Freek asks,Does anyone know more about Matthews, and what happened to him? I have never read or heard about him since then, seems a real shame.
I raced against Pete Matthews in the sixties and on very rare occasions beat him! He had a reputation as a lazy sprinter (well deserved) but amazingly he beat Les West in a two-up sprint on the killer Gunn Hill course to win the British amateur champs. Les was 2nd in the amateur worlds on the Nurburgring and 4th in the pro when Jempi Monsere won So RESPECT is due to Pete. Peter bought a bike shop, I think it was owned by the Soens Bros., in Liverpool. He sold bespoke bike frames under his name but I'm sure he didn't build them. He has a very good reputation as a wheel builder (I recall that he raced on 28 spokes front and rear in the 60s) He claimed to have built Robert Millar's KOM winning wheels and Sean Yates's wheels for Paris-Roubaix and I've no reason to doubt him. I believe he recently closed the shop but he is still racing aged about 62 or 63. I heard that he filled his spare time by working as a stand-up comic on the Liverpool club circuit!! Ray Green, Brighton, England (formerly of Merseyside)
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