Can anyone help to identify this skip find for a work colleague?
The only real help might be the serial number on the dropout, although the rear brake set up is fairly distinctive.
Just some generic 90s BSO?
I can't say for certain but I think that might be a late 1980's or very early 1990's Marin
Have you tried over on Retrobike?
Just some generic 90s BSO
Would have been my guess and even if it isn't - meh. Nothing on there to suggest it's anything more exotic. It's a potential pub bike (if they still exist), nothing more.
That looks really like a bike I built for a mate in the very early 90s. His bike was a horrific Ridgeback and after riding it one day I thought he should have something better. I saw the frame in the window of a local bike shop, really cheap, so I built it up with some stuff I had lying around from the remains of my Raleigh Peak which had had its frame written off by a post office van. I think those are DX cantis which you don't see very often. It may well be the exact same bike - I know the OP lives not far from me. It never had any identifying marks on it and I can't actually remember what the shop said it was.
Is that an XT rear mech?
Got any pictures of the brake levers & shifters?
Yeah, it's like the stolen Ridgeback my mate leant me to first get into MTBing - the paint was stripped off so it couldn't be identified - although I don't remember it having squared off seatstays and a flat dropout like that, but I don't think I was quite so nerdy enough to notice these things back then 🙂
...I'd pop it back in the nearest skip and not waste any effort on it!! 🤣🤣
But take the XT kit off and sell it for a small fortune!
I think someone was in the same position as you back in 2011:
https://www.mtbr.com/threads/help-mystery-mountain-bike-frame.676415/
Here’s a Reddit thread about a Caloi that looks quite similar to yours:
https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycling/comments/9lvwad/90s_caloi_mtb_that_i_found_in_the_woods_all_used/
I think you'll find that's actually a gravel bike.
Non-replaceable mech hanger is a pretty good indicator of a mass-produced, low-mid end frame.
Back in the late 90's Ribble & Merlin we're knocking out cheap stuff like this, could it be from one of them...
Rear mech is the only thing “worth keeping”.
You guys are way too snobby.
Assuming it is a Caloi this was one of the last frames produced while it was still owned by the original family.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloi
Perhaps not a classic but still a small piece of history and a great boring conversation starter.
Stick a set of 50mm continental contact speeds and some alt/drop bars on it and you’ve got a great gravel bike.
Clean it up, BMX stem, some big bars, front rack and a Brooks saddle = cafe cruiser
Non-replaceable mech hanger is a pretty good indicator of a mass-produced, low-mid end frame.
Unless it's a mid-high range Marin, Kona, early GT...
Just begging for a large wheel mounted electric motor and a frame full of batteries.
its slightly doing my head in as I am sure I have seen the square stays and that weird pointless bridge thing before.
I was going to suggest Caloi. Decent enough Brazilian built frames from memory? Canti's and rear mech suggest 94/5 but the crank set looks like a 300/400/500 LX and possibly Biopace so more like 90/91? Perfectly serviceable pub bike is that and if your mate doesn't want it plenty of others will. Retrobike.co.uk should be the first stop for info.
Probably a bike from Townsend Cycles. I had something a bit similar in the mid 1990's but without the square seatstays. They were the UK's second largest bike manufacturer (after Raleigh) at the time.
its slightly doing my head in as I am sure I have seen the square stays and that weird pointless bridge thing before
'90's Manitou