Hi All,
A bit more than a year ago I posted a query to the CR list asking for suggestions of "really cool early 80s gear", other than Campy and Shimano. I was looking for ideas for building up a circa 1981 Ron Stout frame I'd acquired a few months earlier. List members asked me to post the final outcome. Well, you can now see the results on Morgan Fletcher's Wooljersey site. Morgan has kindly provided space. Over time I'll upload albums of my various bikes, but the first one is the now complete Ron Stout. You can see it here: <http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/David-G-Whites-Bikes>.
I bought this Ron Stout frame in mid-2004. I loved it from the first time I saw it. Very crisp, clean lug-work. Elegant to my eye.
Thinking about how to build it up, Campy was the obvious choice. Perhaps too obvious. As much as I like Campagnolo gear, for some reason it felt sort of like "me too". I decided to try something different. I posted a note to the CR list asking for suggestions regarding the best trick gear from circa 1980 with the following rules: no Campagnolo and no Shimano. The list was abuzz for a couple weeks as folks chattered about different cool stuff. I made notes of every suggested item, gradually building a fairly extensive list. It was really interesting for me because I was out of touch with the cycling world during that period and really had little idea of what was then considered to be the hot stuff. So many of the suggestions were for items I'd never even heard of before, let alone seen.
Over the subsequent nine months or so, I gradually acquired parts when the opportunity arose - mostly on eBay. Along the way, I added one more rule for this particular bike -- no SunTour. It was great fun paying attention to the more obscure brands. And the equipment is truly wonderful!
The bike you can see on the Wool Jersey Gallery is the result. It has strong American and French themes. Weyless (the original 1970s vintage -- not the current mountain bike stuff!), Mavic, Stronglight, Bullseye, Phil Wood and more. I finished building it this summer and it quickly became one of my favorite rides.
I promised to share the results with the CR list, so a year later here it is! Let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
David
PS As far as I've been able to learn, Ron Stout was a self-taught frame builder who worked in Salt Lake City. I believe he started around 1980 (?) and stopped building in the mid-90s. If anyone knows more, I'd love to hear about it (as well as contact info for Ron -- I'd like to ask him about his serial numbering scheme, so I can date my frame (#9281) more precisely!