Ricardo road bikes?

[WynterPlace]

Hi folks,

I'm looking at getting a cheap commuter and possibly turning it into a singlespeed at a later date.

There is a Ricardo road bike in my apartment complex carpark, and I like the look of it, I want to approach the owner and see if they'll sell it, but I have NFI what it would be worth, or if it's a decent bike to buy.

Can anyone give me some advice on the origins of Ricardo? Google hasn't been too helpful on this one.

Thanks.

PS: There is also a couple of blue repco bikes, which would be good for cheap commuters too, but they are just repco's... I was hoping for a bit of prestige or maybe some street cred with this Ricardo.

 

[Dicky]

Ricardos are only a smidge up the food chain from repcos / older apollos etc, but there are exceptions.

The easiest way to decide is to pick the thing up. If it's a boat anchor, leave it.

Get some spy shots!

 

[WynterPlace]

Just checked it out, it's a Ricardo Exceed "Tri-Series"... It's got the foulest paintwork I have ever seen, pearl white with a grey/silver marbled effect.

I'll have to talk to the owner about it and see if I can take it down off the rack to inspect it closer.

There is also a Waddell road bike down there too, so if anyone knows about them, lemme know.

And the blue bikes that I thought were Repco's are actually Apollo's... Is that better?

 

[shue]

I think Ricardo frames are Australian. I found an old chromoly Ricardo frame that is currently a project of mine (at stalemate at the moment coz one of the dropouts is damaged and needs to be replaced). Nice frame though. I was trying to research the name myself, but I didn't come up with much.
If the Ricardo frame I found is anything to go by for the reputation of the bike, I'd say its decent. Probably equivalent to Europa/Clamont/Apollo back in the day.

 

[dunk]

I think Ricardo frames are Australian. I found an old chromoly Ricardo frame that is currently a project of mine (at stalemate at the moment coz one of the dropouts is damaged and needs to be replaced). Nice frame though. I was trying to research the name myself, but I didn't come up with much.
If the Ricardo frame I found is anything to go by for the reputation of the bike, I'd say its decent. Probably equivalent to Europa/Clamont/Apollo back in the day.

I would suggest that Geoff Scott made Clamont's would be much better than the other frames mentioned above.

 

[Shrekmeister]

Just checked it out, it's a Ricardo Exceed "Tri-Series"... It's got the foulest paintwork I have ever seen, pearl white with a grey/silver marbled effect.

i no longer have the magazines to prove my memory right or wrong....

however Ricardo was a brand from back in the 80's and early 90's....i remember wanting one at the time i started in triathlon's and cycling in 1988

the tri series one you mentioned i believe/have a memory of it being the Dave Scott model...you may have heard of him...he won the Hawaii ironman 6 times...and in the 80's had is name on a few products...

long story cut short....depends on your needs and use...i believe it would be probably close to 15 to 20 years old....

i doubt heavily that they are australian made...however dont have the facts to prove my thoughts...

 

[shue]

i doubt heavily that they are australian made...however dont have the facts to prove my thoughts...

Hmm... yeah... Maybe I should've said "I wasn't too sure"... but I just assumed it was an Australian made bike since I saw one posted on this website:

http://collectablecycles.com/index_files/RicardoBike.htm (sweet bike)

Around the top of the page, it says "Classic and Vintage Australian Bicycles" and since it's not posted in the "International Bikes" section, I just just assumed that it was hence an "Australian" bike.

 

[dunk]

http://collectablecycles.com/index_files/RicardoBike.htm (sweet bike)

Interesting site that, I particularly like Kevin Nichols 4000m Team Pursuit Bike - I droooled over those bike in the day:

I'm a bit unsure about this quote though:

Speeds of around 80 –100 kph (50-60 mph) are sustained over the relatively short distance of 4 kilometres in this case

 

[shue]

^^ Oh yeah... I totally know what you mean... *drool*
Wish they had a close-up pic of the track ends... they look unusual.

 

[tmarsh]

the tri series one you mentioned i believe/have a memory of it being the Dave Scott model...you may have heard of him...he won the Hawaii ironman 6 times...and in the 80's had is name on a few products...

I think you're confusing this with the American 'Centurion' brand. Dave Scott was their star endorsee for a while. Having said that, the Oz bike industry in the late 80s was very reactive to overseas trends and there is every chance that they simply copied the look of the Centurion model in order to give local punters a similar looking bike to ride.

i doubt heavily that they are australian made...however dont have the facts to prove my thoughts...

Ricardo were an Australian company, based in South Australia. They certainly had the capacity to manufacture here, but whether or not this *exact* frame was built locally is hard to tell.

The description of the paint job would place the frame as being from around '87 or '88. Ricardo was at this stage owned by the same group as Repco, and there was a lot of cross-pollination between the two brands. Both brands were starting to look to overseas manufacturers as a means of cutting costs. China Bicycle Company (which later became Giant) started to build Repco and Ricardo's mountainbikes, but in the timeframe that this bike was from I'm reasonably certain that they were still building the road frames in South Oz.

In terms of quality, they are much of a muchness with any of the mass-produced lugged steel frames of the era. There were one or two bits of exotica that both Ricardo and Repco made during this period, but yours ain't it. But for something to build up into a commuter, it should be just fine. The rear end is probably spaced for 7 speed ie 126mm, but some careful cold-setting and tweaking of the dropouts should allow you to use a modern 130mm hub no problems. Brakes will be longer reach than your average modern dual-pivot replacement, but should be close enough not to cause too many issues.

 

[Shrekmeister]

I think you're confusing this with the American 'Centurion' brand. Dave Scott was their star endorsee for a while. Having said that, the Oz bike industry in the late 80s was very reactive to overseas trends and there is every chance that they simply copied the look of the Centurion model in order to give local punters a similar looking bike to ride.

dude, you are correct....i was wrong...you have jogged my memory a bit. and yes centurion was that brand....usually i'm ok on tri stats...but this one i was a little off...