine - and on or around pay day too!

i like the idea of west london dealing with this in its midst..

ha, 7 west londoners have commented so far :)

Be honest jimJams, that was too much bike for you.. too much steel for you to handle

ha ha! i seem to remember a certain Grease E. Slag saying that of the pinarello... you've been waiting to use that one again haven't you illy.. ;)

jamas!