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Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 7 Jul 2011, 12:19pm
by dvines
I have a Revell Romany touring frame I bought in 1993 (from Geoff Butlers famous Jan Sale!)

It is a great frame - does anyone know who buit them ?

It is 531st and has spearpoint lugs with wndows and campag long dropouts.

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 7 Jul 2011, 12:31pm
by PW
Not sure of the builder as such but they were heavily marketed in the old Freewheel catalogue (Madison I think).

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 7 Jul 2011, 12:54pm
by broadway
I remember them being sold via the Freewheel catalogue and the Beta Bikes(?) shop in Hampstead, apparently now Cycle Surgery, in the 80's. I think Freewheel disappeared when they came out of the retail side and concentrated on wholesaling as Madison.

There were apparently a few builders including Mercian.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26492&start=0

This is something on yacf, but it seems to be down as it gave a error on the direct link:
http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=36449.20;wap2

But you can see the cached version.

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 7 Jul 2011, 1:34pm
by gaz
More Romany details on this thread.

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 7 Jul 2011, 3:14pm
by georgew
Sold by Orbit, the Romany frame had several builders and quality was variable. I remember having to square-up the drop-outs on my front forks with a file as the wheel would not sit true. The frame angles were inclined more towards an Audax bike rather than the traditional tourer and I wasn't sorry to see it go.

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 7 Jul 2011, 3:40pm
by broadway
But is there any relationship between the Orbit Romany and the Revell Romany?

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 7 Jul 2011, 10:08pm
by McVouty
Revell Romanys (late 1970s - early 1990s) preceded Orbit Romanys (1990s); I don't know exact dates. I would guess that Orbit bought the rights to the name from Madison.

Mercian and Dave Yates have both confirmed to me that they made Romany frames for Madison during the 1980s (or rather DY's partnership with Joe Waugh as M.Steel Cycles did:they had more framebuilders than those two), and I have read somewhere that the Nigel Dean workshop also made them.
DY told me that the the M.Steel built frames had the lug points split and opened out into a 'swallowtail' shape as an identifier.

If the OP posts pictures of the frame (and especially the lugs) here it might help with identification. Does it have a serial number?

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 8 Jul 2011, 9:38am
by The Mechanic
I have a Revell bike I bought from an add in the local paper. It is 531 throughout and also has a Beta Bikes sticker on it. After sending off some pics I have had a confirmation from Mercian that they build my frame. I am in the process of building it up to ride. If it rides OK I intend to get the frame restored. It is in very good condition structurally but the paintwork is suffering from several years of lying in a damp shed. It came equiped with 27" Malliard q/r hubs with Rigida rims, Stronglight C/set and 10 speed Sun Tour Cyclone gears. Apart from handlebars/stem and brakes I untend to keep the other gear as original as possible. Everything looks in pretty good nick.

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 8 Jul 2011, 8:31pm
by creakycranks
[img]<a%20href="http://s1191.photobucket.com/albums/z480/creakycranks/?action=view&amp;current=002.jpg"%20target="_blank"><img%20src="http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z480/creakycranks/002.jpg"%20border="0"%20alt="Photobucket"></a>[/img]

I bought my Revell Romany in 1984 from Beta Bikes.
Frame by Mercian. Still got and still good.

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 9 Jul 2011, 7:47am
by creakycranks
Try this link to my Revell Romany picture. http://s1191.photobucket.com/albums/z480/creakycranks/
I will post some more pics there over the weekend.

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 10 Jul 2011, 11:13am
by The Mechanic
I don't know what model my Revell is. It has mudguard eyes but no braze ons for racks.

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 10 Jul 2011, 4:06pm
by broadway

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 10 Jul 2011, 8:35pm
by creakycranks
I have added some adverts for the Revell Romany from early 80s Freewheel catalogues.
See photobucket link above.
The Mechanics Revell frame could be an Elite model if it's 531. I will add some images of other Revell models to photobucket later this week.

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 11 Jul 2011, 11:12pm
by McVouty
My own Romany (which the serial number suggests is a 1987 frame, bought in 1990 almost unused) came not with Revell markings but simply badged as a Romany(the change may have coincided with the morphing of Freewheel into Madison). The head badge was a capital 'R' within a 2.8cm square, with 'ROMANY' underneath the capital, each letter enclosed in an individual small square. The badge was repeated on the seat tube. The down tube transfers read 'ROMANY', each letter within a 1.5cm square. The font looked like Ariel capitals but had serifs. (I realise photographs would be better than a description, but I don't have any clear ones and I have recoated the frame; I have tried to reproduce the markings but couldn't get them exactly right). In all other ways the frame looks identical to the illustrations in the 1983-85 catalogues, so far as I can tell.

Re: Revell Romany frame - who built them ??

Posted: 19 Jul 2011, 9:06am
by dvines
Mine is virtually identical to the one on the photos that has been posted... (except its now been resprayed black !)

How do I tell from the serial No. who built it - whats the format I'm looking for ?