Dear CR listees and Ben Spencer,
I would get all the documentation I can when buying a used bicycle.It
really adds to the value of the bicycle.If you bought the bicycle from
the original owner,ask if he has the receipt anywhere,or any other paper
work on the bicycle,from BRAXTON BICYCLE SHOP.
I just spoke with Sam's Braxton's son,Dalt Braxton,who worked at the
bicycle shop with his father and after his father died,ran the shop with
his mother and brother.
Dalt says,NO bicycles were imported!
They were all made by his father in the small shop in Missoula!
If the previous owner was 76 and had the bicycle custom built for him I
would think it is a Braxton.
Maybe the man wanted to use some parts he had on hand for the "new"
bicycle.
I would try to get as much "provenance" as I could from the "original
owner" A.S.A.P.
Dalt said they built some bicycles with Italian threading.
Hey,it's a custom bicycle,there are no rules that I know of on a TRUE
CUSTOM,bicycle.Whatever the customer wants.
They used whatever lug sets his father had when making frames.Only his
father built the frames.
The serial number should be 300 or less,stamped on the bottom
bracket.His father's output was somewhere in the 200's.
It would be great if you could post a link to your "new" Braxton
bicycle.
I would keep the original threading.
Phil Wood parts were often used by the Braxton Bicycle shop.
Phil Wood still makes whatever you need!
Good luck.
Sounds like a good find!
Yours truly,
Marty Walsh in Vienna,Virginia,USA
P.S. I met Sam Braxton, in the summer of 1988 before he passed away
........Adventure Cycling now has an award for bicycle shops that are an
oasis for cyclo-tourists.
I don't think I can post the link.
http://adventurecycling.org/