I recently bought a very interesting bike, although I am yet to receive it. I will post images when it gets here.
In a nutshell it's a 700c 'hybrid' from circa 1989, the frame is all Columbus fillet brazed tubing, it was built by Overbury's of Bristol, who at the time were well known for their competition mountain bikes and high end consumer versions, like the Cross Fell and Pioneer.
What makes this particular bike interesting it that it looks like a custom made one off, which this maker was known to do, and the frame seems to be a race spec Pioneer, although the brake mounts are higher up the stays to accommodate the bigger wheel, and the front fork is likewise set up. It was apparently rescued from the old bike shop itself, which closed down some years ago but remained locked up and deserted until very recently, when new owners had it cleared.
The history is fascinating and these bakes are often cited alongside the likes of Fat Chance, Roberts, Brodie, Ritchie et al in terms of their reputation for build and ride quality, in fact Paul Brodie is known to have visited this frame builder while on a trip to the UK and was particularly enamoured with their then revolutionary sloping top tube design, which went on to become pretty much the industry standard from the early 90s onwards.
I paid £200 for this treasure and i cannot wait to get it out on the trail, all my other bikes are 26ers, and although I have owned 700c bikes, they were all specifically built for the road, this one was built and spec'd specifically for off roading, making it a rare and uusual bike for that period, of course off road 700c bikes are fairly commonplace now, it will be interesting to find out what a bona fide genius experimenting at the dawn of the sport managed to conjour up with his 'gravel' bike prototype.
Picrel is a classic 26'' Overbury's Pioneer, the frameset is practically identical, although this is a large and mine is a medium.
