Sunday, 19 June 2016

Its not really a....

Rory O`Brien it started out as a Romany R2 made in England by Revell and distributed by Madison Cycles of London. I saw it advertise in the Freewheel catalogue and thought yes that my new tourer! So I ordered it from Rory O`Brien  with a £30 deposit on it and picked it up on Feb 6th 1987 and paid £500 plus £26 for a Blackburn rear carrier. After many happy miles of touring/club rides I decide to have a respray done and a nice new colour, so back to Rory O`Brien in 1998 to get it done. Six weeks later I went to collect it, there she is said the shop assistant, looking good innit? Where? There he said, oh I said yer got the colour right but it was a Romany now its Rory O`Brien! I knew it was my frame as two years earlier I had knocked my workstand over and it had fell onto the top tube and left a small dent there.
Hmmm, okay sorry about this but its such a lovely frame it should have been one of ours, said the shop assistant, but if you want another respray it will take another 6-8 weeks. I was going on tour in two weeks so I paid the bill and really did mean to go back after my tour, which of course I never did.
Most of my club mates know this story, whilst cyclists I meet on the road and say what lovely looking Rory O`Brien you have there, I just agree with them. But those cyclists that look with knowing eyes that its not what it says on the frame I come clean with them and tell the story. So even if its not really what its says on the frame it given me many happy cycling miles and more to come I hope.

Before:
After:
Today:

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