PART II
British Frame Builders
The British seem to have the largest ratio of frame builders per capita in the world due to the strong demand for their products. The huge American market is the primary reason for continuous growth in the British cycling industry. Consequently, the demand for custom frames in the United States has, at times, outstripped supply.
British frames are best known for their unique baked-on finish which is called stove enameling. This method involves a multistep paint process that necessitates "stoving" after each application of paint. Stove enameling has become synonymous with British frames even though each individual builder performs his own variation on the number of coats required and baking times.
England is also the home of Reynolds tubing, one of the most popular tubes used in quality frames in the world (see section 2).
The proximity of the TI Reynolds factory has contributed to the development of English frame builders by providing easy access to frame-building materials and advice. The diameter of the tubing developed by TI Reynolds for the British market is larger than the standard metric sizes developed for Europe.
Almost all British frame builders will build a frameset to suit a rider's individual physique and riding needs. In many cases, the British masters work very closely with individual riders to insure the best possible fit. Most of the English frame builders have raced (time trialing usually) and have an excellent understanding of all phases of cycling. Of all the European builders, the British frame builders are most sympathetic to the needs of the tourist. They will build a frameset for a tourist just as readily as for a racer.
Some builders such as the Taylors go one step further by constructing their own specialized touring racks to precisely fit special makes of panniers.
Wraparound and fastback seatstays are generally found only on British framesets. If you are interested in ornate, hand-ut lugs, you should look to the British builders since they are the only ones, as a group, willing to take the extra time to create personalized "one-of-a-kind" lugwork.
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Condor Cycles
Condor Cycles 90-94 Grays Inn Road
London WCIX 8AA
England
The Condor motto is: Our Claim to Fame Is in the Name. It is an appropriate motto, for Condor frames are generally regarded as some of the best of the English frames.
Condor Cycles is located in the west central section of London, just down the street from the famous Dickens' House, where Charles Dickens lived from 1837-39. Although Grays Inn Road is a typically busy London street, it seems that the majority of the traffic stops at Condor Cycles, especially during the lunch hour. Consequently, if you arrive between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, you might as well go to see the collection of books and illustrations displayed at Dickens' House since the people at Condor Cycles usually lock the door after the lunch hour rush to have lunch themselves. If you're not a museum buff, you might want to join the people congregated outside the door of the bicycle shop, waiting for it to reopen. It's not hard to find someone who will tell you why they think that buying from Condor is worth the wait.
Background Once inside the small store, you will be amazed at all the merchandise. It is packed to the ceiling with parts, accessories, frames, bicycles, and clothing. There are doors that open into closets and rooms that are filled with even more bicycle parts. In short, the place is too small for the amount of business that is being conducted. This is typical, however, of the better "enthusiast" stores that are found in England and on the Continent.
Monty Young is the owner and chief frame builder at Condor Cycles. Monty was 17 years old when he started manufacturing bicycle frames under the Condor label in 1946. He became interested in bicycle frame building as a result of some racing he did in his youth. He told us that he had very little guidance as a frame builder, and that everything he knows about frames has been self-taught.
Although Monty Young quit racing soon after he went into the bicycle industry on a full-time basis, his interest in racing did not diminish. Monty has been team manager of four British world teams, has sponsored a complete team in the Tour de France, and has sponsored several six-day races in London.
Condor Cycles employs two frame builders (one is Monty), two filers, and two painters. The chrome-plating, like that of most other builders, is done away from the premises by a professional chrome shop.
One of the filers employed at Condor Cycles is Grant Young, Monty's 19-year-old son, who is following in his father's footsteps. Grant has been working in the shop for two years and only now is he allowed to do some building. Grant thinks it takes about four years to become a good builder if the process is closely supervised by a master. He also thinks it would take someone even longer if he did not have the guidance of an experienced builder.
Although Grant works full time in his father's frame shop, he does find time to ride his bicycle. He competes as an amateur primarily in road racing events.
Building Philosophy
Today all the lugs used at Condor Cycles are stamped steel. They generally use lugs made by Haden, Roto, and Agrati. Years ago, they used cast lugs. However, they don't use them anymore because when they were sandblasted they tended to perforate and become brittle.
Monty Young uses all three styles of fork crowns: flat, semi-sloping, and fully sloping. The fully sloping integral Cinelli crown has been very popular for the last five years with Monty, but more and more customers are starting to request the cast semi-sloping crown. Monty thinks that both are very good and tries to match the style of the fork crown to the style of the lugs.
Figure 4-1: Wheel building at Condor.
On the lugless Barrachi model, he uses a fully sloping crown which is very pleasing since it is an extension of the clean lines maintained on the lugless frame. When using his handcut lugs on a frame, Monty will use a semi-sloping crown made by Haden because he can have a small design cut out on each side of the crown to match a similar effect on the lugs.
Two different sizes of seatstays are used. The 9/16 inch are used for smaller frames and the 5/8 inch are used on larger frames.
Seat cluster arrangements vary but Condor never uses a fastback stay for a racing frame. Monty believes that track riding places the greatest strain on a frame and that the wrapover is the strongest seat cluster. The fastback is not used on Condor touring frames either since the English believe that all touring bicycles require 27-inch clincher tires with fenders. Therefore, it is not possible to fit this configuration within the reduced space created by a fastback stay. If you are planning on using the metric size 700c tires, you'll have no problem with using a fastback seat cluster.
All Condor frames are built on jigs. In his machine shop, Monty has built separate jigs for the forks, main triangle, and stays. Condors are brazed together with either bronze or silver depending on the weight of the tubing to be used in the frame.
Bronze is used on the regular Reynolds 531DB frames. Generally, silver is used only on the lightest gauges of tubing like Reynolds 531SL because it flows a lot easier on light metals at a low temperature. Monty hopes to be building Reynolds 753 frames very soon and on these he will also be using silver braze.
Monty uses only Reynolds tubing for his frames. He has used Columbus for the Condor Sienna, but with the advent of Reynolds 753, he plans to redesign the Sienna to make it suitable for 753 construction. His preference for Reynolds is a result of the excellent working relationship he has with TI Reynolds and the convenience in dealing with a British firm.
Frame Selection
At Condor Cycles you can get a frame built to your individual specifications. They prefer that you send them the exact specifications for the frame you want built. If , however, you send them only your body measurements, they will build according to their rules of thumb. They require three measurements: inside leg measurement, torso length, and arm length. By sub-trading 9 inches from the inseam, they arrive at a seat tube size.
The torso length will indicate the size of the top tube.
Condor Cycles builds both racing and touring frames. Al though their brochure indicates that all the frames are for racing, two of the frames (the Superbe and the Italia) can be adapted for touring. Unlike some builders who believe a racing frame should be smaller than a touring frame, Monty designs the same size bicycle for racing or touring. On the touring bicycle, he prefers a head and seat angle of 72 degrees for comfort. For road racing, he usually builds with a 73-degree head and seat angle. For track racing, he prefers a 74-degree parallel frame; but if you asked for a six-day frame, it would have a 75-degree seat, 73-degree head, and a very low bottom bracket. These angles would all change if the bicycle frame being built is smaller than 21 inches or larger than 22.5 inches. The angles would all vary on the smaller and larger Condor frames according to fixed relationships that Monty has developed through the years.
In building frames, Monty believes that the top tube should be short to reduce the flex, or sway, in the frame. He also recommends that a track frame be made an inch smaller than a road frame. He does this so that the rider's power is concentrated over the front wheel which makes it easier to control the bicycle on the banking.
When you order a Condor touring frame, it will be designed with adequate clearance for clincher tires and minimum clearance for mudguards. They will build a touring frame with minimum clearance for tubular tires only if requested. The racing model will be built with minimum clearances for sew-up tires. If you want a dual-purpose frame for touring and racing, they will divide the distance between the two equally, so as to be able to accommodate both types of tires.
Unless you advise to the contrary, the touring frame will generally have a slightly longer fork rake and wheelbase than the racing model. Monty buys only straight fork blades and he rakes them himself so that he can provide whatever specifications you desire. If there is no specification for fork rake given, Monty will rake it according to what he feels would best suit the use of the frame.
Figure 4-2: One final check on a finished frame.
When Monty first started building frames, handcut lugs were very popular. At that time he designed eight different models of handcut lugs. Since it is almost impossible to buy the blanks to handcut lugs, he now offers only one style of handcut lug. Monty uses Haden blanks to handcut the lugs for his Superbe model. He cuts all the lugs personally and it takes him one full day. The only reason he still does it, he advised us, is because it has become a Condor trademark.
Since their production is limited, Condors have not been imported very heavily into the United States and consequently little is known about them. In the United Kingdom, however, Condor frames are considered to be some of the finest. Their reputation has grown primarily as a result of their excellent workmanship.