Dave Russell Remixed

Elvis, I don't think you've wrapped your head around it.
Oak?

Doh. As you were.

Got this done at vintage bike cave in highgate.
Did it while I waited and it was about £5

Nice, I work up near Highgate(ish) so I'll give them a shout today.

Bit of progress today.

Got the headset, steerer thread issue sorted at Bikeworks yesterday. Had to include a spacer as the mechanics weren't happy to chop 3mm off without mashing the entry threads. The silver one is just temporary, got a maching pewter King one on the way.

Cleaned and buffed up the groupset I got on here a while ago, which took a while.
Then had to do a bit of filing of the dropouts, which took a while.
Then mounted all I could without the stuff I am yet to buy.

I still need brake shoes, stem, seatpost and downtube boss adaptors. Here.

So this is how she is looking.
I had thought white saddle and tape, but after putting a few bits on and taking a look I reckon I will go full ninja.

POW!

Great progress!

S'finished...

BEFORE

AFTER
The one thing I was nervous about was indexing gears, but it surprisingly straight forward.

I also made a friend when I was out on a test ride yesterday.

Hmm, didn't turn out as good as I hoped If I'm honest.
I see you went for a 6500 group, which isn't bad, although the build is a bit to classic IMO.
In my opinion it needs: Black seatpost+stem (also stem a bit longer) and some Bontrager compact bars, black bartape and black regal (instead of white), also maybe some time 1" carbon forks will look really good (the ones TM has on his roadie).

With some bontrager compact bars your reach also is shorter, so you could run a slightly longer stem which make the bike overall look better.

I agree with you in part.

I would prefer to have had black saddle and tape, however I am due to cycle to Brussels on this on Weds and I had a new white regal and new white fizik tape in the spares box. So time was definateley a factor in that decision.

The forks are the original Dave Russell ones with the DR on the crown and I was keen to keep them that way.
I defo wanted a quil stem and just don't dig black quills, black seatpost and silver quill would look a bit rum IMO.
Maybe I'm not too well up on bike dimensions and propertions etc but longer stems don't look too pleasing to me, and this fits me perfect.

I'm pretty happy with it, even though the Brussels factor meant that the last week of accruing parts and building was a bit of a rush.
I might reassess when I am back.

What happened to Dave? Your bike just lost a name! In fact from the side and front it's completely anonymous!!

I think the group looks good myself, +1 on moar decals though. I think it's just a bit too plain at the moment, looks kind of anonymous. Also, some short reach bars would let you use a longer stem.

+1

Nah, ten dorrah I do you one like this.

When I collect from you?

Yeah, I think dave was a big lad later on

I was kind of kicking against the original decal scheme, which I would describe as clusterfuck, stripping it right back to something more simple and elegant.

Defo up for a headtube badge but as far as I can gather they are only available in sticker form, which is not cool. Might look into getting one made as per discussion on the previous page.

I've not seen Dave Russells with decals like the ones you originally had.
The most common type was

S'finished...

BEFORE

AFTER
The one thing I was nervous about was indexing gears, but it surprisingly straight forward.

I also made a friend when I was out on a test ride yesterday.

Hi
I think this might be my original frame built in 1984/5 by Dave. or dam close!
If you were selling at any point would you please let me know.
Interested if you have any other info.
Thanks Richard

Hi Richard,

Thanks for getting in touch.
From stripping the paint back it looked like the first coat was red, with the blue you see above on top of that.
Would this fit with your Dave R...?

Interested to hear more.
Let me know if there is any info I can share to help you identify it.

Willis

Hi Willis,

Thanks for getting back.
Dave built this and I think painted it red when I told him metallic blue I think he painted over the red, giving this weird hue in certain lights.
The gear lever bosses were offset a bit one further down than the other.
I requested nervex lug and chome rear triangle which also was unusual.
I have picture of it 30 years ago attached!!

1 Attachment

Hey Richard,

It defo has nervex lugs, and the chromed stays as you can see.
You've spotted the decal differences right?
Seat tube and head tube. Although these were all just stickered on with no clear coat so could easily have changed.

I'm going to have a look at the downtube bosses positions when I get back in town on weds.

When/how did you let go of it?

Hi,
Yes the only thing was that the decals are different.
But it all looks the same otherwise.
It was stolen from my garage back in about 1992 which I was gutted about.

I was just looking up Dave Russell frames when I saw this post and couldn't believe it was as I remember my old bike.
I routed out some old photos and it is very very similar, I have not seen a DR like this since mine...
I'll try to get some other pics if I can.

Thanks Richard

You've read this thread right...?
I'll PM you when I am back and can get some decent pics etc over to you.

Small World,
I did see this and one of the contributors to this was my mate Chris Kempton. He is a friend and used to ride with me at Hillingdon cycling club in the early /mid eighties.
Again I used to spend time in the Slough shop picking up bits but enjoying the atmosphere there.
Speak to you later.

Thanks Richard

I believe I bought a Guerciotti frame owned by your friend Chris. White paint and chrome stays and fork, with Chris Kempton decals on the top tube.

HI I believe he did have a Guerciotti.
I know he has the Dedacciai scuro based carbon Guerciotti Uno team version now.
I half remember the old one though!

Hi Willis,

Thanks for getting back.
Dave built this and I think painted it red when I told him metallic blue I think he painted over the red, giving this weird hue in certain lights.
The gear lever bosses were offset a bit one further down than the other.
I requested nervex lug and chome rear triangle which also was unusual.
I have picture of it 30 years ago attached!!

Hey Richard.
My gear bosses are level, not offset with one lower down the DT as you suggest.

Not sure if this is yours after all!