I recently purchased a 1955 Hetchins Magnum Opus Phase 2 from the UK, the
bike is stunning with a very fine repaint and rechrome. The decals are not
quite right as the seat tube decal is a 1952 Coronation. The jpgs sent to me
were somewhat in detail, so I went ahead with the purchase. Upon receiving
it, I noticed the the rear dropouts were not right. They are shortreach
horizontal Campag from post 1975. Also, the derailleur tab had been cut of
prior to rechroming. A proper derailleur hangar from the era cannot be
fitted, as the dropout is to short. The seller has offered to either take
the cycle back or make good financially on the repair cost. I've decided to
give to Bike to Peter Mooney to have a tab brazed on and have the hangar
painted to match the frame colour. The MO will be built with a mostly 1969
Campag NR group, but with a very nice NOS highflange HI-E wheelset. Fully
built as a "Custom Bike" this will be a real head turner. I wrote flash of
the Hetchins Site and the following was his reply. I'd like other opinions
as well.
Hetchinspete
Alias Peter Naiman
Boston, Mass
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Peter, The 'purist' old-timer autmobile scene probably thinks that the hot
rod scene does horrible things to Model A Fords, but I've seen some stunning
hot rods. Owning a vintage bicycle, Hetchins or otherwise, sooner or later
raises the issue of originality vs rideability. To keep an old-timer in
absolutely original condition is laudable and, for the sake of future
generations, highly valuable as a piece of historical evidence. On the other
hand, if you want to ride it, you have to admit that 1950s brakes just
aren't safe on the road anymore. If someone ahead of you with dual pivots
slams on his brakes, and you have spongy old Universals or Mafac Racers, you
will likely ram into him and bung up both bikes. I understand and appreciate
both points of view. As a dedicated fence-sitter myself, I have both
variations in my Hetcins stable. I have 3 in as original a condition as
possible (modern 27" rims, couldn't find any old Fiamme Red Labels in decent
condition), and two in slightly modernized condition (indexed gears, dual
pivot brakes) for riding and showing off and turning heads and so on.
Now, getting back to your bike, I find it curious that the previous
>owner had the derailleur tab filed off. Did he run a fixed gear on it?
>Fixed-gear people are a breed apart (Andrew Moore, Sheldon Brown, et al).
>Have you considered keeping the bike in fixed-gear trim? It's not as though
>you don't have enuf other bikes to hang NOS Campy stuff on, right?
>Re-brazing a filed-off tab onto the dropout may bugger the chrome on the
>chainstay, due to the re-heating. Do you want to risk that?
As a 'hot rod' show bike, I'd say anything is permitted. Since the triangle has been altered anyway, it will never be an original condition bike, so go for it, I say! Make it the best damned head turner at the show. But document everything you do to it, otherwise some future curator of the Historic Hetchins web site is going to have nightmares trying to figure out what it is.