I visited the shop in 1990 and had a frame made to order. I was told that the frame was made "in the suburbs" because they could not conduct industrial activities, particularly painting, in the city. Exactly who made it is a question.
The frame was very nicely made. However, it was made from Reynolds 653, and I broke a chainstay after about two years. It has been sitting ever since. Still looks nice.
Louis Schulman Tampa, Florida
-----Original Message----- From: CYCLESTORE@aol.com Sent: Dec 10, 2004 10:25 AM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Re: Classicrendezvous Digest, Condor
In a message dated 12/10/04 12:56:13 AM, classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org writes:
<< << Condor is still in business at their same location at 90 Greys Inn Rd,
London. I saw one of their new bikes this past November at Ironman Florida.
It was very nicely done. >>
I heard that they no longer make their own frames but "farm them out." Can
anyone confirm or refute this?
Dale Brown
Greensboro, North Carolina >>
Dale,
Hilary Stone might know and may touched on this in the past. I heard they never made frames. A sort of inside joke was the owner holding a torch in a photo tour of the shop for the first time (so to speak). I think they do frame repairs at the shop. I was there in 2000 I think and they had some lovely used Condor's downstairs for sale with ornate chrome headlugs.
I was over in 1987 visiting their old shop a few blocks from their present location. They had Campagnolo component boxes stacked to the ceiling behind every counter. They were a distributor of Campagnolo then as I recall. It had walked from my B&B through a driving rain and as I was leaving a fellow that was maybe in his 70's wheeled up on hat looked like a 1950's Raleigh sports. He had a cloth cap; waxed cotton rain coast and an unpainted frame over his shoulder that had apparently just been brazed. Looked like a delivery to me but maybe he needed some fittings. His hands had seen work with multiple blue fingernails, callouses and permanent dirt on his skin. This chap could of course been an employee. Subcontracted or not; I have never seen a bad looking Condor.
Yours in Cycling,
Gilbert Anderson
North Road Bicycle Company
519 W. North St.
Raleigh, NC 27603
USA
Toll Free Ph: 800-321-5511 Local Ph: 919-828-8999
E-mail: cyclestore@aol.com