CriticalThought

I picked this Falcon up today, and as is often the case it was due to it being cheap, interesting, and a little off the beaten path.

From what little research I did before (and after) picking it up, I suspect it's a mid to late 1980s (say 87 or 88), English made Falcon.

The fellow who sold it to me didn't know much about it, having picked it up at a co-op or bike recyclery.

It's small, rough, pretty dirty... but also pretty well equipped. Near full campy grouppo, though it looks like the front wheel was swapped out at some point as the front hub is a Sansin (Sunshine) Gyromaster on a Rigida rim. The rear is a Wolber GTX on campy. I think pretty much everything else is part of a near full Campagnolo Chorus gruppo (to the Campy Cognoscenti here... please correct me if I'm wrong!).

Another interesting thing is that the Reynolds frame & forks are labeled Reynolds 531 Competition, which I haven't seen in the flesh before. It's also kind of fun that it has a black Tange "Falcon" headset.

It's pretty Italian for an English bike... Gipiemme front dropouts (haven't checked the rear yet), Cinelli stem, and even an Iscaselle Italian saddle, which by the way was another clue to the date as it has a date stamp on the underside of Feb. '87.

Anyway... pics are as found... pretty rough and dirty, but interesting nonetheless! Any insights or info appreciated. Thanks.

juvela

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the Tange headset has me wondering if perhaps it was originally sold as a frameset with this headset pre-installed and the Chorus road ensemble is what the owner had on hand or selected for the build...

could have been assembled into a cycle at either the retail shop level or consumer level

would think it unlikely to be a factory build, although have no hands-on knowledge of Falcon products of this era

wylde speculation...

two simple checks you could perform would be to examine steerer for any markings and check head tube interior to see if seamed or seamless

shall be interested to read what our Reynolds experts have to report regarding this tube set, new-to-me as well

if real, our framebuilder members will likely to be familiar with it; should they not be would be suspicious...


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Mr. 66

I have that model, just put a chain to it last week. I believe the tubing is the same as what is labeled as 531c, I am not knowledgeable that’s just my guts telling me. I’m still setting it up for my fitting.

I believe these were middle level, originally equipped with Shimano 105?! Not sure, I know that the ‘86 red model was 105 with a proprietary Cinelli stem that had SR Custom Falcon branded bars that were made in England.

John E

All I know is what I heard Charlie Harding tell one of his bike shop customers: "A Falcon is a good English bike."
I am interested to learn more. I do like the 531 tubing and the red paint.

SurferRosa

Wildwood, the previous owner of Mr. 66's bike above, thought that bike was an '89. I had a similar red one (but with different decals) that I thought was an '87. It's shown a few times in this thread:

Show your Falcon

Those are all 531c, which seems pretty nice for calling it "mid-level." Upper-mid maybe? My current black/white 531c Falcon came with a Sante group, which would put it '88 or '89.

OP, check Velobase for accuracy of your group. It could be Athena.

Chorus

Athena

I've seen the top end '85 - '87 Falcon Team Equipe bikes with Mavic groups. The model under them came with Victory.

CriticalThought

AH. Thanks SurferRosa . I saw in the archives that Wildwood had a Falcon like mine but didn't realize that it's now in the hands of Mr. 66 .

juvela I'll bet you're right about this one being sold as a frameset with just the Tange Falcon headset. I've seen a few online ... frame like this with that headset, so it seems to be more than just a coincidence.

I couldn't find catalogs online past 1986, but I'm including a picture from that catalog below. Not quite this bike but not too far off.

As far as Reynold 531 Competition goes... I found an old post by verktyg with a chart where he said that the super light Reynolds 531 Competition was the lightest that they were making at the time.

Anyway... here are a couple of other interesting images I find while poking around online.

Wildwood 

I really liked the Falcon 531c bike. Quick handling but stable at speed. Ride it with lightweight tubulars. Definitely what I consider the 'all day race' category.


it felt really fast = probably the deep drops or the red colour. Or just a good fit w/ comfortable cockpit.

It was my understanding that 531c (late 80’s) was a designation for all tubes being 531.

edit: FWIW - I bought frameset from another BF member. Was it @Brewsmith, in CO?

CriticalThought

Wildwood Thanks for sharing... great picture. Unfortunately the Falcon I picked up is much too small for me. What caught my eye was the near complete Campy group set. That plus the cool (if too small) frame for just a couple hundred bucks was a real find. That said, I wish it were bigger as it does seem like a really nice (underdog) frame.

Seems like you and I have had a couple of not-too-common frames in common... this one, plus your Folis and I think you have a nice Mondia and/or Zeus, right?

Wildwood 

@CriticalThought - alas, as with all large collections of bikes, one must - at some point in life- think critically about the fit/feel/purpose. Gone are the 58s (but 1), the 63s and a few that went in a group sale of true classics.

Follis & Zeus are gone. As is the Falcon, which was in the Most Favored category.
Mondia Super - I keep for the right collector, will be most reasonably priced.
Down to about 8 classic downtube shifters.