I bought that Richard Sachs that was on ebay about 15 months ago that had been retro-fitted with S&S couplings. It turned out to be a pretty spectacular bike with paint by Joe Bell. Any misgivings about an S&S couple d RS was alleviated when I learned that e-Richie himself did the installation of the stainless steel couplers (note: there are also chrome-moly couplers) . e-Richie was also nice enough to confirm that everything was in order with the bike.
I had a motive for acquiring this bike: a) make it easy to take around Europe, and b) show off some American craftsmanship.
Unfortunately, with the dollar in the proverbial toilet vs. the euro I have delayed its build up so cannot comment on the ride (sigh).
Duncan, one of the biggest S&S retrofitters is in PA: Bilenky Cycle Works.
see: http://www.bilenky.com/
For those not familiar with S&S couplers you can read about them here:
http://www.sandsmachine.com/
Ciao, Angel Garcia, riding a Pinarello for now Verona, Italy
On 5/26/06, dgranger@comcast.net <dgranger@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I have recently become the owner of a 1972 Raleigh Professional (G2564).
>
> I am wondering if it would be heresy to have a good framebuilder install
> S&S couplers on it. I am looking to have a vintage lightweight with whic
h I
> can travel - without paying to ship it in advance.
>
> It's wearing non-original paint, so I was planning on having it repainted
> anyway (which would be necessitated by installation of the couplers).
>
> So, have I gone off the deep end? Would I be doing a "bad thing" to the
> frame, from a collectors point of view?
>
> Have any of you installed S&S couplers on a vintage frame (esp. full
> 531db)?
>
> If so, how does it ride?
>
> TIA for your opinions...
>
> Duncan Granger
> Mountville, PA