Background

Ron Cooper has been building frames since he was 15, starting in 1947 when he began a full apprenticeship at A.S. Gillott Cycles, London, England. He learned his craft from frame builders in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, notably Jim Collier. He was a racing cyclist

Bicycle racing

Bicycle racing is a competition sport in which various types of bicycles are used. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, bike trials, and cycle speedway. Bicycle racing is recognised as an Olympic sport...

 selected for the national team, the R.A.F.

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

, the Brighton-Glasgow and the London Centre in the 1952 Tour of Britain

Tour of Britain

The Tour of Britain is a cycle race, conducted over several stages, in which participants race from place to place across parts of Great Britain....

 (Milk Race), before an accident forced him to retire from competition.

In 1967, Cooper left A.S. Gillott to build frames under his own name, and by 1970 set up a small shop in Honor Oak Park, South East London. Cooper works today in Dartford

Dartford

Dartford is the principal town in the borough of Dartford. It is situated in the northwest corner of Kent, England, east south-east of central London....

, approx 18km (11 miles) from his old shop in Honor Oak Park. This is a single-person business making bespoke

Bespoke

Bespoke is a term employed in a variety of applications to mean an item custom-made to the buyer's specification...

 steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

 frames using the traditional method of free hand brazing

Brazing

Brazing is a metal-joining process whereby a filler metal is heated above and distributed between two or more close-fitting parts by capillary action. The filler metal is brought slightly above its melting temperature while protected by a suitable atmosphere, usually a flux...

 rather than jigs, in order to avoid stresses to be built into the frame, which calls for careful mitering

Miter joint

A miter joint , sometimes shortened to miter, is a joint made by bevelling each of two parts to be joined, usually at a 45° angle, to form a corner, usually a 90° angle...

. According a reviewer, his make provides more stability, neutrality of handling and responsiveness. It takes about two days to make each frame. As of 1979, about half of his production was sold in the United States.

External links

• Quotes on Ron Cooper