RE: [CR]Ross Signature

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content-class: urn:content-classes:message
Subject: RE: [CR]Ross Signature
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 16:20:45 -0500
Thread-Topic: [CR]Ross Signature
Thread-Index: AcLkGQlYq55NYNxoQJ+dkW/k8xfMRgADA6+A
From: "Bingham, Wayne R." <WBINGHAM@imf.org>
To: "goodrichbikes" <goodrichbikes@netzero.net>, <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>


Curt wrote, in part:
>>>has anyone heard of Ross Signature frames. I've always thought of Ross as akin to Huffy but I've heard of several reputable framebuilders touting their time spent building the Ross Signature frames. The builders that come to mind are Redclay and Kellogg. Were these frames something special?<<<

This topic was kicked around on the list about a year and a half ago. Some tid-bits from the archives are pasted together below.

Wayne Bingham Falls Church VA
>The Signature Triad 508 is a handmade bike
>available with sizing every 2 cms, any Ross color, in Columbus SL with an SP
>downtube, Eisho lugs, Shimano dropouts and Shimano 600 components.
>I suspect other sizes and components were available for the top model
>because the one pictured is a 56cm and the supposed sizes run 51, 53 etc.
>and the lower 294S bike use Campagnolo Triomphe components.
>>A bit from framebuilder Bill Stevenson's bio:

At the age of twenty, Bill took up cycling and worked in a local bike shop as a mechanic. In 1971, he took one of Albert Eisentraut's frame-building classes. Excelling in the class, Albert offered him a job on the spot. In 1972, he Worked for Albert Eisentraut only six months, in Oakland, CA. He brazed frames while other workers completed the clean-up. This “apprenticeship” lasted only six months,as he returned to Washington and continued to build custom frames at his own shop. Then, in 1985, Bill embarked on an around the world odyssey that wouldlast seven years.

Bill's first stop was Ross Bicycles in Allentown, PA, where he was hired as the primary designer and product manager. (Tom Kellogg and Jim Redcay preceded Bill as Ross Signature Custom frame builders).<<
>>According to a 1985 brochure the top model is the Signature Triad 508 with a Shimano New 600 group. There are other Signature models but they are not handmade. They were not all built by Tom Kellogg. Jim Redcay built some and there was at least one other builder, who I think may still build for Tom. I think I have seen some of these equipped all Campy too so they either sold framesets or fitted the bikes differently in some years.<<
>>A couple of points regarding the Huffy and Ross/Kellogg threads. When Mike Melton was at Huffy somebody produced a video tape called Building the Custom Bicycle Frame with Mike Melton. It was shot in the Huffy factory. Melton walks the viewer through the process of designing and building a lugged steel frame. I have a copy; its pretty good.

The first builder of the Ross Signature Series was Jim Redkay then came Tom Kellogg. Then Ross went belly up. Rand International bought the Ross name and moved Ross to Farmingdale, N.Y.<<