Roberts Track Frame

I've been lucky enough to pick this up from @jingle_jangle , it's also formerly of @danb of this here parish and all the details on his build are here

I've emailed Roberts about te frame to try and find out a bit of history about it. I'd PM'd Dan on the off chance he still had the bars and stem from his set up (stem was sadly cracked :( ) and to ask about where it came from. Turns out he got it from Hilary Stone and he didn't provide much back ground on it. I don't know if Roberts will get back to me, but I'll wait and see.

My plan for this is that it's a direct replacenent for the borrowed track frame I was using last season. My own frame had various issues at the front end that didn't help my 'monkey fucking a football' riding style so it had to go. The upshot was I got to put all the vintage campag bits on Vojtech's ratty Piña and at least look as fast as him.....Now that's going back over to him, I reckon this can fill the void....

Set up is crucial for me and even though I favour the vintage end of the cycling world, I still want a practical racing bike and last year showed me that if I try and use something that's not quite right, it just exacerbates known issues.

Luckily the Roberts is spot on for my requirements in terms of ST and TT and the bars and stem I've got on it at the momment replicate the reach and drop I had on the Piña. The angles on this are clearly a bit sharper than on the Piña, so I'll be interested to see how that affects the set up.

We've got a club SQT at Lee Valley next week so I've built it up as is to test it out at that.

I've got various options together for the bars and stem so I can hopefully really dial it in before track league kicks off.

So far it's in the 'neutral' set up with a 115mm Cinelli stem and 400mm bars.

My favourite Campagnolo Pista 170 cranks are on, I forgot the Piña was an IT threaded BB so I had to nip out for a Centaur BSA one just to get it rolling.

Wheels are Reflex laced to EX hubs with uprated bearings, tubs are 22 Vittoria's.

Seat post is a stand in generic alloy job, I want to use a fluted campag one I have, but I can't get the required height on it with out going dangerously far over the insertion Mark :) and the saddle is a Romin pro.

Chain is standard Brixton Cycle GoldieLookin'

After next week I'll begin to dial it in and swap a few bits, I've got a Campag pista headset to go on to replace the slightly rough Tange job. I've got an old Record BB to go in too. The big question for me is seat post. Really don't know what to do with that one.....sure some inspiration will appear from somewhere (probably BC parts bin :)) I might look at another saddle too depending on fit, I'm a die hard Brooks fan but having used one once on the track, I now appreciate the phrase 'on the rivet' a little more.

Sorry for the waffle - have some bad photos, there more on Flickr here

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You're sort of outside your house.. but still inside it. Interesting.

Rad - glad it fits well!

That blue is so hard to photograph.

It's a modern conservatory type thing tagged onto the kitchen and back room. It's ace as its like an extra bit of garden but also an extra room.

While doing the washing up I can look at the bikes and mull over what to do next....

It is very nice indeed and as you've bought that frame - you are clearly a man of good taste.

I used to have a picture of that frame (from when Hilary Stone sold it first, on here years ago) saved to my computer as inspiration for what I wanted Chas Roberts to build me. At the time he was offering similar for £900. Now it's more like £1500 and I no longer earn enough to make that a viable purchase. You've got yourself a bargain lad!

This is lovely, I've been watching it move about for a while now.

Interested to hear how it does vs a more modern frame.

It's amazing in the sunlight, almost a flake finish. My poor photography skills don't help either.

Yeah I had a look at the Roberts site the other day and I was interested to see the prices. I always wanted a custom Rourke track frame (and road frame) but this just hit the nail on the head from all angle. I feel very lucky to have it I must say.

(Not sure about my general taste mind ;) )

Cheers, I definetly be reporting back on how it rides, but unfortunatly I have very limited experience of 'modern' track frames.

I do have a feeling that a few folk will defienetly be want to have a go on this so it'll probably be the only chance I get to prize my club mates Koga Kimera from his grasp....

Love what you're doing with this frame, and glad to see it's going to be ridden at LVV.

Just to chime in on the Roberts 'ting, as far as I am aware, Chas Roberts, doesn't build frames and never has. Likelyhood is this frame was built by his brother Geoff, who currently makes frames under his own name, or possibly Winston Vaz (Mario's brother), who has also recently started up on his own.

Anyway, enjoy...

I used the Roberts for the first time last night on LVV at a club SQT session.

In short it wasn't what I was expecting at all.

I was expecting to faff about all night with the set up and maybe get it somewhere near right, instead I set it up (I did go a bit mental with the tape measure at home to be fair) took it up there and it was near perfect from the off!

It's easily the stiffest steel frame I've ever ridden and when you stand up and put the power through it the response is instant, without a hint flex. I'm sure there is some there but the way the frame is built, in the old school sprint weight-over-the-rear-wheel really allows you to get the power down without feeling like any of it is going sideways. In short I was very impressed. The combination of Columbus tubing has been thought through, designed and made to the high standards you'd expect and it feels like it on the boards. The seat tube and seat stays are audibly (finger ping test :) ) a lot thicker than the other tubes (the down tube is slightly heavier too, but not as heavy as the seat tube) and although this really stiffens up the bottom of the frame, there's no obvious weight penalty. (I'll weigh it at some point)

I thought I might have to get an in-line seat post due to the seat tube angle, but it's all stacked up in my favour in terms of the geo.

The steering took a bit of getting used to as it requires no input at all to flick about, in the first session when we were let of the lead for 5 laps, I lost concentration exiting the first turn and I was on the Cote D'azure before I knew it! Once I had it dialed in though, it was just lovely.

All in all its a seroiously tasty bike to ride, I'm very happy with it so far (a whole 22 miles....) and I can't wait to get it on the boards again in 2 weeks, then get it safely back on my peg at HHV for the season.

To do:

• Swap headset out for the Campag pista one, just because itsba Campag pista one.

• Swap the seat post out for something that's not a 350mm scaffolding pole

• Swap the bars out for something a little less flexible. I've been offered a shot of some 123's so I'll give them a bash. I had them on the piña but in 31.8 so couldn't swap :(

• Take it to Roberts to try and find out some info about the frames history, who it was made for etc.

• Dream about some inappropriate wheels...

Here's a few more photos and I'll update here on any changes.

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Beautiful. Are you seriously gonna leave that on a peg in a container at HHV??

Most certainly, it's for racing on in the first instance and looking at in wonder in the second :)

Good man! I'll be down there at some point so look forward to seeing it in the flesh.

absolutely lovely rig. have been down LVV a few times for a coffee after hitting the road circuit and am a bit bored of all the Planet X and other carbon frames. would be good to see this getting raced

I know what you mean, last night nearly all the sprinters were on DF4's and us enduro monkeys had a fair coverage of Planet x's. I don't think you can argue with the bang for buck with those frames though, even if they're not my cup of tea.

To retain our class we did have 2 Roberts and 1 Aende out though ;)

Looks nice... are you doing league at HH again this year? We can have a Roberts-off.
Re Roberts getting back to anyone via email, it seems that the advice of many is to phone instead.
I emailed a couple of times when I got mine but never got a response.

One of these days the Roberts Ride will happen and we can all go to Croydon to say "check yo emails, bitches" and buy overpriced pink jerseys or something.

Yes matey I'll be there this year.

Yeah I'm going to either phone or visit them, or go mental and do both.

New/old Suntour custom pro to Mavic GL330 & Cx13 (radial spokes) showed up today.

Nitto 123b loaners in as well.....

CAN'T WAIT FOR WEDNESDAY:)

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Got it all sorted and the bars and wheels on.

There's still a fair bit of flex in the stem though, so that will prob need replacing too. Still very very happy overall though. (Even though one grip keeps slipping down the bars... :) )

Just tucked it up at HHV to await tomorrow, if it doesn't piss it down :(

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I think I've got all the bits for my track bike now, I'll hopefully be seeing you down there shortly, albeit I'll be in the juniors.

Good man, you'll need to join the BC skinsuit order que too :)

Still looks like it might hide it down tomorrow night though

Is this like the last kit order, that took fifty years to not turn up?

I won't make it for tomorrow, bike should hopefully be together in time for the weekend though (famous last words).

Ha ha no, we have sorted that problem with the shop, for skin suits at least.

Shop/club kit is still the shops bag but we'll hopefully have an individual order process set up on the Skinsuits ASAP.

I raced this for the first time last night at Track league and its like the gift that keeps giving.

Its very responsive under power and stiff as you like. I'm also glad to report that 28 spokes on the rear can cope with 15 Stone of idiot abusing them. The Suntor hubs have lived up to the hype and they are magnificent hubs, they just spin forever.

I have discovered that not all the flex in the front end was down to the bars though as the 123's have highlighted that the stem is fairy bendy as well! I also took my self out of the Devil by not concentrating on the fence before we'd started and having the outside foot 'up', this meant that I did an inprompt track stand as I wedged my foot into the front wheel, cue much laughter from fellow riders and assembled piss takers :) lesson learned about the considerable toe overlap... (I hate the Devil anyway so I think I did it deliberatly on some level)

So a good start, some points on the board and a new stem to find.

I still need to drop the Campag pista headset in and find a cheap Miche Supertype seatpost too....