07 May 2011

Remembrance of Bike Past: Romic





So why am I posting a photo of a weird bike I've never seen in person?


Well, believe it or not, it's personal for me.  


Those of you who know me, whether in person or through this blog, know that I have never owned a bike that even remotely resembles that one, and that I've ridden such bikes maybe a couple of times in my life.


Did some hipster use his fixie in an anger management class?Or did some messenger smoke too much of, shall we say, something that's not made by a subsidiary of RJ Reynolds?


Actually, the original owner of that bike had the frame built that way.  Apparently, it was built as a pursuit track frame.  

One thing that makes it more interesting is that the frame was built by a builder with a conservative reputation (in building practices, anyway:  I know nothing about his politics!).



Romic bicycles were built by Ray Gasiorowski in Houston from the mid-70's until the mid-90's.  On some frames he used Nervex-style lugs; on others, he used plainer but elegant long-point lugs.  His work was very clean and solid, if not blingy.  


     
This is a road-racing bike he made, apparently, some time during the early '90's.  Like most of his bikes, it was constructed of Reynolds 531 tubing.  


Here is a Romic touring frame:




Some non-Reynolds Romic bikes were made of Columbus or Tange tubing.  Some of the builder's touring and sport-touring frames had Reynolds 531 main triangles and Tange rear triangles and forks.  I suspect that such was the case with the pictured bike.


My suspicion is an informed one: I had one of those bikes.  It was a sport-touring model, which featured geometry somewhere between the racing and touring bikes in the photos. It was the first frame I ever bought and built up.  


At the time, it was my only bike.  And it was the kind of bike you wanted to have if you were going to have only one:  I toured and raced with it.  The rear triangle was surprisingly stiff for a bike with its geometry; it gave a zippy ride when I put a pair of tubular wheels and tires on it but was remarkably stable when I rode it, with a rack, panniers and handlebar bag, through England and France.  


One of my youthful follies was deciding that I needed a "racier" bike.  So I sold my Romic and bought a Trek frame made from Columbus tubing.  In those days, some Trek racing frames--including the one I bought--had even shorter chainstays and wheelbases than most Italian criterium bikes.  A few cyclists still seek those Trek frames from the late 70s and early 80s for their stiffness.   However, some of them had a problem that could prove painful:  the seat clusters broke off them.  


As far as I know, nothing like that ever happened to a Romic.  Better yet, I still remember the bike--and, more important, the ride--all of these years later.  When I ordered Arielle, I had that Romic in mind.  You might say that my Mercian road bike is an updated, somewhat tighter, version of that Romic from my youth.


Note:  Romic mountain-bike shocks have no relationship to Romic bicycles.  In fact, I think the first Romic shocks were made after Ray Gasiorowski died in 1996.

25 comments:

  1. I moved to Houston in early 1996. Romic bikes were everywhere, especially at the local velodrome. I even remember stopping by his workshop which was kind of silly as there was no way I could afford one of his frames at the time. I had never seen one of his touring frames but I have seen Romic pursuit frames similar to the photo you posted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have had my romic for about 15 years now. I noticed that it has campagnolo drop out on the front and rear. Not much other marking other then a romic badge. Anyone have any idea or info about this bike?

      Delete
  2. I picked up one of his sports tourers earlier this year. Looking at the bike, it does not appear all that impressive. The lugs look amateur compared to hand built frames from his peers. However, the bike "rides" deceptively well. From my understanding, although he was very talented at building frames, he did not always put much emphasis on making the bike look pretty. I suppose that a telltale sign of a good bike is one that will be heavily ridden, not one that looks pretty and hangs on a wall.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anon: You're right about his aesthetics. He even said that they weren't a major concern of his: He cared more about building solid bikes that ride well.

    Rat Trap: I think Romic got the most respect for his track bikes. I know they were big in the Houston area, but a fair number of them were raced in Trexlertown and Encino as well.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great shots - not sure if you've stumbled upon my Romic tribute pages, but if you'd like to have your pictures included there, I'd gladly do so !

    Either google Romic Tribute Pages... or try this link below:
    http://www-hsc.usc.edu/~rpinder/Romic.html

    I'm taking my lovely red 1975 Romic to a vintage lightweight bike show out in Virginia next month - stay tuned as I hope to include more of Ray's build pages, showing exact build dates of your Romic frames. The show is Le Cirque du Cyclisme

    Rich Pinder - sherman oaks, ca

    ReplyDelete
  5. I worked in Ray's shop in 1978-79. We built a lot of frames from Tange and Reynolds tubing. Ray ran a workmanlike place, one of the comments of his that I remember well was, "We're building bicycles here -- we ain't building jewelry."

    Ray was quite a guy. I am so happy to have known him.

    Some of the bikes we made under Ray's tutelage may still be for sale at Boone's cyclery in Houston.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Robert--I'm not surprised Ray said that. I think some of his promotional material said as much. It seemed to be a point of pride with him.

    As much as I love nice lugwork and paint finishes, I still have a soft spot for that old Romic. I wouldn't be surprised if someone is still riding it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I ordered my Romic Touring frame (27"!- I have a 37" inseam) through Yellow Jersey in Madison, WI (they're still there!) in Feb, 1977. I still own and ride it today, with some upgraded components through the years. I think it would cost me thousands$$ to replace it with as comfortable a ride today. I believe I paid $300 for the frame with an insurance settlement (I was run over by a student driver and my then-current bike was destroyed). I still get favorable comments about the bike today from my riding buddies. I daresay I have not aged quite as well as my Romic has...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey tall person (Anonymous) --
      I have my brother's Romic, and he was about your size.

      Delete
  8. Anon--Does any of us age as well as a fine bike? Thanks for sharing your story!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I still have my Romic touring bike which I bought in the early 70s. Had it repainted with powder coat. Never had a problem with it

    ReplyDelete
  10. I had a custom built Romic touring bike back in the late 70's. I bought the frame, and put on my own components. Had it all set up for long distance camping, and put a lot of miles on it. I can't remember why I sold it, but I wish I never had.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anon--As much as I love my Mercians, I also wish I hadn't sold my Romic. Mine wasn't a custom, but I liked its ride a lot. It would be interesting to compare it with my current bikes.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I just found five Romic tall frames from November of 1974. They have never been built out and sat in a factory for forty years!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Luis--That's quite a find. It's like opening a time capsule. Do you have photos?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Around 1990, I did approximately same thing with a Panasonic touring bike. Has Gasiorowski braze on new front and rear drop outs and an additional set of thread o Lets on the down tube for a second water bottle cage. Mr G then shotblasted the frame and repainted with several coats of Imron White. Built it myself with Shimano Dura Ace components.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Slav--Do you have any photos of the bike? It sounds great.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I got to know Ray G back in the early 80's... I had just married my fairly short wife (5'2") and I wanted to build he a mixte frame. So I designed one out of a book, and asked Ray if I could exchange my time in his shop so I could eventually use his tooling to build the bike... He, surprisingly, agreed. It was an open ended agreement... when he felt I had put in enough time, he would ok it. So on Saturday mornings, I'd head over there and sand braze on's an sandblast, and anything else he wanted me to do. After 7 short weeks, he let me use anything I needed, and I literally built the bike from the Reynolds 531 tubing up, I learned how to silver solder on that bike, and all else that is required. Ray was kind and helpful. We Imron painted it black, I put my wifes name on it, then we clear coated it, Still looks like new almost 40 years later...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Unknown--That's a great story. I wonder how many other shops would allow a similar arrangement today.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Recently bought my first Romic off Ebay, although I grew up in Houston (50+ yrs). Ray did some work on my Raleigh Superbe in the mid 80's, as well as built a fork for a crashed Hujsak I have. I wish I appreciated him more back then. I would love to contact Rich Pinder again. He had a great tribute site but my old links aren't working??

    ReplyDelete
  19. I have a Romic, his 17th frame under the Romic name. It is his touring version with Dura Ace components and Reynolds 531 tubing. I worked in a bike shop and purchased it back in 1975 although the frame was made in 1974. I still ride it. I’m hoping one of my sons takes an interest in it so I can move it along. Somewhere on the Internet there is a history of Romic that shows Ray’s first page and last page of the ledger that he kept. I was surprised to see my name scribbled in that ledger beside the bike that was either before or after mine. That was because a weld on my down tube broke after hitting a pothole. I sent the frame back and he immediately and graciously sent me a replacement frame which happen to be the next serial number.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I have a Romic with all Shimano 600 group for sale. Its in average condition but could be restored to excellent.
    Serial #14155 8 2 88

    $250

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you want me to mention it in a post or sidebar, please leave sizing and contact information. Thanks!

      Delete
  21. file:///private/var/mobile/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Romic.pages

    ReplyDelete
  22. file:///private/var/mobile/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Romic.pages

    ReplyDelete