Kypo

[P!N20]

I s'pose the other question is, why is a golfing equipment Brand making flues ?

The sporting goods market went up in smoke?

but I do have a later record 10 speed titanium group looking for a bike to hang off.

Approved.

[10speedsemiracer]

I s'pose the other question is, why is a golfing equipment Brand making flues ?

The sporting goods market went up in smoke?

lol

[elfoam]

The green road frame is super nice, if you manage to get some contact with Glen to find out what that is made from, ask if he can check his emails for the one I sent a while back about getting some info on mine.

[Gordon1]

I will do. Glen was helpful last time I contacted (perhaps check junk/spam) but as I'm yet to collect the frame I haven't contacted him yet. I know it's safe though!

[Gordon1]

So those who subscribe to this thread will remember Gordon1's track Kypo that came with a great story of it once making the podium in the Austral Wheelrace and being stolen from the original owner.

Well now Gordon1 is the proud owner of a road version of that frame, built by Kypo, but wearing Gibson decals. (Glen Gibson bought Kypo's equipment and is the caretaker of the Kypo build records.) Same original owner as his track frame, I believe.







So 498K458 would make it April '98, number 458 - five later than Gordon1's track frame and eighth newest Kypo. It will be interesting to find out why/when it got Gibson decals.

Great to see another Kypo come out the woodwork!

Glen just kindly got back to me and confirmed 4/98 build which we sort of already knew.

Good news is its 853 tubing and was built without forks as some "reference to carbon forks which would have been fairly new back then".

This pleases me knowing there isn't a set of green forks laying around and that they weren't damaged in a front on. It has Chorus cranks so I will hunt either 9 or 10 speed Chorus aluminium parts. Can everyone lay off bidding on these items on the usual forums. I have suitable wheels (Campy Sydney 2000 rims) and the front caliper is there but missing the barrel adjuster

[P!N20]

853 - nice.

Did Glen give any indication how it ended up with Gibson decals?

[Gordon1]

He said he must have painted it but given it's the same colour scheme as earlier track I think this will remain one of life's mysteries.

I presently am putting black/charcoal calipers on it as I have access to nos 9 speed xenon levers at a reasonable price. I might go black levers and calipers chrome elsewhere.

Frame is pretty well scratched and used so I don't want to spend a heap on it. Being 1998 I think I will go 9 speed

[3093_69]

I’ve recently been lucky enough to purchase a Kypo frame. Kypos were built in Traralgon, Victoria by Rob Kypriotis during the 80’s and 90’s and they have always appealed to me as being somewhat obscure, yet highly regarded.

When I got it, actually, before I got it, I started to do a bit of research on Kypo and while there’s not a whole lot of information online, you can pull together various snippets and more or less get the complete history. So I thought I’d post a concise Kypo record in an attempt to retain this piece of Australian cycling history in one place.

In addition, I got in touch with two people who filled in some of the gaps: Glen Gibson, who purchased Rob’s equipment when he pulled up stumps as well as being the caretaker of the build records, and Rob Kypriotis himself. Rob was a little apprehensive at first, but once the memory banks were opened he was quite chatty with a positive tone in his words.

Rob began making frames around 1983*. In his mid 30’s and having quite a bit of success as a road racer for the Latrobe City Cycling Club (LCCC), Rob was looking for something else to do. Beginning as a hobby, frame building was born from necessity – there were no readily available junior sized road bikes for his sons, so Rob thought he could make them himself. His first frame was built for his wife and apparently is still ridden today by a different owner.

Rob developed his frame building skills by reading the few books on the subject and exploring his own methods. Frame building then was a closely guarded secret so there wasn’t anyone overly willing to pass on the knowledge. Rob built a workshop on his property and Kypo's Cycle Works was in full swing.

Over the course of 15 years Rob made over 460 frames** as well as painting and repairs. Rob used PPG paints which he said were the best at the time.

During the recession ‘Australia had to have’, Rob survived mainly on frame repairs on a part time basis as frame orders dropped right off.

In 1998 Rob decided to shut up shop. The main reasons for this decision were arthritis in his hands/wrists which made production difficult, as well as the trend towards aluminium as the preferred frame material which would mean purchasing a whole heap of new equipment – heat treatment gear, TIG welder, etc. Rob sold all his equipment to Glen Gibson who has predominately carried out frame repairs.

Rob said he enjoyed 14 of the 15 years building frames – the arthritis made the last year difficult. Typically he would complete two, maybe three, frames per week.

Between Columbus and Reynolds tubing, Rob didn’t particularly have a preference, but said Reynolds was a bit cheaper.

The rose motif found on the head tube decal and ‘O’ on the downtube decal is in honour of his first wife, Rose. He remarried a woman with ‘Le’ in her name, and Kypo became Le Kypo. According to Rob his customers didn’t take to the new name and she left after a few years anyway, so it was returned to Kypo.

The serial numbers found on the underside of Kypo bottom bracket shells give the month, year and sequence of manufacture. So mine is 292K317: February 1992, #317.

Big thanks to Tate who sold me the frame, macca33, Jim Timmer-Arends of LCCC, Glen Gibson and of course, Rob Kypriotis.



* Rob can’t remember exactly when he began building frames, but he said he was doing it for 15 years and the last frame he built was in 1998.

** Glen Gibson’s records show 463, but there is a 465 which is believed to be the last Kypo made.

Thanks for the information - I have 691K281 - so about 8 months and 36 frames earlier

[P!N20]

Thanks for the information - I have 691K281 - so about 8 months and 36 frames earlier

Welcome! We would love to see some pics of your Kypo.

[P!N20]

Cross referencing for posterity.

[Clydesdale Scot]

cross referencing with hyperlinks

persistence was rewarded!
excellent result.

[Imwit]

That is awesome. When is it making its debut outing? Melburn Roobaix maybe?

[10speedsemiracer]

Cross referencing for posterity.

Very very cool..

[find_bruce]

Jersey looks better than the model, but what can you do

[P!N20]

Jersey looks better than the model, but what can you do

Ha ha, you’ll keep

[elfoam]

There must be some kind of privacy issue with my frames history I guess, can't get any contact/feeedback with Glenn. But if that's the case so be it. I should probably just ride it . How many known survivors are there now?

[P!N20]

There must be some kind of privacy issue with my frames history I guess, can't get any contact/feeedback with Glenn.

Nothing at all? Strange, he seemed more than happy to help when I contacted him about mine.

How many known survivors are there now?

Not sure, but I was just flicking through Sun Graphic's website and this one popped up:

[Imwit]

Cross referencing for posterity.

Another possible option for chainstitched jerseys..https://www.tiralento.com/high-quality-craftsmanship/

They list an Australian delivery price

[P!N20]

^ Good spot. Got some nice shoes and stuff, too, if your pockets are deep.

[P!N20]

Gordon1 sent me some shots of his pair of Kypos:



Note the century finish Monoplaner brakes *drool*

[Gordon1]

Well this story of Kypo's keeps on giving.

While having a casual perusal of e-Bay I noted a set of track wheels. The description noted that the riders name was engraved on the wheels.

Campag record high flange, 28 hole, Hoshi bladed spokes on Mavic rims. Nice track wheels then one of the last photos showed engraved on a rim B Jackson.....could it be....well the answer is maybe, maybe not, but most likely these were the wheels that Ben raced on and possibly the ones he came second on in the 2000 Austral.

I have a photo, black and white, of the slow down lap of that race and not super clear so hard to see exactly what wheels Ben was on but this neither proves or dis-proves whether these were "the wheels". Ben definitely used Mavic rims, used Campag and only used bladed spokes in races. This ticks all the boxes. The only downside here is he doesn't recall engraving the rims but wouldn't be surprised if it was something his dad did. They also come from Tasmania rather than Victoria but again this proves or dis-proves nothing. Ben said he gave his wheels to a local club when he stopped racing so they were out in the public.

So where are we, presently I have a set of wheels coming from Tasmania that I reckon were used by Ben on his Kypo around the turn of the century and I will remove current wheels (rear is a disc so I know it wasn't the one used in the Austral). I will add a caveat to any yarn I tell but I reckon these were the wheels he raced on in the Austral.

[P!N20]

Keeping this thread updated with as many Kypos as I can.

This has been posted before, but the original image wasn't that great:



(Sorry for the NDS image, not my bike so I didn't want to handle it.)

Now I'm confused - sports a Reynolds 753 decal, but I thought it was 731 - or am I getting confused with something else? Not sure if Gordon1 can shed any light? Anyway, fork is MAX, obviously. Not original paint.

[P!N20]

D'oh! Double post, see gateway timeout thread: posting.php?mode=reply&f=23&t=100570

[P!N20]

Got a couple three more I hope to get pictures of in the coming months, too. BNA member barkmadly owns one of them.

[P!N20]

Here's one. Gordon1's new acquisition - 1090K242 October 1990.

Don't let the 708 decal fool you, it's Columbus SLX.