[CR]Woodrup frames

(Example: Racing:Wayne Stetina)

From: "Norris Lockley" <norris@norrislockley.wanadoo.co.uk>
To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 21:57:13 -0000
Subject: [CR]Woodrup frames

Hey you fellows are getting a bit twitchy about your Bob Jacksons! By saying that Woodrups are often thought to be better than Bob Jackson's frames, I wasn't in any way implying that Bob's goods were an inferior product. Any builder that who stick around and continue to make a living through good times and bad ones alike, as Bob, Woodrup, Ellis-Briggs, Mercian, Pennine, Condor have done must be doing something right.

Perhaps if there are some other Yorkshire men out there on the List you could help me out here. In any get-together of cyclists, such as the large gathering that meets at the Dalesman Cafe at Gargrave near Skipton, each September to ride the Dave Raynor Charity Ride, there is always some talk about "local" bikes because there will be at least a couple of dozen in the Charity peloton. The most commonly held comments about Bob Jackson's frames are that "they are goers" or "mine doesn't go". it seems that you either get a frame that is everything that you could have wished for..or you get a "dog". There seems to be no two ways about it. I have had quite a lot of Jackson frames through my shop over the years and the majority of potential customers have asked "Is it or isn't it?" Meaning "Is it a goer or isn't it?" There just isn't a fence to sit on in this matter!

I think the problem, if there is actually a problem, is that Bob often had up to five builders working for him at times..and there were different abilities and experience there. Not everyone who goes into frame-building sees it as a vocation or a "calling". To some it is a just a job. Not every Jackson customer got his frame built by Danny..the foreman builder for many years ( I think his name was Danny..or was that the sprayer?) On the other hand Woodrup's output was smaller, with fewer builders at any time...so perhaps a greater attention to detail is assumed.

So there you have it..Not a criticism of my making just one of those odd things that Cyclists anywhere tend to chew over. Don't tell me that the merits of Masi Italy frames have never been compared with those made in Carlsbad?

For Peter...his 1950s Bob Jackson is more accurately a JRJ..and if you happen to come across any original transfers let me know, please, because I am just about to start renovating a Massed Start model from the same era. My elder brother had a frame made by Bob in 1953 - I think it was No 322 - at the time he started at Leeds University. He kept the frame all his life, and I had it resprayed about 15 years ago..using up some of the last of the JRJ transfers. In the meantime he has moved on to a pretty super Bespoke of Settle..and the JRJ had just been hanging about in the garage.

A couple of years ago I dared to ask if I could have it for my collection, to which he replied "It's gone, gone to the big skip in the sky!" I was quite upset because that seemed to me like chucking the family heirlooms on the waste tip..and I said so.

He became quite tearful, very much out of character for him. "Remember the trips to France in the 50s, and the Sunday morning time trials, and Ken and his Rotrax Super Course?" "Could I ever forget them?" I replied. "Well..Ken ( an lifelong friend, cyclist, and fellow mining-engineer) has just died..and I couldn't look at the JRJ without thinking of all the miles I had done on it with Ken..So Ken's gone..and so has the JRJ..It's better that way"

I hadn't the heart to remind him that with the disposal of his JRJ he had also probably thrown away the last full set of intact decals too.

Norris Lockley...Settle Uk