Ron Cooper, Te Papapa

Ron Cooper advertisement

A Bikecology ad fron the '70s. Shamelessly appropriated from zbillster's flickr photostream.

Avoidance strategies

Condor, Ron Cooper, Ritchey Swiss Cross, 1995 Benson, Ritchey fixed gear, GT Peace 29r

This weekend I have to assemble road bike from  box of parts so that CTB can ride it next weekend.
A simple enough task that I figured I could swap the Brooks Professional saddle off my '59 Condor onto the Ron Cooper before I got started.

Replacing a worn out Brooks Pro with another, more salubrious, example presented no great challenge; and nor did replacing it on the Condor with a nice 1960s Brooks B17.
The B17 looked a bit grubby, so I gave it a scrub with saddle soap, and when it had dried, a slathering of Proofide.

After lunch, other, similar, tasks seemed to become pressing.
My red road bike appeared unconscionably dirty, as did my Ritchey Swiss Cross. The Ritchey fixed gear bike was streaked with wintry road muck, unused since Gayle decreed she would be riding gears on our next ride and I, bringing only the blunt pocketknife of my athletic ability to that particular gunfight, followed suit.
These cleaned, it was apparent the the 29er singlespeed, neglected since my last visit to Rotorua with CTB, could not remain encrusted with dirt.
My vintage Ritchey missed getting photographed, but got a wash and had its tubular wheels swapped for a pair of nice clinchers.

Eventually I got CTB's Giant into the stand but I needed a beer. Fortunately, tomorrow is another day.

Salutory

The weather this morning was too good not to get the Ron Cooper out, if only for the ride to work, and remind myself of its magical properties.
On a fine day you can't go past a bareknuckle race bike, with a set of 28 spoke tubular race wheels.

Ron Cooper reminisces

A podcast interview with legendary framebuilder Ron Cooper, podcast from English radio show THE BIKE SHOW

Photo: hairyeggg

Ron Cooper

I have wanted a Ron Cooper racing bike ever since Richard Oddy brought his 1969 Cooper on our first ever Retro Ride back in 2002.

Early this year I posted a wanted to the Classic Rendezvous email list, and within a couple of days I was in negotiation with CR listmember Gabriel Romeu for his celeste Cooper frame.
Gabriel emailed a few photos, and I was sold as soon as I saw the four neat holes in the bottom bracket shell.

The frame arrived in the mail 4 or 5 weeks later and, as is my wont, I quickly assembled the bike for the following morning's ride with the Solo bunch.

Most of the parts were handily lying about, but the Roy Thame sacrificed its wheels, to which I glued a pair of 25mm Continental Competition tubulars.

My plan was to build a basic Campag Nuovo Record road bike, but, as I rummaged around, it became inescapably obvious that I should use a lightweight OMAS headset and titanium bottom bracket which presented themselves.

Continuing in this vein, after a couple of rides I felt compelled to replace the steel Nuovo Record derailler pivot bolts with titanium Super Record parts before venturing onto the Butter Chicken loop with Gayle.

The initial build left a bit to be desired.
I struggled with the 14-21 cluster on the wheelset, and the modern Brooks Professional saddle was a bit wide, so I found a 14-24 freewheel and a rough looking old model Pro which has become more presentable with use.

Gabriel had told me the frame took a 26.8mm post, but my 26.8 post seemed to slip every couple of rides, so I reamed the seat tube out slightly to take a nominally 27.2mm SR Royal post.
While I had a broken collarbone recently, Gayle very kindly came round and buffed the post, which I had de-anodised with ovencleaner, to its current shiny finish.






The Salsa stem was quickly replaced with a plausible looking 14cm TTT Record that came at very good price from ebay.
To further improve my hillclimbing performance I replaced the expander bolt with an aluminium part that requires a 7mm allen key, a tool which is never to be found when you need one.
MORE PHOTOS

Headset	OMAS
Bottom bracket	OMAS Big Sliding titanium
Crankset	Campagnolo Nuovo Record 175mm, 41/53
Brakes	Campagnolo Record, standard reach, pre 1978
Brake levers	Campagnolo Victory
Shiftlevers	Suntour bar end shifters
Front derailler	Campagnolo Nuovo Record
Rear derailler	Campagnolo Nuovo Record Pat.82
Hubs	Campagnolo Record, wide flange 28h
Freewheel	Suntour Ultra 6, 14-24 or 14-26
Rims	Fiamme Red label tubular
Saddle	Brooks Professional
Seatpost	SR Royal ESL
Stem	TTT Record 14cm
Handlebars	TTT 44cm

***************************************************************************************

Unrequited CBAD

Last week I got overexcited about this Ron Cooper that was on ebay, but not as excited as ebayer paradigmshiftingrev, who is now the proud owner.

Ebay relapse

Today I planned to buy a Ron Cooper frame on ebay from a guy in Texas, but ended up buying a W.B Hurlow from English collector Hilary Stone.

The Ron Cooper would have been a nice match for my Gillott, but I fumbled my last-second bid.
The Hurlow looks very similar to my 1963 Condor Italia, but with the advantage that it is my size. I maintained my bidding resolve by surfing through photos of Kevin Krugers similar '72 Hurlow on Wool Jersey.

Hilary's auction spiel:
'Offered for sale is a very original 24in ctt W B Hurlow frame from 1969. Top tube length is 22in and rear dropout width is 124mm. This beautifully built frame was built with Prugnat lugs. Bill Hurlow was one of the very top framebuilders in the UK during the 1950s to 1970s period. There are some other lovely touches - the curved chainstay bridge and reinforced seatstay bridge for example. The frame is in very sound condition though the finish has detoriated somewhat.

Bill Hurlow links:

• Vintage Lightweights UK
• Classic Rendezvous
• Kevin Kruger's '72 Hurlow Bike, with photos from Hurlow's workshop
• Kevin Kruger's Hurlow-built Condor track bike
• Bob Freitas' orange & yellow Hurlow
• John Pergolizzi's fancy lugged Hurlow
• Pergolizzi's Hurlow-built Condor, which has some interesting features.
• Pergo's S.W.Cotten is said to have been built by Hurlow too.

Richard Oddy's 1969 Ron Cooper

One of the most gratifying things about organising the Retro Ride is the bikes that have been brought out of retirement to bring along.

Richard Oddy, Chief Spoke of Pedaltours and the only person I know with a helmet exemption certificate, got this Ron Cooper out of the basement for the first Retro Ride back in late 2002. I was immediately smitten with lust, only partially requited by finding my own Cooper-built Gillott last year.

At the Okoroire Ride I took a few photos, and subsequently interrogated Richard by email:

DB: Why a Ron Cooper? Were there other builders that you considered?
RO: At that time, and at least until the mid ‘70’s, if you were English then you would only consider an English frame – very few people in those days rode Continental frames.
There were many builders then, one man businesses in addition to the slightly larger ones such as Holdsworth, Jack Taylor, Bob Jackson etc.
It was usual to buy from a local builder. I lived in High Wyecombe at the time – Ron Cooper was not strictly local but he was ‘Southern’ vs say Harry Quinn. (There was and still is, a certain rivalry between the North and South of England).
Ron Cooper had a good reputation and someone else in my club already had one.

DB: How did Ron Cooper design the frame?
Did he take your measurements, or measure your existing bike?
How much input did you have?
Did you specify the lugs or other frame fittings?
RO: I phoned, then visited, said I wanted a general purpose road and TT bike, therefore no lugs for mudguards, (mudguards were usual then when training) and clearance for tubulars, not hp (clinchers) which were then only available in large section.
I looked at the bikes he had in stock and he measured my leg, torso, arm length.
I wanted plain, not fancy, lugs and said I would build it up all Campag

DB:How long did it take from order to delivery?
RO: 6 weeks

DB: How much did the frame cost?
RO: ₤37-1/2 with a Campag seatpost – I supplied the Campag headset – which was considered a lot of money then.
DB: Incidentally, the average wage in 1969 was ₤24.16s.5d, according to this highly reliable source


DB: Did you initially build it up 'tutto Campagnolo'?
RO: Yes, including the brakes, which at 27 guineas (1 guinea =₤1-1s) was a real extravagance.
Not too many people then had an all Campag bike.
I had two pairs of wheels, 36’s for road racing and training, although most training was on my hack bike, a Bob Jackson, and a pair of 28’s for TT’s
It was 5 speed, 13 – 17, later converted to six. Rings, 44 / 54


DB: Have any braze-ons been added subsequently?
RO: The bottle cages and also the top tube cable guides.
Fashions come and go re brazeons. In those days it was not done.

DB: What bike were you riding previously?
RO: A Bob Jackson.
My first real bike was a Chris Brasher (Walthamstow, London).
Another London builder was Frank Lipscombe – he had a better shop.

DB: What type of racing were you mostly doing?
RO: Mostly time trials. I was better at 10 miles. I once did a 20min 40 10 mile in ’69.
I also rode tandem place to place records. Cardiff to London, 165 miles, and briefly the 25 mi tandem record on a Mercian 5 speed, with a 57 ring, which I still have.
All good fun.

Stephen Sheffield's Ron Cooper site
A Nervex lugged Cooper recently on ebay

1969 Ron Cooper-built Gillott

This bike was advertised on the Classic Rendezvous website in early 2005.
I emailed the vendor for photos (above), hoping that it would be truly awful and that my temptation would be ended there & then, but it was not to be.
Somehow, the the fleur-de-lys lugwork and the curve of the forkblades eclipsed the dents and manky chrome. When the Grand High Lama of Gillott Mark Stevens told me that he would buy it if I didn't, I could resist no longer.
Mark confirmed that the frame was built by Ron Cooper in 1969, after he had left Gillotts to work for himself.
The Titan bar & stem and Universal centrepull brakes suggest that original owner had retrograde tastes for the time, perhaps an older clubman rather than a fashionable young racer.
He was probably a well-moneyed gent- with fancy lugs and chrome plating, I expect it cost a fair bit more than the exorbitant ₤37 Richard Oddy paid for his '69 Ron Cooper.

Unfortunately. the bike was in Brisbane, Australia, about 1500 miles of water away .
A complex strategy evolved using up many favours, to get the bike sent to Sydney where friend Gaz would collect it on his next business trip. This took a couple of months, giving me time to redish a nice pair of plausible-looking tubular wheels, and amass a box of sound components in anticipation of the Gillott's original hardware being worse for wear.

When the bike arrived, I didn't even need to stay up late to get it rideable (left) for the next day's Breakfast Ride, though I still had a couple of worrying moments.
The headset tightened as I turned the fork, suggesting a bent steerer, but the problem was cured by facing the headtube & fork crown with the appropriate Campag tools.
About an hour later, I discovered that the rear Universal 61 caliper was too short to reach the tubular rim. Sliding the wheel to the back of the dropout provided a short term solution, and an appeal to the CR list brought a long reach mod.61 caliper from Scott Davis, who had already provided a fresh set of Universal brake hoods.

Overnight, the Gillott became my favourite bike.
The first time I took my hands off the bars, it ran straight unlike most of my vintage junkers.
The seat tube angle is shallow enough to let me put a Brooks Pro in my accustomed wayback position.


Since it’s obviously not a racing bike, it is the ideal recipient for the Berthoud stainless mudguards that were looking out of place on my Cecil Walker.

The Titan bar & stem, respectively too narrow and too short, had to go. I replaced them with a Cinelli 1a stem and 66/44 bar.


The sweeping fork rake, one of the initial visual hooks, results in only about 25mm of trail. This does not affect straightline stability, but the steering is light and almost feedback-free, especially with 25mm tyres. Fitting 700 x 28 Rivendell Ruffy-Tuffies seems to have made a difference.

to be continued...

Stephen Sheffield's Ron Cooper site
Classic Rendezvous Gillott page
More Photos

Headset________________Campagnolo Nuovo Record
Bottom bracket__________Campagnolo Nuovo Record
Crankset_______________Campagnolo Nuovo Record 175 mm 41/52
Brakes_________________Universal mod.61
Brake levers____________Universal
Shift levers_____________Campagnolo Nuovo Record
Front derailler___________Campagnolo Nuovo Record with cable stop
Rear derailler____________Campagnolo Nuovo Record PATENT, no date
Hubs__________________Campagnolo Nuovo Record 32/40
Freewheel______________Suntour Winner Ultra 6 14-24
Rims__________________Mavic MA2
Saddle_________________Brooks Swallow restored by Tony Colegrave
Seatpost_______________Campagnolo Nuovo Record
Stem__________________Cinelli 1a
Handlebars_____________Cinelli 66/44 (now 64/42)